Best online places to purchase fish

[SlugSnorter]

Oof, sorry. I honestly won't buy from anywhere that doesn't use UPS at this point. FedEx and USPS are just way too unreliable.

For me fedex and ups are about the same, with USPS being the most unreliable

 

[Soren]

well, I just placed an order for a captive bred yasha goby and neon goby from saltwaterfish. Delivery was supposed to be today and just got this message:

Ill put the blame on Fedex for now. Hopefully I will have a good experience with saltwaterfish if I have any doa

I've had several orders with saltwaterfish.com and am happy with their customer service. The only issue I have with their method of guarantee is that credit counts only toward the next order total and is discounted before any other order considerations. If a fish that is bought on credit is claimed as a loss for a guarantee, you do not get credit back for any credit spent on the fish. They also discount credit from the total before applying free shipping or specials, so the total value after credit is subtracted has to still meet the criteria for the special deal.

Not that I don't understand why they do it this way, but I do know LiveAquaria gives the guarantee credit regardless of payment type and subtracts credit from the order total after qualifying for free shipping rather than before.

Be sure to report DOA as soon as possible versus stay-alive guarantees, as there are differences sometimes.
I have received replacement shipment on fish DOA before, whereas credits for stay-alive guarantees have to be applied to a future new order.

Oof, sorry. I honestly won't buy from anywhere that doesn't use UPS at this point. FedEx and USPS are just way too unreliable.

For my area it is the opposite: FedEx is pretty reliable, UPS not so much.

 

[polyppal]

well, I just placed an order for a captive bred yasha goby and neon goby from saltwaterfish. Delivery was supposed to be today and just got this message:

Ill put the blame on Fedex for now. Hopefully I will have a good experience with saltwaterfish if I have any doa

They are good with doa credits at least, but not a great record on fish shipping. I had them kill several mandarins once trying to get me one before I said forget it

 

[afrokobe]

thanks guys, I contacted support to see if they can get to the package since it is still in LA. I was hoping with captive bred it wouldnt be too much trouble with shipping. Really hard finding a yasha goby locally.

 

[jft]

What about Reef Beauties Heard they are good?

 

[jft]

There is no answer to that.

Do you have a quarantine or do you plan to quarantine before introduction?

i will quarantine

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Reef beauty's if good. Recieved naso unicorn tangs yesterday. 3 red crabs and 2 small blue CBS from them.

Also I've ordered fish from nyaquatics with good success. You can call him on the phone. Lol.
Getting a refund or credit can be a bit challenging though from what I'm reading if u do get a doa

Saltwaterfish.com is good and I like but I never have ordered fish from only inverts.

Same with Bluetooth. Bluezoo had great communication though. Called me on the phone. Left a great personal customer service msg about a not in stock item and how they handle it. Next day call again. Ur stuffs in. We r shipping. Lol. Talking to the guy himself. Lol.
All I ordered was like 14 top crown snails and 3 pencil urchins but I was treated like I spent $1k+

That's customer service and I look forward to ordering a fish from Bluezoo I can't find eventually 1 day because of the exp.
-d

 

[LeftyReefer]

Reefs4less is another option.
They are by far the cheapest option out there for fish, but they don't offer any guarantee beyond a DOA guarantee.
In order to offer the lowest price, they even cut out any kind of stay alive guarantee. They only guarantee that the fish isn't DOA. if it arrives alive but dies 3 days later, its on you. But they are by far the cheapest option for most fish.

Saltwaterfish.com and reefs4less.com, along with Oceans Garden, are all one company.
All offer the same fish for different prices, depending on how much guarantee you want with the fish.

 

[Revt]

I like saltyunderground.com. They're out of St. Louis, and I've always had good experience with them. In addition to quarantined fish, they also sell berghia nudibranches for aptasia control.

 

[Revt]

I like saltyunderground.com. They're out of St. Louis, and I've always had good experience with them. In addition to quarantined fish, they also sell berghia nudibranches for aptasia control.

I'll also mention that they offer free shipping on orders over $99, which is rare these days.

 

[fishface NJ]

I like saltyunderground.com. They're out of St. Louis, and I've always had good experience with them. In addition to quarantined fish, they also sell berghia nudibranches for aptasia control.

I just tried calling them. No one answered the phone. Where did you read that they medicated their fish? I could not find any info on that. What do they use and for how long?

