Live Aquaria shipment today

[Yinzer]

Well, after looking around at the lfs's for some new fish and doing some pricing. I decided that since everywhere I have gone has been more expensive than the last one, I am strictly buying my fish online. As a business owner, I understand markups but these places go above and beyond a reasonable mark up. I have dealt with Live Aquaria before and have had great experiences. Just a couple comparisons:

1. Small-medium Copperband Butterfly $26.99 online and 49.99 locally.
2. Firefish 7.99 online and 14.99 locally
3. Medium Harlequin Tusk 59.99 online and 149.99 locally
4. Green spotted Mandarine 11.99 on line and 24.99 locally
I can go on but you get the idea. I am all about doing business locally but that is ridiculous. Not only that but if the fish arrives dead or dies in a day or 2. No questions asked they will give you a credit or send a new one. If that happens around here, it's your fault no matter what and you get nothing. I'm sorry but this hobby is too expensive to pay a middle man, especially when they overcharge. Just my 2 cents.....

 

[AHDOnline]

Yeah you will find it hit or miss on several items. I do always try to support local first, but there are times it just doesnt make sense to my pocketbook. if you are just getting one or two fish then it is cheaper after shipping.

 

[NaClH2Opgh]

Yeah you will find it hit or miss on several items. I do always try to support local first, but there are times it just doesnt make sense to my pocketbook. if you are just getting one or two fish then it is cheaper after shipping.

+1
I never buy more than 1 or 2 fish at a time so the shipping would not be worth it for me. My other issue is I like seeing the fish as far as health and color. I know they have the arrive alive guarantee but to be honest I have only lost like 2 fish in the past 15 years within the first few days of taking it home since I have been buying from LFS like Wet Pets and even Elmer's. All the other fish I have lost were due to jumping,and harassment by other fish. The only time I ever buy fish online is a group buy. If I was going to stock a tank and get like 5+ fish at once then I would probably do it.

 

[hybridazn]

i feel the same. if you can place a big enough order to equal out the shipping fees then it is def. cheaper to buy online. but other than that i will just buy from a lfs for the only fact you see the fish in person and can see it eat and everything.

i dont know about wet pets but i know elmers at least will give you back 50% on a dead fish up to 14 days. thats better than nothing

 

[cloakerpoked]

Well, after looking around at the lfs's for some new fish and doing some pricing. I decided that since everywhere I have gone has been more expensive than the last one, I am strictly buying my fish online. As a business owner, I understand markups but these places go above and beyond a reasonable mark up. I have dealt with Live Aquaria before and have had great experiences. Just a couple comparisons:

1. Small-medium Copperband Butterfly $26.99 online and 49.99 locally.
2. Firefish 7.99 online and 14.99 locally
3. Medium Harlequin Tusk 59.99 online and 149.99 locally
4. Green spotted Mandarine 11.99 on line and 24.99 locally
I can go on but you get the idea. I am all about doing business locally but that is ridiculous. Not only that but if the fish arrives dead or dies in a day or 2. No questions asked they will give you a credit or send a new one. If that happens around here, it's your fault no matter what and you get nothing. I'm sorry but this hobby is too expensive to pay a middle man, especially when they overcharge. Just my 2 cents.....

If you don't get an eating CBB that eats mysis or brine, you're going to be flushing your money down the toilet. You can see them eat in the store, not on LA. Shop around too, I've seen CBB for as low as 34.99 (Seahorse) and firefish for 9.99 (Elmer's) recently, so don't assume that you will pay way too much for the fish at a local store. Then you take into account the 10% club discount and the intangibles like seeing it eat, seeing it is healthy, seeing it doesn't have a ton of ich, etc. and you know the animal has survived shipping and I'll almost always buy a fish in a local store before buying from an online vendor. You pay extra, but you also get a lot more IMO, since often times specimens don't die for days or weeks, which isn't going to help you with live aquaria's guarantee necessarily.

Bottom line for me: When I buy a fish, I want to see a specific individual that is a. healthy looking b. eating c. not displaying signs of ich, lateral line, hole in head, or any other health issue and d. adapted to aquarium life. I'll gladly pay 25-50% more for the fish.

Also, if you don't support the LFS, they'll go out of business. If that happens, where you gonna go for your backup pump you need the same day yours goes offline. No online vendor will be able to help you then. Don't wanna get preachy or anything, and I certainly don't begrudge people who buy fish online...I just don't normally do it for fish for all of the reasons above.

 

[SirusX1721]

The bad thing about online is you can't see what you are buying. You get what they throw in the bag. My recent order from Bluezoo turned out great minus the Powder Blue Tang I got for Hybrid. It came in as if it came back from the dead. Colors were horrible and dull, and looked as if it hasn't ate in weeks. Granted Hybrid was able to turn things around and the fish is doing great now, but that's not always the case.

I'll still order online IF I'm able to get the free shipping from places (usually $250+). Otherwise I prefer locally as well. Prices are pretty fair for most things honestly though. Not like we live near the ocean =p Someone has to support these small business' because we all know who isn't!!! Hahah, bad joke? =p

 

[Mark 75g]

I just ordered coral from Live Aquaria about 2 weeks ago. I did this because you cannot find any large SPS coral frags around. Everything came in great except 1 piece. It just died on me yesterday. But I called Live Aquaria and they said no problem and asked whether I wanted money back or store credit. Did not even require pictures to prove the dead piece.

Great customer service and on Divers den you get what you see.

Just bought fish from Elmers. Would not buy fish from online just for the reason above. I would like to see the colors in person and make sure they are doing well plus it supports the local store.

 

[Yinzer]

I trust LA and they have never done me wrong, this is my second fish order and I have placed a coral order in the past. The trust issue is the deal breaker. If I didn't trust them, I would never use them. They have a WYSIWYG page as well. All of the fish that came in today look beautiful and happy. I dropped in some food and they scarfed it up. My foxface is my original fish and I got him from LA 7 months ago. The fish purchased from lfs have since died, most of them due to a fish I bought locally that showed signs of ich the day after I brought him home. Im not naming names but some of them will tell you (someone new to saltwater)anything so you spend money, including non compatible fish. I've had this happen twice. also, I went to 2 different stores for a copperband and each one had a "hold for mike" written on the glass and the third option had ich and was ony 1.5" long for 49.99. My new one is 3.5" and was alot less.

I just wanted to give input because people have asked about Liveaquaria. I would not order from Jim Bob's Rare Fish or any of the shady online sites but LA is part of Dr Foster and Smith. I know that I am getting a quality fish or coral when inorder from them, that's all.

 

[iamwrasseman]

i love the divers den portion of DF&S and also just buying fish from the saltwater dept has worked out very well for me .