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.

 

[albano]

Are you sure that your LFS can’t order other types of fish, that they don’t normally stock?
Talk to them, their wholesaler probably has many other fish available!

 

[josephxsxn]

My first ever fish order from Live Aquaria also arrived DOA. Was a divers den fish that my LFS says they can't get (Molly Miller Blenny.) I ordered the same fish again the next time they had it available and this one made it alive and well.

 

[jrill]

Probably 70% of what I order arrives dead if it's saltwater. Freshwater the survival rate is much better.

 

[fachatga]

Even reputable sellers need to put it in the hands of shippers. My first order of coral from live aquaria was delivered sideways even with huge this side up arrows. Most water was spilled out and was cold.

 

[mistergray]

Are you sure that your LFS can’t order other types of fish, that they don’t normally stock?
Talk to them, their wholesaler probably has many other fish available!

To be honest, I didn’t know I could make requests. I’ll try that next time I want something they don’t stock.

 

[mistergray]

My first ever fish order from Live Aquaria also arrived DOA. Was a divers den fish that my LFS says they can't get (Molly Miller Blenny.) I ordered the same fish again the next time they had it available and this one made it alive and well.

Ugh….I want to try again but I’d be so disappointed if it happened again. The kids and I were literally waiting for that fish to come in. Oh well, guess they’re learning to accept death better. Lol!

 

[mistergray]

Even reputable sellers need to put it in the hands of shippers. My first order of coral from live aquaria was delivered sideways even with huge this side up arrows. Most water was spilled out and was cold.

Wow! Sounds like sellers lose a lot of money shipping because they have to reimburse people a lot, all because shippers treat the package like a piñata.

 

[mistergray]

Probably 70% of what I order arrives dead if it's saltwater. Freshwater the survival rate is much better.

Woooooow…..that’s good to know! Think I’ll limit my online purchases a weeee bit. My anticipation is way to high to be disappointed 70% of the time. Lol! Sad but true.

 

[ying yang]

Im scared to order online because of whats being said but if 70% of saltwater shipped online arrived dead,i would thought they would make no money at all and stop this? Seems a little high.
Off topic but i ordered box of salt last tuesday and was due to come friday ( shipped from seller thursday) parcel force said cant find address on friday.rang up they said be monday now as need pay extra for saturday delivery and dont deliver sunday.monday came and didnt receive again.so rang up again and they said it was on van and they dont know why driver didn't attempt to deliver.then yesterday ( tuesday) it arrived and driver said on friday it was an agency worker and they often just " tick unable to find address if dont want to deliver " maybe as heavy 20kg box up 2 flights of stairs as live in a flat.maybe they on bonus for how many parcels deliver so choose to deliver the easy ones i do not know.but if it was a fish that should come friday but actually got tuesday,would it still be alive i do not kbow so scares me alot
Edit: driver yesterday told me the driver had to many parcels to deliver on monday so 5pm came and he finished shift with some parcels undelivered lol

 

[Tamberav]

Skip LA and order from a place like TSM. They pack their fish much better.... huge amount of water and those fish are QT and conditioned and healthy.

 

[hawk82]

Ive got all my fish from Live Aquaria, never any problems. And back when I used to have african cichlids I used to order those online all the time also.

 

[Isemerino]

I ordered a large amount of fish rom Live Aquaria (freshwater) because I saw my lfs got their fish from there. I only had 2 shrimp doa. Everyone else (even though very small) were great. I believe the shipper kill the fish because they do not care.

 

[mistergray]

Skip LA and order from a place like TSM. They pack their fish much better.... huge amount of water and those fish are QT and conditioned and healthy.

I'll check TSM out

 

[Danroo]

I have ordered my whole stock on a 20 gallon tank online and I only lost one fish, because of the last storm (due to having no qt tank).

 

[IKD]

I would say <10% DOA rate for me. I definitely would continue ordering online but using a good QT process is critical since you can’t observe the fish ahead of time like you would at a LFS.

 

[Gtinnel]

Wow! Sounds like sellers lose a lot of money shipping because they have to reimburse people a lot, all because shippers treat the package like a piñata.

I'd almost guarantee that they have factored having to pay for DOA livestock into their price that you pay, so they stay profitable. I've always though LiveAquaria's prices were high compared to a lfs and I'm guessing that is the reason why.

 

[vtecintegra]

I'm sure they pay pennies on the dollar for fish. And you eat the $40 shipping if you need a DOA replacement. Three of my last four Live Aquaria, CA facility orders had dead fish.

 

[mistergray]

I'm sure they pay pennies on the dollar for fish. And you eat the $40 shipping if you need a DOA replacement. Three of my last four Live Aquaria, CA facility orders had dead fish.

Wow! Guess I'm done with them.

 

[piranhaman00]

Lots of DOA from LA so I stopped.