Best place to buy fish Online

[xAyanex]

I want a regular ocellaris and a black and white ocellaris, but my LFS only carries true percs.

 

Where is the best place to buy fish online, in your experience? So far I've really only looked at liveaquaria because it was suggested on another thread.

 

Most of the threads I can find with this question asked are years old.

[William]

Bluezooaquatics

Vivid aquariums

That fish place

[strummerfan]

Liveaquaria is hard to beat.

[makingfilms]

liveaquaria is pretty good. Their customer service is top notch. I haven't had too much luck with the livestock living through shipping however. I am like 2 for 6 or something. Just today my pink streak wrasse I finally found on divers den showed up dead in the box.I have been looking for one for a while and was super bummed. They did refund my money very quickly which is great (already have the charge back pending). a worthwhile note for you: one of the fish that made it from live aquaria and is thriving was my premium black ice/snowflake clown. She has paired with my smaller black ice and are great additions to my tank.

[Matteo]

saltwaterfish

liveaquaria

culitvatedreef

[Hard Softy]

saltwaterfish

liveaquaria

culitvatedreef

I hear cultivated reef is very good ..

[xAyanex]

Thank you for all the suggestions!!

 

liveaquaria is pretty good. Their customer service is top notch. I haven't had too much luck with the livestock living through shipping however. I am like 2 for 6 or something. Just today my pink streak wrasse I finally found on divers den showed up dead in the box.I have been looking for one for a while and was super bummed. They did refund my money very quickly which is great (already have the charge back pending). a worthwhile note for you: one of the fish that made it from live aquaria and is thriving was my premium black ice/snowflake clown. She has paired with my smaller black ice and are great additions to my tank.

This is the main reason I'm hesitant to order from liveaquaria-I have read about a lot of people receiving dead fishies T.T

[Sancho]

You cant beat liveaquaria. Avoid bluezoo. Although there are also guys on ebay that breed clowns. I hate facebook, but there is a community of reefers where deals can be had. Have you asked your LFS if they can get you what you want? If I am patient my LFS will get fish within a week if not in stock.

[Drew Shark]

You cant beat liveaquaria. Avoid bluezoo. Although there are also guys on ebay that breed clowns. I hate facebook, but there is a community of reefers where deals can be had. Have you asked your LFS if they can get you what you want? If I am patient my LFS will get fish within a week if not in stock.

My LFS are the same way. They all seem to make weekly orders and each week they arrive on the same day. I need to get better about going on arrival days to get the best stuff.

[xAyanex]

You cant beat liveaquaria. Avoid bluezoo. Although there are also guys on ebay that breed clowns. I hate facebook, but there is a community of reefers where deals can be had. Have you asked your LFS if they can get you what you want? If I am patient my LFS will get fish within a week if not in stock.

Nope. I've been there several times, and every time every person I encountered was super rude.

 

My LFS are the same way. They all seem to make weekly orders and each week they arrive on the same day. I need to get better about going on arrival days to get the best stuff.

 

I'm located in Indiana and the only reef LFS I'm aware of isn't in the greatest area. The things they have are nice and their tanks are decent, but everyone working there is just rude as hell. Maybe if I had a better store I would look into it. Are you guys located near the ocean?

[Sancho]

Nope. I've been there several times, and every time every person I encountered was super rude.

 

I'm located in Indiana and the only reef LFS I'm aware of isn't in the greatest area. The things they have are nice and their tanks are decent, but everyone working there is just rude as hell. Maybe if I had a better store I would look into it. Are you guys located near the ocean?

Sounds like Petco. Find out who the owner is. We have a couple LFS that the staff sucks a giant bag of dicks but the owners are really cool people. The 16 year old kid is probably not the one to ask to make an order for you. Find another LFS, join a local reef club. Yeah they are out there even in Indiana. Hit up lawn he is in your neck of the woods. He might be able to point you in the right direction. Your not requesting super expensive rare fish. If your LFS wont get what you want move on. They will probably be out of business soon if thats how they do business.

[Drew Shark]

Nope. I've been there several times, and every time every person I encountered was super rude.

 

I'm located in Indiana and the only reef LFS I'm aware of isn't in the greatest area. The things they have are nice and their tanks are decent, but everyone working there is just rude as hell. Maybe if I had a better store I would look into it. Are you guys located near the ocean?

 

Both Sancho and I are located in Southern California which is probably the epicenter of the marine hobby in America.

[BoxKing]

Bought my clowns from a guy locally - his name is Brian.

