Alternative to Live Aquaria

[S.Pepper]

Check out TSMAquatics.com

thanks for suggesting them. they look like a quality supplier and within driving distance.

 

[mfinn]

Thanks for keeping me honest. I must've misunderstood something I read along the way about when they were bought out by Petco.

Live Aquaria and Dr. Foster and Smith were the same company.
Once Petco bought them out the name Dr. Foster and Smith was dropped.
You can buy pretty much exactly the same dry goods, food etc. now on the LA website. The look is the same as it always was.

 

[justingraham]

@tsm corals
Help these folks out

 

[jsvand5]

My biggest issue with LA now this their Expert only fish. I’m fine with them having fish/inverts that aren’t covered for 14 days, but the price should reflect it. They are still selling regal angels on DD for $399 with basically no warranty. I can get the same fish from other sources for literally a third of the price.

The box charge is also ridiculous.

I’m ok with the increased free shipping price. I think $149 is still very fair.Also ok with the store credit instead of the refund.

I’ve been disappointed in my last few orders though so that, combined with the policy changes, has made me move on from them as a source for livestock.

 

[tswanso3]

I have noticed a HUGE drop off in customer service and quality of fish from Liveaquaria. So much so, I won't use them anymore. I recently got a 6-7 inch clown tang and 6 inch maculiceps tang from Aqua Locker and did the arrive alive only option to save me some $$. They came to be perfect and well packaged. I have some fish coming from TSM Aquatics in the next day or two as well.

 

[GlassMunky]

I’m not sure about shipping as I’m close enough that I get my fish in store but I will also say use @tsm corals . All fish for my new build are coming from them after we saw their facility and their QT practices. Great store with super healthy fish and awesome workers.
and with how much care they take for every other aspect of their business I would imagine they would be good at shipping as well.

 

[destro]

Reading this opens my eyes to be appreciative of the many LFS around me. Hope you find a service that works for you.

 

[Devaji]

not having a LFS with in 100+ miles each way I order all my live stock online.
I used to only do LA but as others have said it has gone down hill. they used to be the gold standard but not anymore.

I was set on ordering form aqualocker for the new build here in a few months but
once again changed there site so after a long thread to see what people wanted most of us said 14day grantee so they changed there side to offer that in the pricing but you still could get DOA only in check out if you felt like rolling the dice or wanted to save some money. I thought that was a very well thought out and CS friendly way to do it. you only pay for the what you want.
BUT they chanced it again this time reopening back up there fishybusiness website for DOA only and aqualocker for the 14 day. you cant mix orders to get the free shipping , box fees and more waste and over all is a what the heck moment for me at least. let say you want to stock your tank with 6 fish 3 "easy" fish you dont need the 14 day extra but 3 do you as they tend not to ship well. you would have to order 2 separate orders OR go all with or with out the grantee.
not so sure how I fell about this change seems silly to me and a waste IMHO. but dont get me wrong I understand people need to make a living and business need to profit.

soo all that said I will be looking for other options good to know about other choices.
BRS just needs to get into the livestock game!!!! they we will all be happy once again.

 

[fragit]

I emailed Adam at Oceandevotionla.com yesterday. He responded in less than an hour. Was very transparent about his QT process and where and why he sources fish. I haven’t ordered yet but plan to give him a shot. Gonna send one last email today.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Selgado aquatics
Ny aquatics
Aqua locker

 

[Mr.Guns]

Slight derail, but there are 2 LFS in my town, one of which is DISGUSTING. They sell puppies that are from mills, and fish that are clearly sick, not to mention bad advice. They advertise damsels for cycling your tank, it's literally written on the side of the glass.

The other one is much smaller, but they are notorious for giving bad advice, and when it comes to pricing... yikes. They charge $160 for the RO Buddie that you can buy online for $60. They also like to tell people there's no need to cycle.

On a random trip during a date night, I found a great place about 2 hours from my house, and it's absolutely worth the drive. I'd rather have a styrofoam cooler in my car for a few hours than have a fish get delivered to my house, especially when these package carriers can't even get my brand new computer monitor delivered without breaking it.

 

[Suspect]

Beware of Bluezooaquatics. Their website security is inadequate. Last year I had a ransom email sent to the email address that I used to register on their website. The email contained a password in plaintext. I use unique passwords for every account I create and the only place I used that password was Bluezooaquatics. It is likely their security was breached. Fortunately I used Paypal for the one order I placed with them so they do not have my CC info. I informed Bluezoo about this in May 2019 and they never replied. Considering their home page currently has embedded Javascript linking to a strange website "ldfidfa.pw" with an expired security certificate I'd say they have not taken any action to address their security issues.

 

[destro]

'Amazon Prime My Fish Order'

Can you imagine?!

