Live Aquaria fish? Should I buy from them?

[ReefWithCare]

I moved to a new area and starting up a tank. I was very spoiled with my old LFS that was stellar, had a QT practice, and lived in an area with solid distributors (CA).

I scoped out the LFS's in my area and I'm completely horrified by all of them except one and the one that I'm okay with happens to be about a 40 minutes drive from me. The one I was cool with does have a QT practice on all new arrivals and I feel a little bad if I don't buy from them as I want to support them...but they are pretty far :-/.

I'm highly considering on-line only from Live Aquaria or Blue Zoo Aquatics for my 125G build. My main issue is really shipping cost, but their $29.99 fee is pretty reasonable and actually makes them about the same price as the LFS here

 

[VR28man]

If a

I moved to a new area and starting up a tank. I was very spoiled with my old LFS that was stellar, had a QT practice, and lived in an area with solid distributors (CA).

I scoped out the LFS's in my area and I'm completely horrified by all of them except one and the one that I'm okay with happens to be about a 40 minutes drive from me. The one I was cool with does have a QT practice on all new arrivals and I feel a little bad if I don't buy from them as I want to support them...but they are pretty far :-/.

I'm highly considering on-line only from Live Aquaria or Blue Zoo Aquatics for my 125G build. My main issue is really shipping cost, but their $29.99 fee is pretty reasonable and actually makes them about the same price as the LFS here

If an LFS really did a good quarantine, I'd definitely buy my stuff from them, just to encourage folks to do that...............

[ETA: even if they were 2 hours away. Growing up our best LFS was two hours away anyway, so I'm used to planning like that]

 

[Robink]

Yes, all the fish in my tank have come from Live Aquaria. I like the 14 day guarantee and yes all the fish go through qt before they go into display.

 

[ReefWithCare]

If a


If an LFS really did a good quarantine, I'd definitely buy my stuff from them, just to encourage folks to do that...............

Ya I agree. It's just so far away

 

[Dfloydvt]

I’ve purchased through the divers den section and was completely satisfied. Would definitely recommend

 

[Sashaka]

I'm highly considering on-line only from Live Aquaria or Blue Zoo Aquatics for my 125G build. My main issue is really shipping cost, but their $29.99 fee is pretty reasonable and actually makes them about the same price as the LFS here

Even seemingly healthy fish from Live Aquaria and Blue Zoo can be or get sick from the stress of shipping or being added to our displays with other tank mates. Quarantine is a must as most fish sold today seem to have some pathogen either internal or external or both. I also have to travel over an hour to get to any LFS, but the shops are NOT clean and none quarantine or guarantee their fish.

As far as spending $29.99 goes, I figure I spend about $10 on gas for the round trip to the LFS, I stop and eat...that's another $20 or so. Worse yet, if I enter a LFS, I usually walk out with more fish, supplies, or other items not originally anticipated. So, for me, it's most definitely cheaper to spend $29.99 on shipping. LOL

 

[SFKINNC]

I have been happy with all my dealings with Doctors Foster and Smith’s Live Aquaria. Their 14-day guarantee is a great bonus. Their people have been friendly and courteous and their service is prompt.

However, the company has been bought recently by Petco and I hope they will keep the great service and not ruin the business that Foster and Smith built.

 

[SFKINNC]

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[SFKINNC]

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[AcanthurusRex]

I've purchased twice from Diver Den, once from ORA and once from LiveAquaria. I have yet to loose any fish from them. All go through QT.
I believe they drop ship from ORA in FL and a wholesaler in LA.
My first Live Aquaria order is still in QT.
I've only purchased one fish locally and that was from a fellow R2R member.

 

[SnailQueen]

I've bought fish, coral, and inverts from them for at least the past five or six years, multiple times a year because until recently, the nearest place for saltwater was an hour away. Great refund/credit policy, and when they once accidently shipped me fish I didn't order, they not only told me to keep it no charge but even IDed it via email for me since I wasn't totally positive what it was.
I also once had some sand shipped from them and UPS destroyed the package to the point where when I went to open it, they had punctured the bag of sand so I ended up with 20 lbs of sand all over my kitchen floor. When I called, the girl from customer service and I had a good laugh over it, and she asked me if I wanted to change to a different color of the sand before she shipped me out a new bag, since clearly the white sand wasn't looking so good on the kitchen flooring and maybe I would want a color that didn't remind me of this incident every time I looked at the tank.
Nothing but good things to say about them!

 

[andyg1960]

Do you treat and quarantine your fish from Live Aquaria before putting them in your display tank?

You should be quarantining everything no matter where you get it

 

[oldfishman]

To this point I have only ordered fresh water fish from them. They handled all problems promptly and to my satisfaction. I was truly disappointed in the size of the fish. Those that were to be 1 to 1 1/2 inches were more like 3/4 of and inch and three types were so small I couldn’t identify them. They give credit and made all good.

 

[Fritzhamer]

I’ve purchased many, many live animals from them. Corals, fish and other random inverts. I’ve always been pleased.

