Buying Corals and Fish online

[sumithnarayanan]

Hello,

I had a company service my reef aquarium, recently due to employee scarcity and proximity issues, they had to stop their service. Also they were not able to take care for last 1 year as a result I had lost few of my fishes and all my corals ( except mushrooms), the nitrite levels were over 100, did many water changes and got it down to acceptable levels. Now, I need to get more corals and fishes - I don't have any local stores so was thinking of buying online.

Wanted to know from this group what are the experience buying online? I don't have a quarantine tank. Please let me know dos and don'ts. Any process that you all follow etc. Which website to get, what to expect.

Thank you very much for your responses.

Thanks.

 

[Gman83]

I make most of my purchases for fish and coral online with little issue.

Fish I recommend:
Dr. Reef - he is the gold standard in pre-treated fish, and backs them up.
TSM Aquatic - also quarantine, but have less selection.
Bluezooaquatics - they are pretty good too.
Fish hotel - have never purchased from them, but have read good things.

As for coral, pretty much all of the vendors here do a good job. I've bought from: cherry corals, LRO, SBB, Riptide, TSA, ARC and Underwater archives. I have had good experiences with all of them. I have seen a lot of good things posted about Battlecoral. I think it depends on what you are looking for.

I'm sure others will chime in, everyone has a favorite online store.

 

[Reef_Engineer]

Check Out LunarTideaquatics.com - they have been around for about a year and get some really cool stuff in!

 

[MikeReefs]

There’s many coral venders out there but not many actually qt. You yourself will have to inspect and dip. Some coral venders are cleaner than others. WWC, Peicesoftheocean, battle corals are some. I’ve never dealt with Dr reefs but they are probably the most well known QT fish venders. I’ve bought some QT fish from TsmAquatics and was very satisfied

 

[Reef_Engineer]

Check Out LunarTideaquatics.com - they have been around for about a year and get some really cool stuff in!

 

[Will94]

I recently placed an order with https://affordableaquaria.com/ which is owned by the Dr Reef people. I should get my shipment next week, will follow up with how it goes.

 

[sumithnarayanan]

I got my shipment from Dr.reef with two fishes - Powder brown Tang and Singapore Angelfish, it came in a good package and overnight shipping. Fishes were good, but it's been over 10 days and they are not eating as much as my other fishes. I feed frozen shrimp (brine / mysis). I am keeping a close eye on both.

 

[adova]

I am just getting back into the hobby myself and have been looking at this service to send away water samples for the incoming fish to ID common diseases in the water.

https://www.dxaquaria.com/shop/
If it works, it would be worth the $50.

 

[Double monti 61]

Hi my question is if the company that serviced your aquarium did not come back why you did not try to do something yourself or at least try to find a another company?

 

[fandaga]

I’ve bought a lot of fish and corals from Biota. It’s mostly a good experience. The fish haven’t been diseased, but I did get a few with swim issues (swallowtail angel and royal gramma) that passed several months after purchase. I’ve also had a few like a blue hippo tang that were so small that likely got eaten from another much larger fish (marine betta) in the same order. Biota did reimburse me for that. Another problem is that sometimes the fish won’t look like the pictures, like a yellow watchman goby I bought has always been completely grey, or a yellowheaded jawfish without the yellow head. Nevertheless I would still definitely recommend them. Fish have been free of communicative diseases like ich and velvet and for the most part have done great.

As far as corals, there have been some really nice pieces that have all done exceptionally well for me. Packaging could be a bit better on the corals though (bags have leaked since they single bag), and you won’t get any freebies like some vendors. Nevertheless, several of the corals I bought come in really large and have been show pieces in my tank like a Sprung Elegance, Weeping Willow Toadstool, Alien Hand Sinularia, and a red/blue Montipora Digitata colony.

As far as other online coral vendors, I’ve bought from Tidal Gardens, Marine Farmers, TSA, Black Label Aquatics, SBB. They’ve all been pretty good and sell some unique pieces. I haven’t had any pest / disease issues with any of them. Tidal Gardens is my favorite for shipping quality and picture description. They also gave me a freebie.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I got fish and coral from TSA before. Never had any issues with them!

 

[fandaga]

I got fish and coral from TSA before. Never had any issues with them!

I bought fish too from TSA. It was a good experience. They survived and no disease issues that I noticed during QT. Packaging was very good. I received in the middle of winter at around freezing.

 

[salty joe]

I got my shipment from Dr.reef with two fishes - Powder brown Tang and Singapore Angelfish, it came in a good package and overnight shipping. Fishes were good, but it's been over 10 days and they are not eating as much as my other fishes. I feed frozen shrimp (brine / mysis). I am keeping a close eye on both.

My go to is whole shellfish. If new fish are smaller than the rest, I'll put shellfish in a glass jar only new fish can get in. Tie a string on the jar.

I've had real good experience with Reef Beauties.

 

[sumithnarayanan]

Update : The Singapore Angel fish did not survive, it did not eat the shrimp that I fed, the entire time it was in my tank ( around 2 months )

 

[Mr Dream Weaver]

I got my clowns via air cargo and picked them up from the airport. Was cool, i got to watch the plane on a tracker as my little buddies flew over. Probably overkill, but I wanted the least possible stress for them, and where I live it gets hot.

 

[SirSaltyNutz]

For Corals, checkout Terra Reef. They QT their corals for long long time and shipping was good. I got mostly LSP corals and they all are doing great. I highly recommend this company.