Considering Blue Star Leopard Wrasse purchase from Dr. Reef

[wunderlong88]

I would like a male and a female blue star leopard wrasse. I know they are difficult to get and have survive. I was considering purchasing them from Dr. Reef. It says on there site they have them eating. Has anyone gotten Leopard Wrasses from there (or somewhere else online) successfully?

I didn't see what the guarantee (if any was) and it is a lot of money to spend to have them die.

I also wondered if I can just purchase 1 and then add another later without issue?

Ty,

Linda

 

[tbrown]

Leopards don't generally ship well.

@JoJosReef how many did you go through before you received one that survived?

 

[JoJosReef]

Leopards don't generally ship well.

@JoJosReef how many did you go through before you received one that survived?

One DOA, one dying on arrival (made it about an hour or so--clearly blunt force head trauma), and the leopard that lived.

 

[JoJosReef]

I would like a male and a female blue star leopard wrasse. I know they are difficult to get and have survive. I was considering purchasing them from Dr. Reef. It says on there site they have them eating. Has anyone gotten Leopard Wrasses from there (or somewhere else online) successfully?

I didn't see what the guarantee (if any was) and it is a lot of money to spend to have them die.

I also wondered if I can just purchase 1 and then add another later without issue?

Ty,

Linda

Hi Linda,

Nice size tank. Keeping two leopards is possible with some success stories here, but keep in mind the risk of both transitioning to male and then fighting till one is killed.

A leopard from Dr Reef should acclimate to your tank quickly, assuming you have no aggressive fish that cause the leopard to hit the sand and stay there forever. They are nonstop hunters and quickly learn to eat whatever you put in the tank. Having survived QT with Dr Reef means they are likely already acclimated to our time zone(s) and are awake and eating during the day.

As Tim mentioned above, only real concern is that they tend to injure themselves while shipping. Good luck! Amazing fish!

 

[christinna77]

My only leopard I tried arrived extremely stressed out from the transport, and died the next day. It was honestly traumatizing, especially since the store sent me a video beforehand showing a beautiful healthy active fish. I will never order such a delicate fish for shipping again.

 

[mfinn]

@Dr. Reef

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

They dont ship well thats why we ship double than qty ordered and normally 1 will make.

 

[Batman222b]

They dont ship well thats why we ship double than qty ordered and normally 1 will make.

I'm trying to clarify, so if I were to order one from you, you send 2?

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

I'm trying to clarify, so if I were to order one from you, you send 2?

that is correct, if you order 1 male, you will get 1 male and 1 fem, if you order 1 fem you will get 2 fem.

 

[Batman222b]

I'm trying to clarify, so if I were to order one from you, you send 2?

that is correct, if you order 1 male, you will get 1 male and 1 fem, if you order 1 fem you will get 2 fem.

What if both arrive DOA?

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

What if both arrive DOA?

then they are replaced under our arrive alive guarantee at no charge to customer.
That goes for any livestock that may arrive doa.

Our guarantee is to provide live, healthy livestock in your hands.
After live arrival, each fish has its guarantee period, some with 3 days some with 7 and some expert fish with just live arrival. Customer can purchase additional insurance for 7 and 14 days.

 

[Batman222b]

What if both arrive DOA?

then they are replaced under our arrive alive guarantee.

That's awesome!!! Have any Fiji exquisite wrasse available?

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

That's awesome!!! Have any Fiji exquisite wrasse available?

Yes we do and they too come in pairs if ordered 1.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

most Anthias, Chromis, Damsels, some wrasses and some livestock that with our experince that we know does not ship well, we normally send extra to make sure at least 1 makes it.

 

[Ryan15236]

If you want one or pair and sourcing from LFS isn’t an option I wouldn’t hesitate to order from @Dr. Reef

 

[pianosdr]

I ordered a blue star leopard from Dr Reef, and sorry to say it did not make it after just a couple days. They did in fact ship two, which is an amazing proactive service tbh, but sadly enough neither one of them made it. One did appear injured when it arrived. I didn’t bother to message Dr Reef on this as I’ve ordered from Dr Reef many times (about to again!) and I didn’t mention the injury right away (was busy and couldn’t get around to it before fish had passed). Figured at least the other one would make it, but a couple days later in the morning I woke up and found it dead in tank. Don’t really know why, but I felt like writing an email to Dr Reef to say both of them died would be hard for them to believe. Great company who’s provided me several of the fish currently in my tank…

but I won’t ever order a leopard to be shipped again. That was indeed pretty tough to see as I felt terrible for the fish, but secondary to that, it was also tough to consider the cost

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

I ordered a blue star leopard from Dr Reef, and sorry to say it did not make it after just a couple days. Did appear injured when it arrived. I didn’t bother to message Dr Reef on this as I’ve ordered from Dr Reef many times (about to again!) and I didn’t mention the injury right away (was busy and couldn’t get around to it before fish had passed). Great company who’s provided me several of the fish currently in my tank…

but I won’t ever order a leopard to be shipped again. That was indeed pretty tough to see, especially considering the cost

Sorry to hear this. We always ship extra. So did the extra didnt survive either?
Please pm me your order number and let me look into it and if extra was not shipped or it also didn't make it, I'll issue you a credit.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

I ordered a blue star leopard from Dr Reef, and sorry to say it did not make it after just a couple days. They did in fact ship two, which is an amazing proactive service tbh, but sadly enough neither one of them made it. One did appear injured when it arrived. I didn’t bother to message Dr Reef on this as I’ve ordered from Dr Reef many times (about to again!) and I didn’t mention the injury right away (was busy and couldn’t get around to it before fish had passed). Figured at least the other one would make it, but a couple days later in the morning I woke up and found it dead in tank. Don’t really know why, but I felt like writing an email to Dr Reef to say both of them died would be hard for them to believe. Great company who’s provided me several of the fish currently in my tank…

but I won’t ever order a leopard to be shipped again. That was indeed pretty tough to see as I felt terrible for the fish, but secondary to that, it was also tough to consider the cost

We added a free leopard to your pending order for free. I will likely send you an extra one as well.
We appreciate you being a great customer with us with multiple orders over the years. We respect your support.

 

[JoJosReef]

We added a free leopard to your pending order for free. I will likely send you an extra one as well.
We appreciate you being a great customer with us with multiple orders over the years. We respect your support.

Mike, did you ever take up sending leopards in bags with a couple of inches of sand? The only leopard that ever made it shipping to me was the one you sent in the bag of sand (yellow chrysus wrasse made it in both sand and blacked out bags, but they are a little less kamikazi-ish).

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

Mike, did you ever take up sending leopards in bags with a couple of inches of sand? The only leopard that ever made it shipping to me was the one you sent in the bag of sand (yellow chrysus wrasse made it in both sand and blacked out bags, but they are a little less kamikazi-ish).

We tried that and our experience is that fish got more injuries that way.
They become relaxed under the sand and when ups is rough with boxes they are not ready and get injured.
In simple plain bag and water they are on guard and less injuries.
But if someone requests we try to fill it accordingly.