How's everyone experience with Live Aquaria Diver's Den in 2021?

[LPS Bum]

DD fish are NOT quarantined , they are conditioned , HUGE difference

You sure about that?

What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG): the EXACT item you are ordering, not a representative photo. Diver's Den® items are held, quarantined and shipped from our state-of-the-art Coral Farm & Aquatic Life Facility in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

 

[Steve180]

Been reading a lot of mixed reviews regarding Diver's Den but mostly are complaints, which makes sense because people who are unsatisfied are more likely going to speak up. Was wondering if there were any positive reviews of them as of recently or maybe within the last year too?

They have 2 fishes on there that I am really interested in purchasing

i have great luck with Liveaquaria, but best to purchase from diver's den. They observe the fish for 2 weeks before shipping them. Making sure they eat and show no signs of parasites. They are only conditioned and not quarantine, so best to still quarantine when you receive them.

 

[Tamberav]

You sure about that?

What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG): the EXACT item you are ordering, not a representative photo. Diver's Den® items are held, quarantined and shipped from our state-of-the-art Coral Farm & Aquatic Life Facility in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

They are not really fully QT. They are just using that word. Fish are only held min two weeks and a lot of things are done 'as needed'. They use dips and stuff. The copper they have listed is bare minimum. They have a 960 watt UV and such.

If anything they are doing just enough to hide parasites.

Not actual treatment for 30 days like TSM.

 

[LPS Bum]

They are not really fully QT. They are just using that word. Fish are only held min two weeks and a lot of things are done 'as needed'. They use dips and stuff.

Not actual treatment for 30 days like TSM.

I love how you guys all seem to know more about Divers Den’s QT and holding procedures than they do. How do you know “they’re just using that word”? How do you know they’re not actually quarantining their fish? How do you know they “just use dips and stuff”?

If you read their website, you’ll see the following. Perhaps they don’t quarantine as long as TSM, but I can say I’ve purchased most of my expensive Angels from them, and never lost a single one. I’m not even a fan of Live Aquaria, but DD has been consistently good for me.

e Diver's Den® WYSIWYG Store Difference
What makes aquatic life available in the Diver's Den® WYSIWYG Store truly one-of-a-kind is the 5-point acclimation, stress reduction, disease prevention, quarantine, and conditioning protocols we employ under the strict supervision of our dedicated LiveAquaria® professionals.

 

[Tamberav]

I love how you guys all seem to know more about Divers Den’s QT and holding procedures than they do. How do you know “they’re just using that word”? How do you know they’re not actually quarantining their fish? How do you know they “just use dips and stuff”?

If you read their website, you’ll see the following. Perhaps they don’t quarantine as long as TSM, but I can say I’ve purchased most of my expensive Angels from them, and never lost a single one. I’m not even a fan of Live Aquaria, but DD has been consistently good for me.

e Diver's Den® WYSIWYG Store Difference
What makes aquatic life available in the Diver's Den® WYSIWYG Store truly one-of-a-kind is the 5-point acclimation, stress reduction, disease prevention, quarantine, and conditioning protocols we employ under the strict supervision of our dedicated LiveAquaria® professionals.

It is posted on their website. They have it all listed on what they do exactly. Did you look?

The fish are not too bad, I used to use them before prices went to stupid amounts but I also know they are not QT because you can just read their website and see it's not a full QT. They even had a pic of a fish on their with a parasitic isopod on it lol. They sent me a DD starkii damsel that showed up with clear disease. I am sure they didn't bag it that way... but the stress of shipping and being removed from the UV/meds... well it showed up by the time it arrived. Poor fish, it was really bad.

These fish are conditioned... conditioned fish are still better then... not conditioned ones but you can still certainly get disease from their fish as well. That doesn't mean you can't buy from them.

 

[LPS Bum]

It is posted on their website. They have it all listed on what they do exactly. Did you look?

