Pet Mountain Review; Parasite Retailers

 

"Just Say NO to Pet Mountain, AquaRayLighting.com, & Other Parasite Retailers!"

Updated 1/9/19

I will keep this Fish as Pets Aquatic News article short and to the point. This review based on input from friends in the aquarium business is different from many which are generally based on misinformation and anecdotal aquarium/pond information often found on the Internet.
However in this review I will more point out the ethics of alleged parasite Pet/Aquatics resellers and the ethics of distributors/manufacturers that sell to such retailers; in particular alleged parasite retailer, Pet Mountain.

Hopefully this article will "hit home" for those who consider ethics more important than saving .25 or more.

What is a parasite reseller? This is a reseller that jumps in after another business in the aquarium industry (or other business field of endeavor) has spent years and considerable amounts of time and money educating the public about new products or services that many may keeping aquarium keeping more successful.
These parasite resellers will then often make unethical deals with manufacturers under cutting the businesses that have done all the work.

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Pet Mountain

First, it should be pointed out, unlike what are ethical businesses in my opinion, Pet Mountain allegedly hides in anonymity with no listing provided to business searches of ownership & location.
Previously, all that was allegedly known is that Pet Mountain is based out of Darmstadt Germany, yet they do no business there!!
Currently they provide no location on their website.
Source: https://petmountain.knoji.com/questions/pet-mountain-contact-information/

Second,
Pet Mountain is allegedly utilizing an unethical relationship with Lee-Mar Aquarium and Pet Supplies of Vista CA.
LeeMar is an authorized pet product distributor that is is sharing its facilities with Pet Mountain in what is likely an incestuous relationship to sell direct to the public (& likely much more, but so much is secretive).
This is no different than your local Chevy Dealership doing all the work only to see GM make a direct sale to the buyer; this is both unethical and illegal in many instances!!

It is also noteworthy that a friend in the aquarium industry has had business dealings back in the early 1980s with Lee Mar and discontinued business with them for alleged dishonest practices (at least according to him).

Here are their addresses:

Lee Mar:
2459 Dogwood Way
Vista, CA
Pet Mountain:
2465 Dogwood Way,
Vista California 92081

Further,
In speaking with one of the largest Pet Supply distributors in North America (who would prefer anonymity), I would have to say the Pet Mountain gets the dishonor of being the worst offender by far as to this type of behavior.
Whether it be Marineland, Hagen, Commodity Axis, API, or Weco; Pet Mountain is selling products that others have spent copious amounts of time educating the general public about.

I should also note that this parasite reselling is allegedly not done by normal quantity buying discounts that more ethical large resellers such as Petco utilize, rather with many products I am familiar with at prices lower than those selling in originally higher quantities via unethical under the table deals!

In the case of the Weco Wonder Shell, this is an especially glaring example since although this product is not at all new.
This product was a "regional secret" that only in 2005 when American Aquarium Products spent copious amounts of time and money correctly educating the aquarium keeping (& pond keeping) public via blog posts, scientific articles, forum sponsorships, etc. as to what these mineral blocks can and cannot perform for one's aquarium.
In steps Pet Mountain along with Amazon.com with a deal (likely through Lee Mar) under selling others for this product, all the while providing incorrect information about the best use this product.
It is noteworthy too that it is likely that the product is not fresh, rotated stock, NOR do they sell the full line including the Medicated version only sold by AAP.

References:
*American Aquarium Wonder Shell; Fresh Product & Medicated Version too
*American Aquarium Products

As well, Pet Mountain is constantly "playing games" with SeaChem's 'MAP. pricing.
First they were called out by under selling this minimum pricing structure that is in place to protect the businesses that are doing the REAL WORK of promoting SeaChem's top notch line of Aquarium Chemistry based products.
Most recently (1/24/13), Pet Mountain has been caught selling Prime at less than most retailers can buy the product for. HOWEVER, Pet Mountain was very sneaky by placing this "Special" price in the cart only where it is much more difficult to catch via Internet searches (a Shopping cart is not indexed by Google, Bing, etc.)

In conclusion;
Sadly this is but one example of a growing trend in the Aquarium/pet industry (& from other business sectors based on conversations with business persons).
Others may know of other alleged parasite retailers in the aquarium/pet industry.
If you are considering a Rena Filstar Filter, AAP Wonder Shell, Fluval, UV Sterilizer, etc. Please consider ethics and those businesses whether internet based or local fish/aquarium stores that have helped you with your product knowledge and return the favor of their hard work for as a little as .25 cents extra.
This is not a lot to ask in a world where ethics has generally taken a back seat.

I might add this is especially important when your fish are sick, do you want a parasite retailer with no experience helping you or do you want a professional that has spent their life in hands on experience in Fish Medications Research for products such as Triple Sulfa, API/AAP Furan 2, or API/AAP Erythromycin??

AquaRay: Unfortunately many of the best manufacturers of quality products such as TMC (Tropic Marine Centre) have allegedly fallen into this trap too of late, now utilizing distributors who masquerade as retailers such as aquaraylightingDOTcom hiding behind the distributor Pecan Grove (far from a healthy Manufacturer/Distributor/Retailer relationship). It is noteworthy that Pecan Grove was acquired by QSI Facilities in May 2018 (if one researches this company, they are not even remotely close to the aquarium industry, using the aquaraylightingDOTcom url as a cover to sell product they know nothing about, but seem official).
This alleged parasite retailer sells out of a home, but their name and website gives the impression of a major long time seller of this product line, even though AAP has had to answer questions & even in one occasion make a video to help buyers who assumed they were the long time professional seller of this line of products (Google's crap algorithm does not help either by giving such a website prominence over the professional true seller of this product line)
I am speaking of the manufacturer of the TMC UV Sterilizers & AAP AquaRay LED Lights.

Here is a "Google Maps" link to the location of this so-called seller:
Google Maps: aquaraylightingDOTcom

For a review of LED Lights, see this article: Aquarium LED Light Review.

Other articles readers who place value in morals might find of interest:
#eBay Community Forum & Bullying, Customer Service
#Sorry Grants Pass Oregon, Collecting Bottles is NOT a Crime

By Steven W.

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Copyright; Steven Wright with input from Carl Strohmeyer