Coral from LiveAquaria

[djray77]

So I received a sps coral frag pack and I'm a little disappointed. I wanted to show the pic I email them and the reasons why I am not happy with the order. I have ordered a lot from them and always been super great frags and never complained. They replied with this,

Thank you for your email. We appreciate the picture provided. Based on the frag plug base being approximately 1-1/2" these specimens all do appear within the size range listed. If you still feel these are undersized, please provide a picture of each specimen next to a to a ruler.
Thank you for choosing LiveAquaria for your live aquatic needs. You are a valued customer and we look forward to hearing from you in the future.

I'm kinda ticked but am I over reacting? I guess I'm asking you guys would you be happy with them corals? Oh and one of them was broken of the plug in shipping.

 

[Oldreefer44]

I would say that it is pretty typical of what I have seen from them lately and unfortunately fairly typical of what is out there from several vendors. However I have stopped buying from them after 2 orders in a row that had dead or dying fish. Their response was very defensive and as far as I was concerned, unreasonable. In my experience, once a business adopts an attitude like they now seem to have they start losing market share.

 

[djray77]

Totally agree, they have always been super nice about any issues and make it right but not this time, like you said defensive and couldn't care less really.

 

[Softhammer]

Their heyday is over. I wouldn’t buy from them again. It’s literally Petco now. Having said that those look like decent frags.

 

[flooddc]

They appeared to be decent size. Are those frag plugs 1.5"? Also, are you measured them across or height?

 

[djray77]

I was measuring the height of the actual coral I didnt include the plug. That tiny one is 1/4 inch in height. It looks like the tip broke on a big colony and they glued it on a plug and sold it.

 

[djray77]

So they are include the plug, that is absolute BS!

 

[flooddc]

I was measuring the height of the actual coral I didnt include the plug. That tiny one is 1/4 inch in height. It looks like the tip broke on a big colony and they glued it on a plug and sold it.

Overall seem reasonable for the frag size (except that one above, lol). But, local reefers would mostly likely give you a much better price.
If it make you feel any better. This is what I got last time buying online from another seller. Pretty tiny frags. Frag plug is 3/4" or so for comparison. From then on, I only buy frags from local reefers.
R2R rock_lobster frags by t@#$%c, on Flickr

 

[flooddc]

Looking back your last photos. That frag plug is no way 1.5". yeah! definitely small frags.
like I said, I'll only buy from local.

 

[djray77]

Yea the plug is 1". I guess thats what you can expect for a cheap price. They have a sale going on and the 4 pack was pretty cheap. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for I guess. https://www.liveaquaria.com/product...-pack-aquacultured?pcatid=2615&c=597+751+2615 Its misleading also cause they have 5 pics but you only get 4.

 

[djray77]

I swear I cant win with my orders LOL! atleast the place I order from gave me a credit.

 

[Tamberav]

The frags look fine to me except that one you measured.

I have gotten much smaller ones from other venders.

I have bought from high end venders and plenty of the SPS have very little encrusting and it was more like 50 per frag. Idc as long as they are healthy. Easier for me to pop the ugly frag plug off too.

Plus some of my SPS encrust a ton and others choose to branch out.

 

[jsvand5]

Honestly, I think all of those frags are reasonable.

 

[Backreefing]

The only bright side is without encrusted frags I would have cut them off and reglued them to new frag plugs .
All this depends what you payed for them . As to good or bad .
If you feel burned then you probably are burned.
Thanks for sharing your experience with Liveaquaria .

 

[Braves Fan]

I am not going to address your concerns with the frags you received ,, your not happy with them ,, nothing I say will make you feel better about them.

I am going to offer you a suggestion ,, there are some awesome vendors out there ,, you want to be less disappointed in the frags you receive ,, use vendors like Boom Corals ,, Battle corals ,, just to name two ,, these are vendors that you can talk with one on one ,, when you send them a email ,, the owners of the company are the ones reading the email ,, they are for the most part ,, one man operations ,, these are the type of vendors you need to look for ,, they won't charge you a arm and a leg for their frags ,, that will listen to your wants ,, they will do their up most to pick out corals that will be to your liking. You will be happier in the long run,,

I can pretty much guarantee you will get pest free frags also

 

[Mjl714]

I swear I cant win with my orders LOL! atleast the place I order from gave me a credit.

I’m not totally surprised, because I find their buckets to be among the most flimsy and breakable. Barely reusable.

 

[djray77]

When I got corals from them before they were nice big ones. I don't know what happened? I guess like someone else said they are Petco now. I wont be ordered from them again.

 

[DancingShark]

Those dont look bad at all to be honest.

If you haven't ordered from online vendors lately or from most of the market place you will be super disappointed.
I have gotten many frags with detached plugs. And the glue that they used is still soft. And some I would not even call frags because of how small they are.
Those you have would be considered colonies by todays standards.

Boomcoral was a vender that i have used that would not ship until stuff encrusted. And decent sizes as well.

 

[miggs76]

I ordered from Live Aquaria a week or so ago. I ordered 35 trochus snails, a photosynthetic red sponge, 3 acro crabs. A dozen snails were dead (and all of the snails were the size of my pinky fingernail). 1 crab was DOA (another died a day later). The sponge disintegrated overnight (and I have a blue sponge colony so I know what I'm doing). They are definitely going down hill. The only saving grace is their refund policy. I got back my money on the deceased items in a day and they were very nice about it. I hope it was a one time thing because most places dont have a 14 day refund policy.

 

[29bonsaireef]

Im not sure if you're confused, or maybe I'm just reading it the wrong way. When a vendor says 3/4" encrusted. They mean the frag will be at least 3/4" in height and it's encrusted, meaning not a fresh cut. They don't mean 3/4" of encrusted base, which is what the photo seems like you're refereeing to. FWIW the Poci & Birdsnest don't do a whole lot of encrusting.. ever.

That being said LA is the last place I would go to for corals, unless I was getting something off Divers Den. Shop around and you will find way better deals and a lot nicer corals, even from hobbyist on the board here.