 

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=clownfish%20depot

[xAyanex]

 

Both Sancho and I are located in Southern California which is probably the epicenter of the marine hobby in America.

Would be awesome to be there, then!

 

Sounds like Petco. Find out who the owner is. We have a couple LFS that the staff sucks a giant bag of dicks but the owners are really cool people. The 16 year old kid is probably not the one to ask to make an order for you. Find another LFS, join a local reef club. Yeah they are out there even in Indiana. Hit up lawn he is in your neck of the woods. He might be able to point you in the right direction. Your not requesting super expensive rare fish. If your LFS wont get what you want move on. They will probably be out of business soon if thats how they do business.

I will definitely look into speaking with the owner. There are a lot of young kids there. The one older guy I talked to one day seemed alright. He wasn't rude like the younger people I had spoken with-they all acted like since I was new to the hobby I had no business going in there and checking out the fish and corals or buying test kits, etc. Like, come on, everyone starts somewhere. Seeing their livestock helps me learn (and it's super fun!). And when I ask questions about something I had a girl say "oh it doesn't matter, you're clearly not far enough into the hobby to get one". Like thanks, I'm well aware of my tank and it's newbie status. I just want to learn for the future. I like to plan things out, god forbid. Jeez.

 

I will ask Lawn about it-thank you for the advice.

[Drew Shark]

That's a bummer about the employees being rude. If you find the owner is not any better, then you have the options recommended by others above. I am fortunate that I have one store in particular that the owner is an expert aquarist and generally is very good about answering newbie questions. However, I have been in your position as I recently started getting into SPS and I wanted to run my plans by someone.

[lkoechle]

Thank you for all the suggestions!!

 

 

This is the main reason I'm hesitant to order from liveaquaria-I have read about a lot of people receiving dead fishies T.T

 

Bluezoo will give you dead fish and wrong fish... -.- I would prefer dead fish, they don't give refunds for wrong fish even though it's their fault. I had to argue for weeks to get it fixed and get the right fish...

[xAyanex]

Bluezoo will give you dead fish and wrong fish... -.- I would prefer dead fish, they don't give refunds for wrong fish even though it's their fault. I had to argue for weeks to get it fixed and get the right fish...

Wows, that's crap!!

[JSVAND5]

Unless you are buying from the divers den section, live aquaria is no better than petco. They both get their fish from the same place. Live aquaria has their fish drop shipped from quality marine. No one from live aquaria ever sees the fish you are sent aside from the divers den section.

 

If you are just looking for some clowns I'd contact a breeder and see if they will sell some of the non designer types cheap.

[Tamberav]

Bluezoo will give you dead fish and wrong fish... -.- I would prefer dead fish, they don't give refunds for wrong fish even though it's their fault. I had to argue for weeks to get it fixed and get the right fish...

 

That suprises me, they sent me the wrong mantis shrimp before, so they overnighted me the right shrimp at no charge and I ended up with two shrimp! All I did was drop them an email and a pic of the wrong shrimp they sent.

Unless you are buying from the divers den section, live aquaria is no better than petco. They both get their fish from the same place. Live aquaria has their fish drop shipped from quality marine. No one from live aquaria ever sees the fish you are sent aside from the divers den section.

 

If you are just looking for some clowns I'd contact a breeder and see if they will sell some of the non designer types cheap.

 

Its better than my Petco because any fish that touches the water in their tanks is exposed to numerous diseases/parasites. At least if they are still in the bag, they have a chance. I agree with finding a breeder though.

[teenyreef]

I've dealt with liveaquaria several times and had good luck every time. But no matter who you buy from, mail order fish is always a crap shoot. So for me, the primary concern is customer service.

 

I can't think of anyone ever posting about a problem with live aquaria that didn't result in a prompt refund. Same for cultivated reef. But there have been multiple posts from experienced reefers about hassles with bluezoo in trying to get refunds. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with bluezoo, just pointing out what others have reported.

 

I agree that the best approach is talk to the owner of the LFS, and reach out to local reefers through a club. If the LFS can't point you to a club, so some searches on Facebook, that's where most of the clubs do their business now. And definitely check with Lawn.

[xAyanex]

Unless you are buying from the divers den section, live aquaria is no better than petco. They both get their fish from the same place. Live aquaria has their fish drop shipped from quality marine. No one from live aquaria ever sees the fish you are sent aside from the divers den section.

 

If you are just looking for some clowns I'd contact a breeder and see if they will sell some of the non designer types cheap.

I've never looked into petco because I heard they're not very good.