 

[WeaveAway]

Interesting. I've been to 3 or 4 different stores, all but one are about 2 - 2 1/2 hours away. They seem knowledgeable, but I still had mortality issues. Like others, I'm sick about dropping hundreds of dollars at a time on marine livestock, only to see them die with no refund. Well, let me first say it makes me sick to watch marine life die, period. And there's this "feud" going on about who's right: the lfs or the forums when it comes to advice, they tell me not to listen to the others. Sheesh, enough to give one a headache! I trust this site for articles and advice, and I read books and after loosing 2 tangs, an expensive Maximus clam and a tracchy lately, no more lfs for me. I don't blame them for my losses (they may be due to my error, of course), but I do have a problem of them suggesting things that are not appropriate. And when I question them, they say they are right, the forums are wrong.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Interesting. I've been to 3 or 4 different stores, all but one are about 2 - 2 1/2 hours away. They seem knowledgeable, but I still had mortality issues. Like others, I'm sick about dropping hundreds of dollars at a time on marine livestock, only to see them die with no refund. Well, let me first say it makes me sick to watch marine life die, period. And there's this "feud" going on about who's right: the lfs or the forums when it comes to advice, they tell me not to listen to the others. Sheesh, enough to give one a headache! I trust this site for articles and advice, and I read books and after loosing 2 tangs, an expensive Maximus clam and a tracchy lately, no more lfs for me. I don't blame them for my losses (they may be due to my error, of course), but I do have a problem of them suggesting things that are not appropriate. And when I question them, they say they are right, the forums are wrong.

I think one thing to consider with advice, a lfs you are getting 1 persons opinion and their opinion is shaded by the desire to stay in business which means selling you whatever they can and however much they can. Here, on this forum, you can get many opinions, the benefit of many experiences, and a wide range of knowledge. And that allows us the opportunity to make our decision based on our own experiences, knowledge etc. And to do additional research if needed.

Also, with so few lfs, esp. in some areas, I think they don't care about return customers as there will always be customers who won't buy online so they have no reason to provide excellent customer service. Online, they try harder for those bucks.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Okay, got my LA order today.
1- 1 fish not only doa, but it looked pretty rotten. No way it went into that bag live. Talked to LA, got credit, and they will follow up with quality control and the person who bagged it.
2-The lyretail anthias and the 2 royal grammas all in display. Might have to either section off a section of the tank for one royal gramma if they fight. Seeiing some agression. Or just put one into the display. Will give them time. Right now they are on same corner of tank.

So another good experience with them doing right

 

[rkpetersen]

Many purchases from them, corals, inverts, fish. Pretty much all from the WYSIWYG Diver's Den Wisconsin site, except for sea stars. Mostly good experiences, although occasionally a fish, coral or clam clearly got too cold or something along the way and arrives either DOA or in rough shape. LA's 14 day money back guarantee really sets them apart from basically everyone else in this regard.

I like my LFSs a lot, but none of them do any quarantining at present. It's unfortunate, but from a business standpoint I understand it. These stores have very small footprints, and every square foot you devote to qt tanks is that much less space you can use to display items for sale. Also, the pressure from customers to purchase rare arrivals the moment they're out of the bag (or even still in the bag) can be high. And since everyone should be doing QT at home, some stores might feel that this is an adequate reason for them not to.

 

[Dragon52]

It is. Got 2 mandarins from one place. Both gone in 2-3 days. 2 more from another place. 1 still with me, 1 didn't make it. First batch went into qt with pods. Second batch right into tank with tons of pods. 3 bangai, 1 fire fish from one store. 1 bangaii survived. Found the fire fish on floor. She might have been in a decoration I removed so I could watch better. 4 anthias from one store. 2 purples gone in a couple weeks, other 2 dispars going strong. 2 darwin clowns from one store, doing well. From LA: 2 clowns, Ruby head, blue head, mccoskers, & Lubbocks wrasses. Lubbocks looks to have injured itself, mccoskers no idea why it didn't survive. Put the blue head and ruby in display. blue head poofed. So out of 6, 4 made it to the display. 3 left now. Much better odds and I got money back for the 2 that didn't make it. Just saying. At least here in calif, going between san jose to sacramento area, not good odds. And these are only the more recent fish, not the originals in my 66 gal in the first year. Velvet, from one store, wiped all but 4 (goby, dragonet, 2 chromis)

Have you tried Vivid Aquariums in Cali, I believe they have a descent warranty also.

 

[Dragon52]

I have bought from LA many times also, their guaranty is on CUC items also, never an issue & I haven't even had to take pictures of the DOAs which has only happened 1 or twice.

 

[Dragon52]

I have been happy with all my dealings with Doctors Foster and Smith’s Live Aquaria. Their 14-day guarantee is a great bonus. Their people have been friendly and courteous and their service is prompt.

However, the company has been bought recently by Petco and I hope they will keep the great service and not ruin the business that Foster and Smith built.

I was told by Petco here in town that it was the other way, Dr's F&S bought Petco. interesting.