T.J. Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Starting to make a list for my 45gal tank. Anyone ever buy equipment/livestock from Drs. Foster & Smith? They are a large online/magazine pet supplier here in WI. I've bought dog stuff from them before, but never fish supplies. Do you thing their products and prices are any good? If not, who do you suggest I go to (other than my LFS, which is a rip off)? TJ Link to comment
JohnnyMTB Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I've never ordered livestock, but I have purchased plenty of supplies from them. If you look around you can find items at different vendors for lower prices, but once you add in all the shipping to get Item 1 from vendor A, Item 2 from vendor B, etc., it's cheaper to get it all from one place. I would look elsewhere for lights, hellolights.com is a good choice. Link to comment
slickchick Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I have placed 3 orders from them. I have been very happy with the prices and service. Their prices are literally half of my LFS so I buy a lot of stuff at once and stock up. The only thing I don't like is the delivery time to CA but I am too cheap to pay for expedited shipping... Link to comment
mtglore Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Has anyone ever tried "Froogle?" Or, am I just late in coming to this? Anyhow, it's a handy little search engine: www.froogle.com You can find just about every online retailer's prices for any particular item, and then sort them according to your own specified category (e.g., lowest price). It works best for products with patented names terms such as "SCWD" or "B-Ionic" or well known companies like "IceCap" or "Custiom Sea Life." Kinda cool. Link to comment
lunchingfriar Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I've purchased dry goods and live rock from Foster & Smith (and their site liveaquaria.com). I had no problems and would buy from them again. Link to comment
Toonces Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 i've only bought dry goods from them, but drs f & s is the only online site i order from. it takes 2 or 3 days to get my order in chicago and their prices are as good as any. sometimes someone will have something for a dollar less, but as JohnnyMTB said, one big order is better in the long run. Also- I bought a glass canopy from them once and my roommate signed for it and just put it in my room. It was shattered by FedEx so I called them and they sent a new one out the next day without any problem whatsoever. Link to comment
Whitten Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Ok I am the exception to the rule as there is always atleast one. I ordered an azoo deco art tank from them, and the first one was shattered, the second was cracked, and the third that they told me I would have to pay for was also shattered. I ordered these tanks before Christmas, and am just now getting my refund. I have been on the phone numerous times with them(seem very nice and helpful) but have been fed lines of BS every time. The arrangements were for them to come and pick up the last broken tank, and to send me a postage sticker to mail the 2nd one back. Upon them recieveing both tanks I would be credited back all of the money that I had spent on the tanks. Well....the second tank I sent via there postage card, and 3 weeks later I still have no refund. The third broken tank has still not been picked up, like they said it was supposed to be over 2.5 weeks agon....and you guessed it no refund. My advice, what ever you order make certain it is not able to be broken by imbisils in the back making poor packing decisions. Oh but other than all of that They are great....... Link to comment
zzpw3x Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 They have been good for me too. There is a coupon code for first time buyers. It is 6892. It was functional as of early January. Dale Link to comment
moose12 Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I just received a liveaquaria order yesterday. First online livestock and so far I'm very impressed. I purchased snails, a tiger tail cuke, and a small colony of orange zooanthids. Everything arrived alive and thankfully warm, I live in Denver so that was a concern. Everything was triple bagged and there two "still warm" heat packs in the container. The snails are doing fine. The tiger tail I think is okay, I've heard varying stories of them not shipping well so I'll wait and see. The orange zoos are doing great, first day full expansion, there are pictures of them in the Photography Forum. HTH, Chris Link to comment
klarnox Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I've purchased drygoods from them before, but never online. Their warehouse is in Rhinelander, WI where they also have a small store. I don't know where in WI you're from but local pickup has saved me quite a bit on shipping. If you call ahead they can have any drygoods pulled and waiting for you when you arrive to pick them up. Link to comment
