Live Aquaria Questions

SaltwaterTeabag

SaltwaterTeabag

New member
Just looking to get some feed back on orders, quality of fish, and how easy to deal with.
I always used local fish stores and just wanted to know how the online ordering has been for others.

Thanks.
 
I had good experiences with them in the past. I quit using them because they charge sales tax now and their free shipping minimum is high. So once you add on sales tax and shipping, it adds a lot to total cost. It's cheaper for me to get fish elsewhere, so I do now.
 
I started using www.bluezooaquatics.com

I've heard mixed reviews with them in the past, but honestly, I've had nothing but good experiences through them. Plus, they let you pick your shipping date and will call you to make sure everything is good to go before they ship your order. And you get free shipping on orders over 140 bucks. I actually just placed an order with them a couple days ago. I picked tuesday as my shipping date so I can make sure I have everything ready and set up to QT my new arrivals.
 
lespaul339 said:
I started using www.bluezooaquatics.com

I've heard mixed reviews with them in the past, but honestly, I've had nothing but good experiences through them. Plus, they let you pick your shipping date and will call you to make sure everything is good to go before they ship your order. And you get free shipping on orders over 140 bucks. I actually just placed an order with them a couple days ago. I picked tuesday as my shipping date so I can make sure I have everything ready and set up to QT my new arrivals.
Click to expand...

However, their guarantee policy is highly restrictive. For me the extra cost at LA is worth it.
 
snorvich said:
However, their guarantee policy is highly restrictive. For me the extra cost at LA is worth it.
Click to expand...

You're talking a guarantee difference of 7 days. And live aquaria will only cover the cost of the fish, not the shipping or sales tax. If you don't meet their minimum shipping for free freight at $175 you're paying the extra money for tax and shipping, for 7 more days of guarantee. It's a fine line, but with blue zoo's cheaper free freight option at $140 and no sales tax, I find that I save money in the long run. Like I said, I've had good experiences with Live Aquaria in the past, so I'm not discrediting the quality of livestock you get from them at all. It just boils down to how much you want to spend.
 
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Generally, I have been pretty happy with LA for fish (as well as corals/inverts but you asked about fish!). I have received some really stunning stock specimens. Their arrive alive and stay alive policy is the best I have seen... It even applies to 'Expert Only' species.

I will not buy tiny/small fish from LA anymore though. All the ones I have received were either DOA or NDOA (nearly DOA). The water they were in was noticeably cold (I have talked to LA managers about how cold the animals were when I received them). The survival rate for medium/large fish I have received is very high, while tiny/small has a survival rate of 0 for both LA and LA DD. I don't know if it is distance or what, but I would recommend springing for medium/large specimens based on my experience.

I have had only bad experiences with bluezooaquatics.com and will not recommend them to anyone. I gave them plenty of chances to rectify issues but they did not.

ETA: I have not purchased locally in quite awhile. The only LFS that is close never has the fish I am after.
 
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lespaul339 said:
You're talking a guarantee difference of 7 days. And live aquaria will only cover the cost of the fish, not the shipping or sales tax. If you don't meet their minimum shipping for free freight at $175 you're paying the extra money for tax and shipping, for 7 more days of guarantee. It's a fine line, but with blue zoo's cheaper free freight option at $140 and no sales tax, I find that I save money in the long run. Like I said, I've had good experiences with Live Aquaria in the past, so I'm not discrediting the quality of livestock you get from them at all. It just boils down to how much you want to spend.
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Except LA will REFUND you all of the expense including tax and shipping if the fish dies, BZ is credit only. Also if the fish comes in badly or isn't eating LA will extend the guarantee on the fish another week, every week that you call and communicate that to them. If you're trying to spend less money on fish then LA nor BZ are good choices, going straight to the wholesalers or having someone who can is best.
 
Used BZ 3 times and 2 of them were bad experiences. I moved on from them. When I want to purchase a more challenging fish, I usually go through LA, but fish I know that are hardy, I usually go through vividaquariums or nyaquatics.
 
All of my fish have come from LA or DD. I've always been pleased with the quality of their livestock. And, their customer service is the best in the industry IMO.
 
Dmorty217 said:
Except LA will REFUND you all of the expense including tax and shipping if the fish dies
Click to expand...
Not in my experience with LA. I was only refunded fish price. Not shipping cost too. I ended up paying next day air for a bunch of inverts (crabs and snails) because my fish was DOA. Wasn't too pleased. Thought the least they could do is ship me another fish at no charge. That being said I've ordered from them since then. And like I said above, my experience through them has pretty much been positive every other time. I can't say I've had a bad experience with blue zoo yet, but I have seen where people have. I think you will find just as many people that aren't pleased with either or. Im just speaking about my personal experience through each place, and why I choose to buy from one over the other. Believe me, if I do have abad experience with blue zoo I won't be afraid to post about it. But so far I honestly haven't.
 
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snorvich said:
However, their guarantee policy is highly restrictive. For me the extra cost at LA is worth it.
Click to expand...
This.

Blue Zoo's fish and invert quality is pretty much the same as what you get from Quality Marine via LiveAquaria. I had good and bad with both, but LiveAquaria's warranty, credit system and customer service are far superior. Blue Zoo gives you a credit code, but you can only use one at a time with a new order. LiveAquaria gives you a choice of credit or refund and their credits can be accumulated and used all at once.
As for refunding shipping costs - that would be up to the shipping company and they won't do it unless they did something wrong or failed to deliver on time.
I usually see that I get always over the free shipping threshold.

When it comes to LiveAquaria's Diver's Den livestock you are in a totally different universe.
I ordered an ORA Marine Betta of Diver's Den and it was DOA. I contacted their customer service and they credited it. At this point I thought that was it, but a few days later Kevin Kohen contacted me and offered me a free replacement (not using the issued credit!). After that one came in DOA as well they had ORA ship me one directly and that one came in fine. I seriously doubt that there is any other livestock retailer that even comes close to this.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
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ThRoewer said:
I ordered an ORA Marine Betta of Diver's Den and it was DOA. I contacted their customer service and they credited it. At this point I thought that was it, but a few days later Kevin Kohen contacted me and offered me a free replacement (not using the issued credit!). After that one came in DOA as well they had ORA ship me one directly and that one came in fine. I seriously doubt that there is any other livestock retailer that even comes close to this.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's an amazing testimonial!
 
lespaul339 said:
I agree with you on that part. I would never order a fish from them that isn't guaranteed. If I wanted one of those I would use LA instead of BZ, since it comes with a guarantee from LA.
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The issue is that LiveAquaria doesn't have everything. Some things I just have to get from Blue Zoo. Blue Zoo is sometimes also more accommodating when it comes to sexing and pairing fish, shrimp and crabs, since they ship from their own warehouse while LA has to rely on Quality Marine, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

I would already be happy if Blue Zoo would allow to use all credits on one order instead of only one each.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
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