First online fish purchase today arrived dead. Is this a norm?

[mistergray]

I ordered a fish online for the first time last week and it arrived dead today. I’m disappointed but not too upset because I was refunded by the company. Curious what experience others have had ordering through Live Aquaria. My faith in ordering fish online is a little shook. Is it more normal than not to receive dead fish when ordering online? I’m thinking I may need to stick to the LFS but that would limit the variety of fish I can buy.

 

[Kongar]

I ordered 3 fish from LA and some inverts and wasn't too happy. Multiple orders, not just a one-off bad luck scenario. The fish arrived sick and with parasites, packaging and shipping was sub par. All but a few inverts arrived DOA. They reimbursed me for the livestock cost, but not the shipping. All in all, not a great experience. On the flip side, I've found online coral shipments to be great (particularly from battlecorals, aqua sd, and cali kid corals), but for fish, the LFS rules.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Ording online a bit diffrent deffinatly.
Nyaquatics
Saltwaterfish.com
Foxys
Theirs other vendors im sure. Ive never used livequaria myself im too cheap.
D

 

[NashobaTek]

I've gotten fish from saltwater fish and they all arrived alive and healthy. Including the 1" pinnatus batfish, who I was the most concerned about stressing and dying.

 

[dkeller22]

Talk to your LFS about ordering for you. Mine will order anything I want provided he can get it and he does airport to airport which takes FedEx and UPS out of the equation. My LFS is really helpful and will even schedule orders ahead of time so I can rotate through quarantine. You can also work it out so you get the fish out of the shipping boxes and they never go in the store tanks.

 

[mistergray]

Lots of DOA from LA so I stopped.

This is starting to seem like a trend

 

[mistergray]

Talk to your LFS about ordering for you. Mine will order anything I want provided he can get it and he does airport to airport which takes FedEx and UPS out of the equation. My LFS is really helpful and will even schedule orders ahead of time so I can rotate through quarantine. You can also work it out so you get the fish out of the shipping boxes and they never go in the store tanks.

Wow! That's pretty cool! Your LFS is pretty helpful. I have 3 nearby to choose from. I'll have to ask if they do special orders.

 

[mistergray]

I ordered 3 fish from LA and some inverts and wasn't too happy. Multiple orders, not just a one-off bad luck scenario. The fish arrived sick and with parasites, packaging and shipping was sub par. All but a few inverts arrived DOA. They reimbursed me for the livestock cost, but not the shipping. All in all, not a great experience. On the flip side, I've found online coral shipments to be great (particularly from battlecorals, aqua sd, and cali kid corals), but for fish, the LFS rules.

Sheeesh! I'll check out the sites you suggested.

 

[piranhaman00]

Yes for fish, have your LFS order in.

 

[DoomervilleG]

I've had good luck with places like CultivatedReef and ReefTide. I am somewhat limited in local LFS, being rural and in Nebraska. We have a few a couple hours away but its hit or miss with quality. Check the Vendor Feedback area of the forums, see what vendors people have luck with. Its a really good place to find folks. I haven't had any DOA arrivals myself *knocks on wood*.

 

[tehmadreefer]

I’ve had 100% survival rate from LA in the past. Soo idk.

 

[Chris Spaulding]

Check out https://drreefsquarantinedfish.com he is a supporter here on R2R. I got a Copperband and Regal Angel from him. They are eating like pigs and doing great. Worth every penny and I highly recommend him. as a mater of fact getting ready to order from him again soon.

 

[Azedenkae]

I ordered a fish online for the first time last week and it arrived dead today. I’m disappointed but not too upset because I was refunded by the company. Curious what experience others have had ordering through Live Aquaria. My faith in ordering fish online is a little shook. Is it more normal than not to receive dead fish when ordering online? I’m thinking I may need to stick to the LFS but that would limit the variety of fish I can buy.

Hit or miss, like literally split in either extreme. I had really good live stock, and also terrible quality ones from LiveAquaria. Like dead in the bag bad quality. Or, ordered five hermit crabs, got six empty shells - one shell with aiptasia. That kind of bad.

Split was around 80/20 bad/good.

I decided to start ordering live stock from elsewhere. The other day I debated ordering from LiveAquaria again because they had stuff I could not find elsewhere, but could not bring myself to do it.

The thing is, 1. I don't want to deal with deaths or bad quality live stock that I have to try to nurse back to life, and 2. even with credit, one still has to pay boxing charges, and shipping fees potentially.

Nah no thanks.

I don't have the same issues from elsewhere. Cultivated Reef 100% arrived alive, in great shape, and looks healthy. Salty Underground, same thing.

 

[mistergray]

Hit or miss, like literally split in either extreme. I had really good live stock, and also terrible quality ones from LiveAquaria. Like dead in the bag bad quality. Or, ordered five hermit crabs, got six empty shells - one shell with aiptasia. That kind of bad.

Split was around 80/20 bad/good.

I decided to start ordering live stock from elsewhere. The other day I debated ordering from LiveAquaria again because they had stuff I could not find elsewhere, but could not bring myself to do it.

The thing is, 1. I don't want to deal with deaths or bad quality live stock that I have to try to nurse back to life, and 2. even with credit, one still has to pay boxing charges, and shipping fees potentially.

Nah no thanks.

I don't have the same issues from elsewhere. Cultivated Reef 100% arrived alive, in great shape, and looks healthy. Salty Underground, same thing.

Great info! Thx for sharing. I’ve had enough replies up here to realize that LA isn’t the way to go for me.

 

[WVNed]

Bluezooaquatics.com
I had a lionfish arrive in perfect condition even though it was held a day half way here by Fedex.
This impressed the heck out of me. I have since ordered several times.

Saltwaterfish.com
I have ordered from them several times as well.

 

[Azedenkae]

Great info! Thx for sharing. I’ve had enough replies up here to realize that LA isn’t the way to go for me.

Yeah nah, defo not lol. XD

 

[Terry Le]

About 3 weeks ago I ordered 6 clownfish from LA ( last order have to be years and years ago) Fed Ex was a day late and all the clowns were health

 

[zalick]

Hit or miss, like literally split in either extreme. I had really good live stock, and also terrible quality ones from LiveAquaria. Like dead in the bag bad quality. Or, ordered five hermit crabs, got six empty shells - one shell with aiptasia. That kind of bad.

Split was around 80/20 bad/good.

I decided to start ordering live stock from elsewhere. The other day I debated ordering from LiveAquaria again because they had stuff I could not find elsewhere, but could not bring myself to do it.

The thing is, 1. I don't want to deal with deaths or bad quality live stock that I have to try to nurse back to life, and 2. even with credit, one still has to pay boxing charges, and shipping fees potentially.

Nah no thanks.

I don't have the same issues from elsewhere. Cultivated Reef 100% arrived alive, in great shape, and looks healthy. Salty Underground, same thing.

This has been my experience with LA over the years too. I’ve Only order inverts though. And it’s very disappointing to have half an invert order be empty shells and only get credit for the shells but no shipping refund. Those orders make for expensive snails.