Jump to content
Coral Vue Hydros

Live Aquaria alternatives

GiantBen

By GiantBen,
in General Discussion

Recommended Posts

GiantBen

GiantBen

Posted
Posted

I've been looking at buying three or four things from LiveAquaria, but nothing I want is in stock. Anyone know of any good alternatives with a decent selection of fish/coral? Thanks.

Link to comment
sublunary

sublunary

Posted
Posted

I've had good luck with bluezooaquatics. They have a smaller much WYSIWYG section, but they have a pretty decent variety of livestock. Good customer service too.

Link to comment
Lawnman

Lawnman

Posted
Posted
I've been looking at buying three or four things from LiveAquaria, but nothing I want is in stock. Anyone know of any good alternatives with a decent selection of fish/coral? Thanks.

What are you looking for?

Link to comment
JamesHL88

JamesHL88

Posted
Posted
I've had good luck with saltwaterfish.com but not sure if they have what you're looking for...

 

+1 thats the only sight ive used besides live aquaria for livestock

Link to comment
Lawnman

Lawnman

Posted
Posted

Haha I have been watching that red donut coral myself. Premium aquatics will get you a ything you want if you call them. Ask for Jeremy he is very helpful.

Link to comment
GiantBen

GiantBen

Posted
  • Author
Posted

It looks pretty awesome. The bleeding apples are nice, but becoming fairly common. Plus green is a common color in my tank, and they are super expensive.

Link to comment
not_so_nano

not_so_nano

Posted
Posted

Yeah I dont know whats up with liveaquaria latley and not having what they post in stock. I think they are dedicating more of their coral offering to their captive grown or diver den items that ship from them first party via their aquaculture facility in Wisconsin. However the prices on these items gets up there really fast.

 

You have to understand that Liveaquaria is split up into two parts. The first is their own aquaculture facility in Rhinelander, WI which is where their mother company, Drs. Foster and Smith is located. At this aquaculture facility they have all of the divers den fish, inverts and corals that they offer along with their Captive grown corals that they offer. This is ALL that Liveaquaria deals with first hand. You can tell this when you look at the item in question and it says it ships from Wisconsin.

 

Everything else ships from third party vendors in either California or Florida. Liveaquaria contracts with them for specific livestock to sell under their name. Besides taking the payment, forwarding the order information and offering their own terms of sale on the fish or coral, Liveaquaria has little to do with it.

 

Petco.com is another place that does the same thing. People say "uhhhh Petco, ewww" but the truth of the matter is that they offer the same garantee that Liveaquaria does "14 day money back" and they ship from 3rd parties in California or a known name, A&M aquatics for Aquacultured corals. So in all honosty do not feel a need to shy away from them. I have ordered from them before and have been more than happy each time. I had two DOA's in 4 orders getting my refund was as easy as calling and saying "hey this didnt make it". They have a pretty decent selection of fish on their site along with corals so its worth a looks see. Also they offer a lower free shipping rate than Liveaquaria.com $175 instead of $225 and it is always priority overnight without an extra $10 fee like Liveaquaria charges. Again, besides taking your order, Petco really has little to do with it as it comes from national vendors that know what they are doing.

 

Both are very good to order from. I have found very little difference in quality of the animals I have recieved in general. Both offer a few differnt product however.

Link to comment
not_so_nano

not_so_nano

Posted
Posted

I also do not order from anyone that does not offer money back. If an am not satisfied, more than likley I dont want to order from you again so store credit and having to go thru a song and dance of taking 20 pictures to show your not a criminal lier is kind of rediculas in my opinion.

Link to comment
Kazooie

Kazooie

Posted
Posted

Don't know your intentions, and you probably know this, but that tang won't fit in a nano.

 

Now, does it all have to be from one place? You can get that all easily, but you'll have to pay shipping at each place then.

Link to comment
GiantBen

GiantBen

Posted
  • Author
Posted
How about another one of our sponsors..... Pacific East Aquaculture? :)

Not much selection fish-wise

 

 

I suppose LA doesn't really have much selection either....they just show you way more than they have :/

 

Don't know your intentions, and you probably know this, but that tang won't fit in a nano.

I'm sure it would. I have a bigger tank that will be setup by the time it gets uncomfortable. That should be several years, so I have penty of time.

 

Now, does it all have to be from one place? You can get that all easily, but you'll have to pay shipping at each place then.

I don't want to pay shipping multiple times. Not to mention, I've not seen the coral OR the fish at another vendor. I'm not really interested in calling either, which I guess is my problem. I like to tool around on the internet and check everything out, and buy right then. Once I have to call and start dealing with someone, I lose interest pretty quick...

Link to comment
solefald

solefald

Posted
Posted
Petco.com is another place that does the same thing. People say "uhhhh Petco, ewww" but the truth of the matter is that they offer the same garantee that Liveaquaria does "14 day money back" and they ship from 3rd parties in California or a known name, A&M aquatics for Aquacultured corals. So in all honosty do not feel a need to shy away from them. I have ordered from them before and have been more than happy each time. I had two DOA's in 4 orders getting my refund was as easy as calling and saying "hey this didnt make it". They have a pretty decent selection of fish on their site along with corals so its worth a looks see. Also they offer a lower free shipping rate than Liveaquaria.com $175 instead of $225 and it is always priority overnight without an extra $10 fee like Liveaquaria charges. Again, besides taking your order, Petco really has little to do with it as it comes from national vendors that know what they are doing.

 

 

Have to agree with this. I really really dislike PETCO but I still go there to get cat food. Their selection and prices (on cat food) are hard to beat.

 

I was looking for a couple of clowns the other day. None of the LFS had regular Ocellaris clowns, so a friend of mine told me to check PETCO. I went there, and their selection of salt water fish was insane! They had 5 or 6 different types of clowns and all kinds of other saltwater fish. Everything looked healthy and well fed. I was really impressed.

 

I still hate PETCO, but sometimes you can't beat them.

Link to comment
HVani

HVani

Posted
Posted

Yeah I've been having the same issues. I want to get a couple fish but have trouble finding a place with a good reputation and good selection. I have been hearing really bad things about blue zoo recently so I am hesitant to order from them.

Saltwaterfish.com looks pretty good. They have a pretty good selection.

Link to comment
not_so_nano

not_so_nano

Posted
Posted
Have to agree with this. I really really dislike PETCO but I still go there to get cat food. Their selection and prices (on cat food) are hard to beat.

 

I was looking for a couple of clowns the other day. None of the LFS had regular Ocellaris clowns, so a friend of mine told me to check PETCO. I went there, and their selection of salt water fish was insane! They had 5 or 6 different types of clowns and all kinds of other saltwater fish. Everything looked healthy and well fed. I was really impressed.

 

I still hate PETCO, but sometimes you can't beat them.

 

I was not talking Petco retail locations, I was talking Petco.com

 

Unless you have one of those exceptional stores in your area that are few and far between shy away from Petco Retail Stores in general where an employee comes in contact with the fish.

 

I stated PETCO.COM because the fish, coral and inverts are drop shipped from third party vendors and are very good quality. They offer 14 day money back on anything ! Your never going to find that in a Petco Retail Store.

 

Again, in this business I do not order from anyone if they do not have a MONEY back heatlth/arrive alive garantee. Like I said above. If I just really was not satisfied with you, Im prolly not going to order from you again so that store credit you offer me is worthless. In particular if I am ordering a something expensive. You may pay a little more but that peice of mind is always there, for 14 days atleast.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...