A group order proposal

[Canadian Man]

Nano???????
work on getting a tank first! :D :D
:( Not free tommorow.
got sucked into working at the outdoor show tommorow at out Psycopath(aka.cyclepath)
booth. So I said well that's ok I will still be free in the evening but of course pug_girl planned us to go to her dad's for dinner.
sounds like I am avoiding helping you eh?
well i'm not just having a busy week that's all.
but wednesday is still good for me.

[Delphinus]

Hey there guys..

Ok, before we go to far into the topic of choosing a vendor, the bottom line for me is that saltwaterconnection is holding some livestock for me. I will be ordering this regardless. So if anyone else wants anything from there, here's a good chance to save a tiny bit on shipping.

Bob, I'm not so sure I'm hot on the idea of pooling a dry goods order with a livestock order. The problem for me is how to divvy up the cost of shipping while still having it end up the most economical solution for everyone (almost a classic Nash equilibrium question). For example it costs $6.50 to mail that bulb from Winnipeg to Calgary. If it costs $40 to put a box on a plane to Calgary and three people order stuff with the totals being $125 for person A who buys livestock, $30 for person B who buys livestock, and $125 for person C who buys dry goods only, then person B ends up paying $4.30 for shipping and persons A and C end up paying $17.85 for shipping, which means person B would have been better off just having the drygoods posted to him, and thus has essentially ended up unfairly subsidizing the shipping on the rest of the order. Basically my philosophy on mail-order is this: unless the need is urgent, dry goods should take the cheapest route, and livestock should take the fastest route which invariably is not the cheapest route. "I dunno" if that works for everyone but that's what works for me. So at the moment you're still better off going this on your own.

So. With all this said, is anyone still interested in pooling a livestock order with me? Let me know.

Alan, if you're still interested, maybe we can arrange to have the stuff delivered next week, which would meet (albeit barely) your one-week minimum.

Sean, I'm not sure what fighting conches are or if Jayson even has them .. but I will ask and get back to you.

cheers folks!

PS. One hour less sleep tonight? Oh the cruelty of daylight savings!!!!

[AJ_77]

Tony:
J&L advises waiting post-cycle to dump in snails, and nitrates < 10. But I have baby snails now (mind you, they're trying to make a break for it.)
[img]smile.gif[/img]
Kim I think said a week minimum, after the ammonia spike subsides. All that to say I don't know what to do. I do not want to be buying these twice! I mean, kill them...

(I've got mama & papa bristleworm churning about tonight also - thought I chopped them in half with my scoop today. There seems to be a decent amount of life that survived. Very nice.)

So when do I have to decide? Tomorrow? Could I get some more advice from those who've done this before?

Thanks,
Alan [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Bob I]

Okay Tony, from what I have seen it costs around $45.00 per box to ship things to Calgary. So to make it worthwhile we need around four people to make a group order worthwhile. You would still pay around the same amount per snail you would pay if you go to your LFS. The only problem is that our LFS's don't have what we want right? I will get the bulb myself no prob. I am still in for snails.
Alan; If you want to get snails there is no problem for me to hold them for you. There is a small possibility that Margarita, and Nassarius snails will disappear into the sand, but Astreas will not disappear. I would just set up my spare ten and put a little sand from my tank, and some tank water into it to avoid cycling probs. They would be alright for a few days. :D

[AJ_77]

All right - thanks Bob; if the tank is still 'iffy' that's good to know.

TONY:
I'll take 10 of each of:
Astrea
Margarita
Cerith

Thanks, let me know the whys and whens. And approx. $ also. If we do the split at Bob's so much the better.

AJ [img]smile.gif[/img]
Got snails?

[Bob I]

It looks like we now have three participants, with one marginal. I do not think the supplier has fighting conches. I have heard about them, but have never seen one. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Delphinus]

I have some more information now.

Unfortunately Jayson is no longer bringing in marguerites since their lifespan is too short. However he will have everything else. Alan, want anything in place of the marguerites?

I am told the pricing is still TBA, but will either be as posted on the site, or less.

He will be getting in fighting conches at $12. That must be some snail! Can someone tell me what are they and what are they good for?

[Bob I]

I did not know Margaritas had a short lifespan. I have had one for more than six months. So if he is not getting any, I will double my Nassarius order (10 to 15) Fighting conches are another sand bed digger as far as I know. I believe ovrclckd on Aquaria central knows all about them.
I am still interested in a sandsifting cucumber too.

[AJ_77]

It would be good if he was willing to match J&L prices, then I would take 10 Astrea, 10 Cerith, and 3 Scarlet hermits.

Matching is good...

AJ ;)

[AJ_77]

And something to keep in mind, from an RC post.

Tip of the day - inspect your snails!
I lost a t.maxima today that I added two weeks ago -- lost him to pyramidellidae, or pyramid or rice snails. I know they didn't come in on the clam, my suspicion is that they were on some astrea or turbo snails I added a month or two ago, and this would explain why so may astrea snails have been dying lately. So my daily ritual now is that once or twice a day, I remove each astrea and turbo I can find and use tweezers to pull sometimes as many as 8 or 10 pyramid snails from each snail. According to the Knop clam book, p. 105, pyramid snails have a reproductive cycle of 2 weeks from egg to snail, and they can become sexual in just 40 days, so a few of them can become a whole mess of them very quickly. After just a few days I am already finding fewer snails, and Dr. Ron thinks that if I am diligent for a month or so, I can get the better of the parasites. So the lesson is, before adding any new snails to your tank, inspect them closely for parasitic snails.

Here's a picture of said parasite:

http://www.harboraquatics.com/images...idelline02.jpg

I know I'll be checking.

AJ