 

[mindme]

Reefs4less is another option.
They are by far the cheapest option out there for fish, but they don't offer any guarantee beyond a DOA guarantee.
In order to offer the lowest price, they even cut out any kind of stay alive guarantee. They only guarantee that the fish isn't DOA. if it arrives alive but dies 3 days later, its on you. But they are by far the cheapest option for most fish.

Saltwaterfish.com and reefs4less.com, along with Oceans Garden, are all one company.
All offer the same fish for different prices, depending on how much guarantee you want with the fish.

^this. If you are going to buy from saltwaterfish.com, check out reefs4less.com

I personally think the saltwaterfish guarantee isn't worth very much. On both sites you get the DOA guarantee. And as someone else mentioned, the swf guarantee is only for store credit. You will still have to pay the shipping after, or buy more stuff to get the free shipping.

Also, there is only 1 credited fish. If it dies twice, you are out of luck.

I think best is probably depending on the fish and how much difference exists between the 2. Generally I think reefs4less would be the better option since you'll still have to pay shipping. But for the really expensive fish, that little extra might be more worth it.

I try to avoid both now honestly.

 

[Revt]

I just tried calling them. No one answered the phone. Where did you read that they medicated their fish? I could not find any info on that. What do they use and for how long?

I'm not sure. I bought my first fish from them last year, and I remember something about the fish being quarantined after arrival at the store before being sold, but I don't see that now. I've bought fish from them a few times in the last year and everything has arrived healthy and has done well. My first fish from them was a tomini tang...arrived healthy...no ick or any of the common tang ailments. It's thrived in my tank ever since.

 

[52728299]

As a counterpoint to this, The supply line of fish is really dirty right now... I've been seeing fish come into all the shops on the West Coast and they look haggard. I have recently commiserated with many other hobbyists who are ordering in fish and the quality has gone down.

Mike at Dr reef does a great job with the, fish, shipping, and any possible complications that may arise after the fact.

I have seen the same in the stores. Aside from a few lemonpeel angels the store closest to me doesn't have any good looking livestock really. Maybe some clownfish. I got a couple from bluezooaquatics that were pretty good and recently got an anemone from corals anonymous and they were very impressive imo. Their shipping box was as good as you can pack one I'd say and he was quite healthy. Took about 15 hrs to arrive after shipped. but they don't sell a lot of fish I guess.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Looking for sources to buy fish online. Thanks

If you can I’d highly recommend buying them in person for a variety of reasons including cost, stress to the fish, and being able to actually see exactly what you are getting…but others have suggested some good places. You can simply ask a lfs if they can get something particular in because they may be able to or at least take down your information.

 

[jft]

If you can I’d highly recommend buying them in person for a variety of reasons including cost, stress to the fish, and being able to actually see exactly what you are getting…but others have suggested some good places. You can simply ask a lfs if they can get something particular in because they may be able to or at least take down your information.

Yeah That would be nice but with the price of gas i would have to drive a GREAT distance and they MIGHT not have in stock what i want, Just saying!

 

[hart24601]

I have bought several orders directly from biota and the quality of the fish and packaging was fantastic.

I’m trying Dr reef with my next order but I requested several not on his website so will see what he can find.

 

[reefah]

Honestly I feel any online vendor that sells fish are good as long as you can find QT fish. Shipping mistakes do happen but I do not think it’s the shipping vendors fault. Delays do happen for a variety of reasons that is out of our hands, weather, holidays, flight delays etc. but where a online vendor really shines is their customer service on DOA items. Personally, I prefer buying fish in person. I’ve bought multiple fish online and 2/10 times they’ll arrive DOA. This is just my experience.

 

[LoneStarReef]

BUY AQUACULTURED FISH IF YOU CAN. This is a great point. The biota guys produce GREAT, HARDY fish. They have been shipping them a lil' bit bigger too. I remember the teeeeeensy 1" yellow tangs. lol. I wouldn't buy a mandarin unless it was a biota mandarin.

I’ve never heard of Biota until I saw your post. I’m currently restarting my tank but will for sure purchase from them in the future. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Jkellar]

@jft I haven't been doing this that long. But as I was getting set up Adam at OceanDevotion has been an amazing resource for QT'ed fish. His whole process is laid out online and is a small shop who will personally text you with any problems and always responds. Honestly I can't recommend him enough. A quick google search as well will back up this story his reviews are outstanding.

I have also done a small amount of business with DrReef and his product is also great. If you are looking for fish now I would start with OceanDevotion and then I bought my CUC from DrReef. Hope this helps.