Buying Fish Online

[IMLauren2]

Do you guys recommend buying fish online? If so, where? Liveaquaria.com? etropicals.com? petsolutions.com? I need to get a fridmani!!!

ANy suggestions? Or am I better off waiting until my man has in stock what I want so I cna see for myself?

Please respond.

Thank you.

xoxoxoxooxoxo

[Witfull]

its best to get them locally,,,you can see them and judge....i would recommend this for you at this time.

[IMLauren2]

I got my last fish locally. He is dead now. LOL

[mgregory]

I'd try and buy local if you can. Where I am there's only one place besides petco that sells saltwater anything and he knows it. Everything is twice as much as online. I would love to see the fish before I buy but in my case that's a very expensive idea.

Mark

[IMLauren2]

I live in the Big Apple....things cost a fortune here....so online is much cheaper for me...BUT I dont mind spending more money for a healthy happy fish.....its when I pay top dollar for an unhealthy fish that dies is that annoys me.

If I WERE to try online....where do u recommend?

[mgregory]

I know this thread is about coral but they sell fish also:

where to buy corals

Mark

[NaH2O]

OK...here is why it is a good idea to buy locally....

1.) You get to observe the livestock. Observe the swimming behavior, observe the other fish tied into the system with it....note any diseases or things that don't look quite right. Also, observe it being fed. Not just ingesting the food, but also make sure it doesn't spit it back out.
2.) Ask the LFS if you can put a deposit on the fish for several days, a week or two. That way if it dies it didn't die in your tank, and you aren't out the purchase price of the fish.
3.) There isn't a large shipping stress. I can't imagine shipping a fish across a large distance as being unstressful. The stress could lead to potential immune system issues which could lead to disease. I'm not saying buying on-line is a no-no...there are many people that have great success with purchasing online, I'm just giving you some arguments against it.

Always be sure to follow acclimation procedures for whatever online retailer you go with. There may be replacement/refund issues if you don't follow their recommended acclimation technique. Check with the retailer you order from regarding live guarantees and acclimation procedures.

[BoomerD]

I got involved with a group buy from MarineDepotLive a couple of months ago. What a nightmare! about half the fish didn't even get shipped, of those that did get shipped, more than half went to the wrong person in another part of the Bay area. Everyone was lucky that he was honest, or we never would have known where that part of the order went. Approx 1/2 of the fish that we did get, died within 2 weeks, many within the 5 day guarantee time frame. It took more than a month to finally finish filling the order. Apparently, (according to them) they advertise lots of fish on their website, then when you order, they go out to the wholesalers and try to find the fish you ordered. Also adding to the problems was the fact that we ordered right after the 1st of the year, and apparently, many of the collectors are closed or not collecting for weather or other reasons during that time. I can say that they bent over backwards to finally make the order right with all of us, even threw in shipping & a few free fish to make up for the inconveniences, but overall, it was an unpleasant ordeal, one I'm not looking forward to trying again soon.

[mgregory]

Good advise Nikki. I wish I could buy local. It's much better to see the coral/fish and how it is doing.....I'm even looking at driving to Seattle on a "fish/coral run" just so I can see what I'm getting.

I wish I knew some good FS in Seattle...this first time may be recon only!!

[BoomerD]

Before you make the drive to Seattle, ask about the LFS here:
PSAS

[mgregory]

Ok thanks BoomerD. I just got that info from Nikki!!

I've been looking for some place to find info for the Seattle area should have asked here long ago!!

Thanks you both. Can't think of a better weekend, Mariners game, go fish shopping and enjoy awesome drive!!


Thanks again to both of you

Mark

[Cougra]

I would liek to add that unless you are ordering quite a few fish, even though the initial price seems to be cheaper online, once you add in the shipping costs, you are most likely paying a lot more for then you think.

Having said that, I will consider ordering some livestock online again (have in the past) because it simply isn't available in any of the LFS's around here and the LFS wont order any in for me.

[johnlewis]

I've had good luck with online suppliers including marinedepotlive and etropicals.

[MojosReef]

I have used these people I lost one fish and it died 2 days after the guarantee. It never did eat but the rest did fine. I lost one the other day but I had it for over 8months, Everythings else is thriving.
Saltwater Fish.com

[Witfull]

Originally posted by mgregory
Can't think of a better weekend, Mariners game, go fish shopping and enjoy awesome drive!!

Dont forget to stop at Pikes Market and watch them throw fish around,,,and get some goodies for a feast when you get home.