The fish are not too bad, I used to use them before prices went to stupid amounts but I also know they were not QT because you can just read their website and see it's not a full QT. They even had a pic of a fish on their with a parasitic isopod on it lol. They sent me a DD starkii damsel that showed up with clear disease. I am sure they didn't bag it that way... but the stress of shipping and being removed from the UV/meds... well it showed up by the time it arrived. Poor fish, it was really bad.

I’ve looked at their site (just did again actually) and I don’t see them using any of the language you used. Not at all actually.

I personally do not like doing business with Live Aquaria. I don’t like their prices or their new policies. But the DD fish have always been consistently good for me. I’ve purchased 6 large, expensive marine angels over the years, as well as a few tangs and a Sargassum trigger last month. All have done exceptionally well with zero problems. That can’t be a coincidence.

I guess we’ve just had different experiences with them.

 

[Reefahholic]

I just ordered 4 fish from the regular Live Aquaria side and 1 fish (Purple Dottyback) arrived starved. A blue Hippo tang was fine and in decent health. Two Azure Damsels never made it into the bag. So I had to waste a lot of water do transfers and QT for two fish. I used to have good luck with them, but now I’d say look elsewhere. The pic below was the day the fish arrived.

 

[elcapitan1993]

I ordered from them last year when I first got in the hobby, I placed 4 orders with them for fish and corals,and 1 for a Hanna checker, all 4 orders with fish either came covered in ich or were so starved and sickly they died, and the corals I ordered came completely wrong they either weren’t wha I ordered or they were just dead skeleton, for the Hanna checker I ordered the alkalinity DKH checker and 4 reagents and they sent me the ppm alkalinity checker with 4 of the copper reagent and they refused to fix it and send me the right ones and then when I contacted my bank and had them take my money back liveaquria called me and said I owed them money and I could not place a order until I pay it, that day is when I decided they are terrible company that has no idea what they are doing and they have no place in this hobby, I personally think they should go bankrupt but they won’t since they are owned by petco yes you heard that right!!! Petco owns them!!

 

[Tamberav]

I’ve looked at their site (just did again actually) and I don’t see them using any of the language you used. Not at all actually.

I personally do not like doing business with Live Aquaria. I don’t like their prices or their new policies. But the DD fish have always been consistently good for me. I’ve purchased 6 large, expensive marine angels over the years, as well as a few tangs and a Sargassum trigger last month. All have done exceptionally well with zero problems. That can’t be a coincidence.

I guess we’ve just had different experiences with them.

Experience is all fine and dandy but they have a long page dedicated to what their "QT" procedure is...

It is a link right on the "about our facility" page... come on

They even have a video.

LiveAquaria® Diver's Den® WYSIWYG Store Quarantine Procedure for Marine Fish

LiveAquaria® Diver's Den® WYSIWYG Store Quarantine Procedure for Marine Fish

www.liveaquaria.com

 

[LPS Bum]

Experience is all fine and dandy but they have a long page dedicated to what their "QT" procedure is...

It is a link right on the about our facility... come on

They even have a video.

Here ya go.... lol... this is how I know

https://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=425[/URL[/URL

I looked at the same page myself. ...a.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=425

Seems like a far cry from “only using dips and stuff”. Or “not really quarantined”.
They treat with copper, Prazi, formaldehyde and antibiotics. Pretty extensive for “just dips and stuff”…

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I’ve got one of my own too…

You can read all about their extensive QT procedures here…

https://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=425

Seems like a far cry from “only using dips and stuff”. Or “not really quarantined”.
They treat with copper, Prazi, formaldehyde and antibiotics. Pretty extensive for “just dips and stuff”…

How many people have to share their negative experiences and how many poor fish have to suffer and die before you start acknowledging that perhaps this company is not what it used to be?!

 

[Tamberav]

I looked at the same page myself. ...a.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=425

Seems like a far cry from “only using dips and stuff”. Or “not really quarantined”.
They treat with copper, Prazi, formaldehyde and antibiotics. Pretty extensive for “just dips and stuff”…

Yup and it won't give you parasite free fish regardless of how cool it sounds. The life cycles and treatments are well studied.

It will however knock the count load down and keep the fish healthy until they can be sold.

 

[Chrisv.]

