Best places to buy fish online?

Salt Creep01

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I have never ordered fish online so I’m curious what are some of the best places ?
 

pcon

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I would add TSM aquatics and DD (Divers Den) both quarantine livestock.
Divers Den does not properly quarantine livestock for disease. They state publicly that they hold fish for minimum 2 weeks which is not an adequate time for a QT protocol. DD fish are well conditioned to captivity though.

I will add to the list Marine Collectors and Among the Reef for higher end fish both are excellent vendors. I was very happy with the fish I got from Elliot at marine collectors.
 

Flame2hawk

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Would add Fish guy Rodney at exoticfishntanks.com. While he does not do a 30 day QT, he’s very honest, knowledgeable and picks excellent specimens.
 

ThRoewer

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Would you say it’s mandatory for fish and inverts? That a simple float won’t be enough?
For crustacean (shrimp, crab) it is absolutely required to do a slow acclimation of salinity and other parameters.
Anemones and Coral's can be acclimated faster.
Fish should never be drip acclimated to avoid ammonia poisoning. A temperature acclimation in the closed bag is all you should do. Then fill a bucket with tank water, open the bag, check specific gravity (salinity) of the bag water and if necessary, adjust the water in the bucket to the salinity in the bag (bag and bucket being up to 0.005 off from each other is okay, especially if your tank water has a lower salinity), then add the fish with as little bag water as possible to the bucket.
From the bucket they then go to the quarantine/observation tank - no exceptions!
 

Flame2hawk

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Drip acclimation still is recommended by most. More importantly, Ive been doing it for decades with NO acclimation casualties. Can’t say the same about other methods. In any event there are usually many ways to get the results we want, I and others can only recommend What has worked for them... thats why I try to stay away from absolutes except maybe thighs like saltwater dish cannot survive in tap water with no salt and maybe dont put a tang in a 10g cube! LOL
 

cshouston

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Divers Den does not properly quarantine livestock for disease. They state publicly that they hold fish for minimum 2 weeks which is not an adequate time for a QT protocol. DD fish are well conditioned to captivity though.

I will add to the list Marine Collectors and Among the Reef for higher end fish both are excellent vendors. I was very happy with the fish I got from Elliot at marine collectors.
I tried emailing Marine Collectors, but got no response. A week or two later, I texted and got put on a “waiting list”. I was under the impression that they source the fish on demand and it wasn’t a rare fish (though I would consider it high end and somewhat expensive). Then I texted again today to inquire about another species and got no response. Is this normal for them? I’m at a loss because everyone speaks so highly of Marine Collectors.
 

pcon

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I tried emailing Marine Collectors, but got no response. A week or two later, I texted and got put on a “waiting list”. I was under the impression that they source the fish on demand and it wasn’t a rare fish (though I would consider it high end and somewhat expensive). Then I texted again today to inquire about another species and got no response. Is this normal for them? I’m at a loss because everyone speaks so highly of Marine Collectors.
My understanding is he is quite busy Lately. I got fantastic customer service, when I talked with him but that was like a year and a half ago. What were the fish?
 

cshouston

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My understanding is he is quite busy Lately. I got fantastic customer service, when I talked with him but that was like a year and a half ago. What were the fish?
A Red Sea regal angel and a two-barred rabbitfish. I tried a follow up text and got no response. I’ll give it 48 hours, try one more text and then take my business elsewhere if I get no reply. Oh well.
 

BighohoReef

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Quarantinefish.us just became a sponsor here on R2R... I like all the videos he has posted and if they don't have something you can message them and they'll try and get it. It is a little more pricey, but in my opinion if you don't have QT and want to keep the nasties out this is the way to go. If I end up getting another midas blenny this is who I'm ordering from.
 

cshouston

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Quarantinefish.us just became a sponsor here on R2R... I like all the videos he has posted and if they don't have something you can message them and they'll try and get it. It is a little more pricey, but in my opinion if you don't have QT and want to keep the nasties out this is the way to go. If I end up getting another midas blenny this is who I'm ordering from.
His wife just gave birth so he’s pretty slammed. I tried going that route as well, and asked about the rabbitfish, but he didn’t really give me a straight answer about whether or not he could source and QT one for me. He does have a regal angel, so hopefully that pans out if Marine Collectors doesn’t.

I get that these aren’t huge operations and sometimes people get overwhelmed. I don’t expect instant gratification like ordering from LiveAquaria, but a more well-defined process and communication would be nice.
 

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