U
User1
Guest
My Live Aquaria ordered arrived on Wednesday May 2nd. I ordered a Lt. Tang and various snails to help with my diatom bloom (I didn't want to add any of the packages around the net but instead chose snails I knew would work with a proper quantity so they don't starve). In any case my order shipped from Cali (Southern part - might as well be another state) and I'm up North. UPS dropped it off around 0930. I turned off lights in the room, closed window blinds, and opened the box. No damage on the box. Styrofoam shipping container had 6 bags vertical / upright with shipping peanuts in between. No heater packs (not sure if those are the norm or not).
Checked bags all are doubled up. One, with the Lt. Tang, had small leak or drop others fine. Each bag was 3/4 covered in black - bottom half I'm guessing is to reduce light, shock, and stress. Floated all bags (mistake #1) in my main display to bring to proper heat level. The bags upon unpacking are cold. Very cold but everything was moving about so floated them. Anyway 30 minutes later or so I opened the snails and started to drip acclimate them. They wanted to play escape games but over the course of an hour and a half I won and they slowly got acclimated and moved into the display. Not one loss and I'm on day 3. They are all doing their jobs, found areas to work, and the tanks unemployment numbers are reduced
The Lt. Tang was a challenge for it and I. I normally don't do fresh water dips but after several weeks of research I came to the conclusion that it is a good idea and it is more stressful to the hobbyist than the fish (no idea, but that is what I read...). I like a lot of what Bob Fenner writes about and one of his drip or bath methods includes the use of Methylene Blue in the dip or bath. More reading on that medicine and it seemed to make sense. So that is what I did. Prep, water temp (mistake #2), pH, etc - read and watched a video here (forget the name but the young woman did a great job with the Southern accent) and off I went. 10 minutes later the ordeal was done, tang was extremely happy, actually swam around in the dip or bath, and I could have sworn even made a snarky face at me while in it.
There are some mistakes I made with regards to floating the bags in my display especially if they are leaking water or not paying attention to dipping water temps but everything is fine. The quality of the fish, lack of flukes (water was clear to the best of my vision), and overall health happiness I would order from them again. However, there is a third mistake and that is I don't quarantine my fish. I never have and it isn't wise. The tang is eating all food I put in the tank except the nori sheet (will try attaching to a rock later today), zero aggression, no visible signs of any fungus or other nastiness, no scratching on rocks or sand, normal color, and round tummy area showing no signs of thin. Luck but not smart. I normally buy from a local box store who has a really nice setup in their fish area with water quality, massive UV, and procedures for onboarding fish. But alas this is long and my lack of QT is not good practice.
Would I recommend or buy from LA or DD again. YES - I would. Probably the best shipment of livestock outside of IPSF I've every received. And while I haven't had to use it - their 14 day refund/credit is one of the best.
Checked bags all are doubled up. One, with the Lt. Tang, had small leak or drop others fine. Each bag was 3/4 covered in black - bottom half I'm guessing is to reduce light, shock, and stress. Floated all bags (mistake #1) in my main display to bring to proper heat level. The bags upon unpacking are cold. Very cold but everything was moving about so floated them. Anyway 30 minutes later or so I opened the snails and started to drip acclimate them. They wanted to play escape games but over the course of an hour and a half I won and they slowly got acclimated and moved into the display. Not one loss and I'm on day 3. They are all doing their jobs, found areas to work, and the tanks unemployment numbers are reduced
The Lt. Tang was a challenge for it and I. I normally don't do fresh water dips but after several weeks of research I came to the conclusion that it is a good idea and it is more stressful to the hobbyist than the fish (no idea, but that is what I read...). I like a lot of what Bob Fenner writes about and one of his drip or bath methods includes the use of Methylene Blue in the dip or bath. More reading on that medicine and it seemed to make sense. So that is what I did. Prep, water temp (mistake #2), pH, etc - read and watched a video here (forget the name but the young woman did a great job with the Southern accent) and off I went. 10 minutes later the ordeal was done, tang was extremely happy, actually swam around in the dip or bath, and I could have sworn even made a snarky face at me while in it.
There are some mistakes I made with regards to floating the bags in my display especially if they are leaking water or not paying attention to dipping water temps but everything is fine. The quality of the fish, lack of flukes (water was clear to the best of my vision), and overall health happiness I would order from them again. However, there is a third mistake and that is I don't quarantine my fish. I never have and it isn't wise. The tang is eating all food I put in the tank except the nori sheet (will try attaching to a rock later today), zero aggression, no visible signs of any fungus or other nastiness, no scratching on rocks or sand, normal color, and round tummy area showing no signs of thin. Luck but not smart. I normally buy from a local box store who has a really nice setup in their fish area with water quality, massive UV, and procedures for onboarding fish. But alas this is long and my lack of QT is not good practice.
Would I recommend or buy from LA or DD again. YES - I would. Probably the best shipment of livestock outside of IPSF I've every received. And while I haven't had to use it - their 14 day refund/credit is one of the best.