Yup and it won't give you parasite free fish regardless of how cool it sounds. The life cycles and treatments are well studied.

It will however knock the count load down and keep the fish healthy until they can be sold.

Ironically, if they are already going this far it seems like they are almost there. It wouldn't take much more to go from being complained about on the internet to being consistent with TSM.

 

[Grumblez]

It was Dr. Reef that was a concern on humble fish. It was a massive thread of him basically ghosting on people because his company got too big too fast and he is taking a break, but maybe still taking orders? He was listed as an endorsed vendor there but the endorsement got taken away. Drama. Worth a read if you're considering it.

That's to bad, I bought a clownfish from him ordered in August received healthy and well packed 2 months later.

I've put very serious thought about in a few years maybe starting a similar business from home doing qt fish inverts and corals. His problem is his business model, doing custom orders like he does is okay if your doing it as a hobby and only a couple dozen orders a month, but I can't imagine the nightmare of trying to scale that much bigger.

 

[Tamberav]

It was Dr. Reef that was a concern on humble fish. It was a massive thread of him basically ghosting on people because his company got too big too fast and he is taking a break, but maybe still taking orders? He was listed as an endorsed vendor there but the endorsement got taken away. Drama. Worth a read if you're considering it.

The marine collectors thread was here on R2R and it was one guy who posted a glowing review that was then swarmed by a dozen people with horror stories, which all got deleted by mods.

KP is KP aquatics, a small family business that does collection in the Florida keys. They are famous here for having amazing live rock. Everything else I've bought from them has been amazing too. Nice folks. Husband and wife duo. They literally scuba and catch fish for you.

I put an order in after he said he was taking a break. All 3 fish arrived and so far healthy and eating.... EXCEPT he sent the wrong goby. I wanted a sandsifting goby and I got a shrimp goby. The shrimp goby I got isn't even listed on his website. I think maybe the supplier sent him the wrong goby as they do look similar in striping but very different body shape.

I need to get a hold of him. Hoping for a refund. The goby just hides all day since I don't have a pistol shrimp for it. Doh. I want something to flip my sand bed over.

 

[Tamberav]

Ironically, if they are already going this far it seems like they are almost there. It wouldn't take much more to go from being complained about on the internet to being consistent with TSM.

Yah it’s almost silly for them to put in all that effort only to end up short. Idk it’s likely gentler on fish so better survivability and better profit. They are using the most gentle form of copper at the very minimum dose. That type of copper is metabolized by fish though so It could easily fall out of range. It isn’t likely fish stay in long enough when they toss out things like “minimum two weeks”.

Idk why this crap interests me so much.

 

[tjohnson3]

That doesn't really sound like live aquaria's fault.

Given that DD fish are “supposed” to be quarantined, conditioned and medicated (per their website claim), I’d say it 100 percent is. Can’t claim one thing, and do the other. Is it my bad for not reading the “fine print” until after, sure it is… but I don’t think that I, or anyone else, should have to get into the fine print… esp when the pricing reflects that those steps SHOULD be part of the process

 

[piranhaman00]

I looked at the same page myself. ...a.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=425

Seems like a far cry from “only using dips and stuff”. Or “not really quarantined”.
They treat with copper, Prazi, formaldehyde and antibiotics. Pretty extensive for “just dips and stuff”…

They use the word QT incorrectly, it doesn’t matter what meds they use if they don’t treat for the whole life cycle of said parasites.

What they do is hide parasites or repress them enough, to appear illness free.

you are incorrect

 

[Zach B]

I've had good luck with LA through out the years. More than half my fish are from DD & LA. Hit or miss I suppose, they are plenty of places to source fish

 

[Wyvern]

I got a few things from them.

Two clowns- on was always thin, didn't really eat and seemed... slow compared to it's mate, it just passed after 5 months. I don't think it was sick rather it had birth defects or was injured in shipping.
The other one is fat and happy.

But other than that, everybody's been fine.

Their prices are ridiculous and there are many fish listed that are obviously sick or malnourished.

I'm trying to finish stocking with TSM, but they have so few specimens at any given time.