Live Aquaria fish? Should I buy from them?

[Susan Edwards]

@Dragon52 I haven't tried Vivid yet. I made a list of online vendor for both fish and coral and their locations and their warranty. They are on my list to try as they are in Calif. as well. They don't have as big a selection and weren't as cheap as LA I believe. But will try them.

anyone with experience on Vivid and their warranty?

so far the 5 live fish from L A are all out and eating and all hanging out on the same side of the QT tank together.

 

[Dragon52]

I ordered from Vivid a cple times last yr had one DOA ( had to send pic) & they made good on it. 15 Day guaranty. Selection is smaller but they also have some fish that LA doesn't.

 

[Sashaka]

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.

Interesting SFKINNC and Dragon52: I was talking to LA about an order I was getting and I asked the rep outright if PetCo owned Live Aquaria. She told me that PetCo had been the owner for quite some time, and that was over a year ago. I think if we're still happy with the fish and service when ordering online, the company probably adopted LA's holding procedures and selling policies. ;Couchpotato Time will tell if LA starts cutting corners on fish health to make a quick buck as the big box PetCo stores seem to do. In the meantime, I'm still happy with the fish I've purchased from them online.

 

[Dragon52]

Evidently the sales person that told me that was confused because it was about that same time they told me. I agree about ordering from them, I've done so within the last 2 months & get the same service I've always gotten.

 

[rkpetersen]

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

I wonder if/when the name of one or the other will change. Happens often (including after my partners and I sold our business.)

 

[Nickcdll]

I started reading this thread because my lfs's suck. I went to one a hour away and there was apatasia growing on some of his live rock. where is live aquaria located? I live in rhode island, would that be to far for the fishes health to have it shipped? Petco bought live aquaria, thats awful...both of my local petco's saltwater fish look like they're three seconds from death.

 

[DoggoThePuffer]

Hey Nick! It’s Andrew, I would suggest getting your fish from Fish Bowl! It has the best saltwater selection! Tell Mickey Andrew sent you there, because he has the most knowledge and is the owner! I would also suggest getting an arrow crab too as an invertebrate! But ask him about fish, fish wise! He is very nice and knows his facts! Good luck!

 

[ReefMeUpScotty]

@Dragon52 I haven't tried Vivid yet. I made a list of online vendor for both fish and coral and their locations and their warranty. They are on my list to try as they are in Calif. as well. They don't have as big a selection and weren't as cheap as LA I believe. But will try them.

anyone with experience on Vivid and their warranty?

so far the 5 live fish from L A are all out and eating and all hanging out on the same side of the QT tank together.

Hey what are you using to hold your basters and net next to your tank? A toothbrush stand?

 

[Nickcdll]

Thank you buddy, i will take your advice and head down there tomorrow. i had to take my piece of live rock out because of a nuisance algae but will head to the other critter hut to tomorrow.

 

[Sashaka]

I live in rhode island, would that be to far for the fishes health to have it shipped?

I'm in NY and have ordered from both LA and LA Divers Den without issues.

 

[Nickcdll]

thank you for the answer. someone said it was better to order from them in the winter than in the summer? do you think that is true?

 

[ReefMeUpScotty]

I ordered from saltwater.com and the corals and Pom Pom crab arrived perfect. Not sure if they’re reputable place but they had good deals and no issues here.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Hey what are you using to hold your basters and net next to your tank? A toothbrush stand?

lol's. I'm using 2 different vases. One plain blue glass, the other, the green dog, is more of a pitcher. One for the display, one for the QT

 

[DoggoThePuffer]

I ordered from saltwater.com and the corals and Pom Pom crab arrived perfect. Not sure if they’re reputable place but they had good deals and no issues here.

Saltwater fish banned me for having a crab in my cart.... with my whole order. I don’t know why but, it happened! All my reef rewards, gone. BUT, I would %100 try liveaquaria .com, because it has a great selection of fish and corals, and even freshwater too! But I mainly shop on there since they have, pufferfish for cheap, saltwater fish for cheap, and more things than saltwater fish. Com. So definitely go on that website! Have a nice day and GL!

 

[rkpetersen]

thank you for the answer. someone said it was better to order from them in the winter than in the summer? do you think that is true?

I don't think there's any general rule that works for this, except that, if it's either very hot or very cold at either the source or destination, your livestock might suffer. I personally have had items arrive either dead or soon to be dead from getting much too cold along the way; I have yet to receive anything that has been cooked in the bag.

 

[Susan Edwards]

I think it depends on where you are in relation to where they are. If you are in the same state, might be okay depending on temps. When it hits triple digits, I won't order. But if just 90's, I might try as the fish won't be in transit during the hot, just evening and morning delivery.

 

[Dragon52]

LA use heat/cold packs inside the boxes to keep everything at/near the correct temp. They ship overnight to arrive by 10:30am. I've never had an issue because of temp. Just make sure someone is home so the box/boxes don't sit outside for hrs & you should be good to go.

 

[blkhwkz]

I got an order from LA a few weeks ago. Ordered a few fish from the California warehouse and an ORA fish. I get texts from UPS for all my packages and they said Quality Marine for the CA package and ORA for the FL package. Packaging for both was great. The only fish LA sends themselves are Divers Den from the WI facility. One of the fish showed signs of ich after a few days, but since I QT everything and run meds prophylactically it was not a big deal to me. All fish have been doing great and thriving in QT.

I try to buy from LFS when I can, bought a wrasse last Sunday (I have multiple quarantine tanks) that was dead by Wednesday and of course no guarantee like LA has.

 

[Moo76]

used them several times - very happy. They had a packing messup and killed several corals on one shipment. Replaced all, even one that was fine that i was not happy with the color of and they replaced that one as well

 

[higorc]

+1 on Live Aquaria. Always bought from them and never had a problem.