Is Live aquaria reputable?

Qasimja · Jul 10, 2019

ive ordered from them in the past and ive always been happy with my purchase

VO6 · Jul 10, 2019

I actually got in an order from them yesterday, a helfrichi firefish and a banggai cardinal. Both of which are quite plump and healthy, no signs of disease (as of right now), and they both ate yesterday as well!!

scott11106 · Jul 11, 2019

Jared Lowe said:
Yeah, Live Aquaria has really good customer service they messed up part of my order and sent me two silver xenia frags instead of my zoanthid colony and refunded me within a couple days. So got two free xenia frags

thats great but i would throw those out or give them away....that stuff is so hard to get rid of once it is in a tank

Jared's Little Reef · Jul 11, 2019

scott11106 said:
thats great but i would throw those out or give them away....that stuff is so hard to get rid of once it is in a tank

Yeah, that is 100% the long-term plan aka (2-3 month plan) Xenia grow way too fast. Currently I have them both on the sand in low flow corner of the tank keeping them far away from everything else.

artieg1 · Jul 11, 2019

I have used them probably 6 times, and they've always refunded promptly if there was an issue, and one of those was a death in the 14-day window. Most livestock was good and healthy.

Jay Z · Jul 11, 2019

I’ve ordered 8 fish from them. Never had a single one make it past 3 days. Usually they look like skin and bones when they show up.

I order a lot of inverts from them too. Never had any issues with those.

They do honor the warranty, just need to fill out the form.

My fish may not have made it because of location and shipping time. So I speak about my own experience with them.

Dragon52 · Jul 11, 2019

I e]recently had problems with my last order but it was not LA's fault. UPS screwed up big time & LA honored it anyway, they were aware of the issue because ups contacted them & told them that the packages did not get put on the plane when they were supposed to & arrived 3 days late.
They have also honored a cple times when I put the fish in the tank & they disappeared & I didn't see them again, they told me to wait until the 14day to see if they showed which they didn't, I think the CUC got them after they died.

Jholli90 · Jul 11, 2019

Everyone confirmed what I wanted to hear so I made the leap and ordered a melanarus wrasse. I was waiting for one to come in stock when I posted this. I was going to let the responses decide if I would actually order it. Thank you to everyone for sharing your experiences! It will be here on Tuesday

JRAD · Jul 13, 2019

All the fish I have are from LA. 90% divers den. I qt everything, even divers den. DD acclimates the fish but not a true qt. I have noticed a lot of disease lately even in DD fish. Ordered a pair of multibar angels that were dead in 5 days from velvet. They died within 24 hours of the first symptom. They promptly refunded my money-but I would have rather had the fish alive and healthy. I did have to send pics on a white background. Luckily the rest of the fish in the qt survived. Treated with copper power and Hanna checker.

Jholli90 · Jul 13, 2019

I agree, I would rather have a healthy living fish over my refun. If I wanted the money, I wouldn't have spent it lol

skyrne_isk · Jul 13, 2019

Jholli90 said:
I wasn't sure which area to post this, but finally decided here. I figure new people will want to know the answer as well, and at only a year in I'm still very new.

I like browsing live aquaria, researching and dreaming of future fish. I have never ordered, and I'm nervous. Do they honor their 14 day guarantee? Do the fish come in healthy? What have your experiences with them been like?

My only LFS has a "no refund policy" but I had them order a fish for me once, and it came in covered in lympho. They stood by their policy, and I went home and attempted to save it ( didn't work). So now I'm trying to save myself some heartache and money. Is live aquaria the answer?

first, that’s a terrible LFS. sorry. second, LA is one of the best. try blue zoo

skyrne_isk · Jul 13, 2019

skyrne_isk said:
first, that’s a terrible LFS. sorry. second, LA is one of the best. try blue zoo

as well. saltwaterfish.com has been pretty good to me as well over the years. they do honor their guarantees - at least LA does refunds - the others may just do credit

Westoncase · Jul 13, 2019

I just got a wheelers shrimp goby from them yesterday. So far I have nothing bad to say. I will say buy from your lfs if possible, I just didn’t wanna wait for my lfs to get one in.

jtl · Jul 13, 2019

I have always had good experiences with LA but now that they are owned by Petco who knows?

reaper0268 · Jul 14, 2019

I have been using LiveAquaria for close to 20 years. I don't buy my fish anywhere else. I have almost always received healthy fish and inverts. The few times I have had an issue, they were always quick to respond and resolve.

Jholli90 · Jul 15, 2019

skyrne_isk said:
first, that’s a terrible LFS. sorry. second, LA is one of the best. try blue zoo

Yea, I spoke to a few LFS in my surrounding area ( about 2 hours away) and they said they would never have sent me home with a fish like that. I'm willing to make the drive, but I rarely have the time. Hoping LA is the solution

Jholli90 · Jul 25, 2019

Wanted to update everyone.

This was almost a disaster and no fault to LA. I recieved the confirmation message from UPS stating my package had been delivered and left at the front door (not signed for). My husband was home waiting on the fish. I called to see how it was doing, but there wasn't a fish at our house. I called UPS, they said it was delivered to the front door.

They delivered it to the wrong house!!!
My husband decided to drive to the next street since they mix up our mail alot and check. The box was sitting in the sun on this person's porch.

The fish is ok, and has been in quarantine for the past week. Luckily they packed it with ice since it sat in the sun for 2 hours.

I was not happy with ups. I have never been a difficult customer who complains but I did that day!

Cell · Jul 25, 2019

Jholli90 said:
Wanted to update everyone.

This was almost a disaster and no fault to LA. I recieved the confirmation message from UPS stating my package had been delivered and left at the front door (not signed for). My husband was home waiting on the fish. I called to see how it was doing, but there wasn't a fish at our house. I called UPS, they said it was delivered to the front door.

They delivered it to the wrong house!!!
My husband decided to drive to the next street since they mix up our mail alot and check. The box was sitting in the sun on this person's porch.

The fish is ok, and has been in quarantine for the past week. Luckily they packed it with ice since it sat in the sun for 2 hours.

I was not happy with ups. I have never been a difficult customer who complains but I did that day!

Wow, you have a really horrible driver.

Oldreefer44 · Jul 25, 2019

They used to be my go to. IMO, they have changed. I have had issues with 3 orders in a row where fish were either dead or dying. While they do honor their warrantee if you follow their guidelines, I do not like the idea of seemingly playing a numbers game where DOA'S are just a cost of doing business. If I order just enough to get free shipping and have 1 DOA then I will have to pay shipping to get another one. Also, had an issue where 2 of 4 animals where clearly in distress because no heat packs were used in the middle of the winter. My choice was to either try to save the fish, or let them die in order to get my credit. I called LA who basically stated their warranty policy when I explained the situation. Did not appreciate the attitude so now shop elsewhere.