 

I've dealt with liveaquaria several times and had good luck every time. But no matter who you buy from, mail order fish is always a crap shoot. So for me, the primary concern is customer service.

 

I can't think of anyone ever posting about a problem with live aquaria that didn't result in a prompt refund. Same for cultivated reef. But there have been multiple posts from experienced reefers about hassles with bluezoo in trying to get refunds. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with bluezoo, just pointing out what others have reported.

 

I agree that the best approach is talk to the owner of the LFS, and reach out to local reefers through a club. If the LFS can't point you to a club, so some searches on Facebook, that's where most of the clubs do their business now. And definitely check with Lawn.

I'm going to look into a LFS Lawn suggested since he is from my area. He said the store I've been going to is like the crappiest one. He told me about a club but said they have meetings so he didn't join, and I don't have time for meetings but it's still maybe worth looking into.

[Tamberav]

Oh... I didn't even share what I use...

 

I have a ton of experience with mail order...we don't have much variety at the LFS.

 

I do Divers Den > Unique Corals > Live Aquaria > Blue Zoo.

 

Diver's Den has WYSIWYG and A+ customer service, cash refunds

 

Unique Corals has many net caught and tank bred fish, but no cash refunds, never lost a fish from them yet though. $20 shipping is nice.

 

Live Aquaria is just mail order fish but with A+ customer service and cash refunds. If you order a lot, expect some DOA's, ect These fish are not conditioned and it happens...

 

Blue Zoo is mail order fish again but without the cash refund (credit instead). I haven't had an issue getting the credit when something died but cash refund is better so I use Live Aquaria over this except when I want a certain rare/hard to find specimen and Bluezoo is carrying it. They are great for oddballs like specific mantis shrimp, or other odd inverts and finding female flasher wrasse's, ect.

 

I should also mention Miniwaters.fish - This is run by Matt Peterson and he has some hard to find clownfish and others like captive bred yellow tanks, angelfish, ect. He makes sure the fish are in good health before shipping and can give you exact details if you contact him. Comes with live upon arrival guarantee. He is local so I am lucky nothing needs to be shipped but all the fish I have purchased from him have been perfect. He even put in a special request for a flasher wrasse and got pictures and information for me. I ended up with a beautiful male that had been conditioned.

[xAyanex]

Oh... I didn't even share what I use...

 

I have a ton of experience with mail order...we don't have much variety at the LFS.

 

I do Divers Den > Unique Corals > Live Aquaria > Blue Zoo.

 

Diver's Den has WYSIWYG and A+ customer service, cash refunds

 

Unique Corals has many net caught and tank bred fish, but no cash refunds, never lost a fish from them yet though. $20 shipping is nice.

 

Live Aquaria is just mail order fish but with A+ customer service and cash refunds. If you order a lot, expect some DOA's, ect These fish are not conditioned and it happens...

 

Blue Zoo is mail order fish again but without the cash refund (credit instead). I haven't had an issue getting the credit when something died but cash refund is better so I use Live Aquaria over this except when I want a certain rare/hard to find specimen and Bluezoo is carrying it. They are great for oddballs like specific mantis shrimp, or other odd inverts and finding female flasher wrasse's, ect.

 

I should also mention Miniwaters.fish - This is run by Matt Peterson and he has some hard to find clownfish and others like captive bred yellow tanks, angelfish, ect. He makes sure the fish are in good health before shipping and can give you exact details if you contact him. Comes with live upon arrival guarantee. He is local so I am lucky nothing needs to be shipped but all the fish I have purchased from him have been perfect. He even put in a special request for a flasher wrasse and got pictures and information for me. I ended up with a beautiful male that had been conditioned.

I've heard a lot of good things about Diver's Den, but they didn't have the beginner clownfish I wanted. They have a lot of upscale stuff for me lol.

 

$20 shipping seems to be pretty cheap compared to what I've been researching!

 

Thank you for all the awesome advice!

[tiggs]

Live Aquaria is top notch (especially their Diver's Den specimens) and I've also had a great experience with Cultivated Reef. For my clowns, I opted to go with Cultivated Reef. Cultivated Reef gets their clowns from Reef & Sea, which is comparable to ORA (although with a bigger selection of species) and the prices are quite good. Live Aquaria has ORA clowns for a premium price, but also no-name clowns for about the same price as the Reef & Sea stuff from Cultivated Reef.

[1.0reef]

Pacific island aquatics just came back, zoacollector and picturesque aquatics have good reviews, reef wise is also good.