THE FISHOTEL GAZETTE

How a closet became a 1,000-gallon shop

I'm Jeff. I run FisHotel out of Blaine, Minnesota — though the mail still goes to Champlin.

Reefkeeping pulled me in for a stack of reasons that all happen to live in the same hobby: I'm a gadget guy, an ocean guy, a SCUBA guy, and an animal guy. Living in Minnesota means I can't just go diving on a Tuesday — so I brought a piece of the ocean home. A reef calms me down, gives me something to work on, and is never actually "done." Just when I think I know how the tank's going to behave tomorrow, it surprises me.

In 2019 I went deep on fish disease — how to keep it out of my system, how to actually treat it. That's when I met Bobby (Humblefish to most). He took me under his wing, let me bounce ideas off him, and over time helped me figure out what real quarantine looked like.

I started QT'ing every fish that went into my own reef. Then a few buddies asked me to QT theirs. That turned into four 10-gallon tanks in my walkout closet. The closet outgrew itself fast, so I built a bigger system in the laundry room. Around then Bobby got out of selling quarantined fish and started pointing people my way — that's when FisHotel really became a thing.

The laundry room lasted about a year. I'm now in a dedicated shop in Blaine running over 1,000 gallons of water, and FisHotel is my full-time job.

What's broken in this hobby

Most fish in the trade are flipped. They get bought, listed, and shipped out the door as fast as possible. A lot of sellers act like they've cared for these fish for weeks — the truth is they get them in and out as quickly as they can. By the time the fish actually arrives at a hobbyist's house, it's stressed, starving, and has about a 50/50 shot at surviving.

That's before you even talk about disease. Plenty of sources say "we QT" but what they actually do is hold fish in low-copper systems just long enough to keep them looking alive until shipping. That's not quarantine — that's stalling. The disease shows up in your tank instead of theirs. It's a big reason so many people cycle in and out of this hobby.

How FisHotel does it differently

Every fish that comes through this shop spends real time here. Two full weeks of active treatment in a dedicated medication system. Then two more weeks of observation in a clean tank — eating well, gaining weight, monitored daily. Nothing gets listed for sale until that whole cycle is done.

I'm one person, running this myself, with one standard: every fish gets the same protocol regardless of price tag. If you want to ask questions about a fish before you buy, ask. If you want to see its treatment history, you'll get it with the fish.

Where to find me

You'll regularly catch me on Humble.Fish if you want to talk reef. The shop is in Blaine, MN; mail goes to Champlin, MN 55316. For anything else, Jeff@FisHotel.com.