1fish2fish Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I order drygoods from them quite frequently and have never had any problems. Also, they are very god about returns if there is a problem with an item (drygoods) For livestock I have used Reeftopia a number of times and have always been very happy with the service and the product. I have also found that their prices are better than most. 100 turbo snails for $40... not bad at all. They also ship for free on orders over $120. www.reeftopia.com Link to comment
littlereefer Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Overall I consider them great. I order from them about 4 times a year whenever I need to restock on dry goods. Tony Link to comment
DLR31987 Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I ordered most of my drygoods from them when I was just starting my tank and they all came well packaged and in good shape. They have excellent customer service and were able to answer all of my questions promptly and with good answers. I would recommend their dry goods, unfrotunately I don't have any experience with liveaquaria or etropicals. Link to comment
myelin Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I've ordered from Drs. Foster and Smith. Everything came very nicely packed, and right on time. Rest assured they will treat you right. I purchased only dry goods from them, so I am not sure about their live animals. Link to comment
KariE2B Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I have never bought livestock, but the prices for their live goods are so much cheaper than any LFS in Chicago that even with shipping I am saving a great deal of money. If you are looking for drygoods Foster and Smith is great. Link to comment
KariE2B Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Does the Wisconsin site also have livestock? Link to comment
klarnox Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Very limited livestock... Last time I was in (about 2 weeks ago) they had a few false percs, margarita & astrea snails, some blue leg hermits, brittle stars, a couple yellow tangs, a couple other fish. I have never asked, but I imagine they would ship livestock to the store for local pickup if that's what you're considering. All of that said, they are building a much larger store near their current location and I believe they plan to stock more livestock once they move. The current store is a bit cramped. Link to comment
Trance Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 I have ordered my arag-alive from them as well as some fish and plants for my freshwater setup. Lost some of the fish (A little too many, a little too fast ). I called them up and they gave me refund for the lost fish. I also ordered the lights for my fresh water tank from them. Good company. Link to comment
T.J. Posted January 29, 2004 Author Share Posted January 29, 2004 Wow!! Thanks for all the responses. I have no fear purchasing equipment from them, and it seems that the livestock is good also. It's amazing how expensive my LFS are compared to most of the online/catalog companies. Examples: LR at LFS about $8.99lb w/o much coraline, Drs F&S about $3.00lb. Mushroom rocks LFS $44.99, online $24.00. Equipment and lights? Don't get me started! Plus, no tax for out of state purchases! Gotta love it! Link to comment
moose12 Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 TJ not but a damper on the prices, as they are really good even for livestock, though you have to factor in shipping cost. For my order which i listed above shipping was around $25. Still not too bad if you're getting more than one piece of livestock. HTH Chris Link to comment
Rene Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 I've ordered drygoods for them, as the LFSs don't have much of a selection. Order was promptly shipped and prices weren't too bad, got here in about 6-7 days on the least expensive shipping rate. Everything was well packed except the salt, which was thrown in a box with food, lightbulbs, and test kits. The sliding around had it a little torn, but still in good shape...there was just crust everywhere. Not enough to complain to customer service about. Why they didn't ship it in a seperate box like they did with the black sand is something I'll never know. Link to comment
theclearblue Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 Might as well chime in, I order a bunch of African Cichlids from liveaquaria. All of them arrived in great shape and well packaged. I lost one about a month ago, but he had been picking fights with fish that obviously outmatched him. I guess they finally had enough... On an odd note, one of the fish I ordered was a blue peacock and they accidentally sent me an albino kribensis - how they confused that I don't know... Well anyway, when I called and described the fish I got a refund to my CC, no questions asked, followed by a "I hope you enjoy your kribensis, he's a unique fish. We apologize for the mix-up" Link to comment
cowboy Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 I cant say that I have ordered a bunch of stuff for my salt water tank from them but I have ordered more then I would like to admit from their pond supply for my koi ponds. I have always had great service. Link to comment
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