 

[Blueringed_Octo]

Live Aquaria and Dr. Foster and Smith were the same company.
Once Petco bought them out the name Dr. Foster and Smith was dropped.
You can buy pretty much exactly the same dry goods, food etc. now on the LA website. The look is the same as it always was.

This makes so much sense! Back when I had my first Red Sea Tank, I used LA all the time and remembered always getting the Dr. Foster and Smith labels and packets in the box with the livestock. All of their fish and coral I bought back in 2011 always came as expected and sometimes even exceeded my expectations due to coral size. My inverts and fish were always healthy and I never had any issue with their shipping.
Fast forward to me getting back into the hobby in 2019...I went back to what I knew which was LA and noticed a huge difference. In everything with the exception of coral. Complete 180 for fish and inverts. Basically I had ordered about $1000 worth over the course of 6 months between fish, inverts, and coral. The coral always came with no issue but every single shipment that had anything to do with fish was a disaster. Some shipments were missing livestock completely. Others were NOT what was ordered. I would say 95% of all livestock died either on arrival or within the first week. The only fish I still have that survived was 1 Flame Angel and a chromis (out of 26 chromis). All of the livestock I got from my LFS survived so I stopped ordering from LA. Plus the customer service was terrible. I am sad to see this change as I really loved this company back in 2011. I have ordered coral from BOOMCorals and will say that guy has amazing customer service. He even sent me an extra coral for free as a kind gesture and when I thanked him and mentioned that one of his coral was struggling, he immediately said he wouldn't mind throwing in a few freebees on my next order. I still do not know any other online supplier for fish that is trustworthy so sticking to LFS for now.

 

[9Trees29gal]

Vivid Aquariums has been great, ORA fish from LA has been good but if you want pre-quarantined fish Marine collectors is the go-to -> https://marinecollectors.com/

I hadn't come across this one before... Looks like a great source for high- end fish. Not on my list yet, but good to know about! Thanks!

 

[Zoaologist]

I ordered 100 trochas snails and a naso tang and they didn’t even ship out my snails or give me any heads up about it. They said they were out but they are still up for sale on the website. The naso tang died two days later and was in a 25 foot tall cylinder aquarium so I sent a picture of the fish dead on the bottom of the tank and they said they can’t do anything about it because I can’t get the fish out of the super tall aquarium even though I have clear photos of him and explained my situation with the tall tank and sent photos of it. Pretty ****** customer service.

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Ocean Devotion has amazing livestock, customer service, competitive pricing, and offers fully quarantined fish if that is what you desire.

Ocean Devotion LA

Purchase quarantined WYSIWYG saltwaterfish from Ocean Devotion LA.

oceandevotionla.com

 

[fragit]

I’ve spent the last few days emailing back and forth with Adam from Ocean Devotion. First off his customer service has been way beyond par. He responded to my first email within hours, I’m east coast he’s in LA. He responded thoughtfully to all of my questions and was forthright with his QT practices. He also produced a quote for fish in less than 24 hours. His prices I find very competitive even if quarantined. For example a Copperband at my LFS is $60 not quarantined or conditioned to prepared food. From Adam $50 for this fish qt cost $30, now this does not count shipping. But I would say $80 for a fully quarantined and conditioned Copperband is pretty reasonable. I will be giving him some business in the very near future for sure. Marine Collectors looks great and very high end but too rich for my blood.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I am trying Reefs4Less. I was suppose to get an order on Saturday, but they contacted me to tell me the situation was that my three add ons were not available and some of my others did not pass inspection to be shipped. They wanted to know if I wanted to ship what they had or wait. I chose to wait a week and see if we could get the whole order in all together.

I will be doing all qt as I have had very few fish not get through my qt fine.

So, happy they called and communicated with me and did not just ship. Also happy they have an inspection process and are willing to hold off on an order for that reason.

Just not sure why I could add to order if not actually available. That was weird, but did over the phone and not on site, so may have been the issue.

I will give my feedback after they arrive Saturday the 8th and how they do in qt. I looked at the others mentioned in the post and will try some for the larger fish I want, but for the damsels I have chosen, they are not easy to find that often.

 

[billandwende]

I am trying Reefs4Less. I was suppose to get an order on Saturday, but they contacted me to tell me the situation was that my three add ons were not available and some of my others did not pass inspection to be shipped. They wanted to know if I wanted to ship what they had or wait. I chose to wait a week and see if we could get the whole order in all together.

I will be doing all qt as I have had very few fish not get through my qt fine.

So, happy they called and communicated with me and did not just ship. Also happy they have an inspection process and are willing to hold off on an order for that reason.

Just not sure why I could add to order if not actually available. That was weird, but did over the phone and not on site, so may have been the issue.

I will give my feedback after they arrive Saturday the 8th and how they do in qt. I looked at the others mentioned in the post and will try some for the larger fish I want, but for the damsels I have chosen, they are not easy to find that often.

Will be following along. Hope all goes well.