LiveAquaria website down?

[TheNative192]

Didn’t see your thread. Appreciate it. If they’re done, it’s definitely sad. The basic reference information they had for the fish was great.

I was gonna say! That was what I mostly used their website for lol

 

[D.WhiteShark]

This is all so weird, at the very least a company closing makes a statement ahead of a closure. This on the other hand is like the whole company along with it's employees were kidnapped and thrown in a hole or the whole operation was seized by authorities lol.

I feel for everyone that had pending orders that were paid for and those who won or were issued store credit for DOA etc

 

[TheNative192]

They posted two days ago in Instagram. But that post was about the dangers of overfeeding. I wonder what's going on?

It’s scheduled posts. Most companies have scheduled posts weeks in advance lol

 

[MC Blowfish]

It’s scheduled posts. Most companies have scheduled posts weeks in advance lol

I should have thought of that. It's been a long day and I'm tired.

 

[tbone28]

I feel for everyone that had pending orders that were paid for and those who won or were issued store credit for DOA etc

I'm in this boat. Had store credit, reordered fish, but that never shipped and now can't get a hold of them. I've opened a dispute with my CC company since I paid for a fish that died, and was issued a credit that I am unable to use.

 

[D.WhiteShark]

I feel for everyone that had pending orders that were paid for and those who won or were issued store credit for DOA etc

I'm in this boat. Had store credit, reordered fish, but that never shipped and now can't get a hold of them. I've opened a dispute with my CC company since I paid for a fish that died, and was issued a credit that I am unable to use.

Man that’s terrible! Hopefully your CC can make it right. I’m sure there are A LOT of people in the same boat

 

[Biokabe]

It's still a loss... if nothing else, I have a $100 gift card to them that's now useless, I feel that loss!

Granted, that gift card was the only reason I was going to give them a chance, at least it would have been playing with house money. Just my luck that I finally win something, and they go out of business before I can use it. =p

 

[oldpaddy]

Delete

 

[Fishels]

Wow if this place is closed is there a good alternative? I never bought a single thing off there as I’m not in the hobby atm. But I loved browsing their new arrivals and reading up on fish I was less familiar with.

Hopefully the phone thing is part of the system being down. Idk

 

[Biokabe]

Wow if this place is closed is there a good alternative? I never bought a single thing off there as I’m not in the hobby atm. But I loved browsing their new arrivals and reading up on fish I was less familiar with.

Hopefully the phone thing is part of the system being down. Idk

Honestly? Yes. There are lots of good alternatives to them. If they are gone, that's why. If you're not familiar with the history, it's a saddeningly common one in the modern American economy:

A smaller, niche company does well in a tight market by understanding what its customers are looking for. A larger corporate owner sees that success and wants to add it to its portfolio, buying the company while not understanding what made it succeed. It dictates its own poor understanding of the market and mandates its new acquisition to play according to its rules, which are inevitably worse for customers while (theoretically) increasing the profit margins.

When this fails to achieve desired results, the new coroporate owner loots it of everything of value, saddles it with debt, and sells it off to whoever it can find. The new owner, lacking both capital and understanding of how to run a business, fails to turn a profit, and the whole thing is shuttered.

As for the alternatives: Like I said, there's many. For fish, on the high end you have TSM Aquatics, Marine Collectors and a few others. At the medium end, Blue Zoo Aquatics, Dr Reef, and Saltwater Fish. And then a few more on the lower end that I'm not totally familiar with - Reefs 4 Less is the main one I'm aware of. For corals - so many alternatives. Aquacultured, boutique, mass market, chop shops - to name just a few off the top of my head: World Wide Corals, Tidal Gardens, Unique Corals, Living Reef Orlando, Pieces of the Ocean, Top Shelf Aquatics, Aqua SD, SBB Corals, Biota, Pacific East Aquaculture, Cherry Corals, Corals.com, Zoanthids.com, and plenty more that I'm no doubt forgetting about.

Basically, amid fierce competition, it couldn't survive while being controlled by people who didn't understand the market.

Assuming it is gone. At this point, I could be wrong but I feel like it probably is. It's too easy to make a FB post to just say, "Yeah, we're still here, just having some problems," and the fact that they haven't done that isn't encouraging.

 

[MC Blowfish]

Wow if this place is closed is there a good alternative? I never bought a single thing off there as I’m not in the hobby atm. But I loved browsing their new arrivals and reading up on fish I was less familiar with.

Hopefully the phone thing is part of the system being down. Idk

I've bought from Harry's Marine Life and Salty's. I had a good experience with both of them.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Didn’t see your thread. Appreciate it. If they’re done, it’s definitely sad. The basic reference information they had for the fish was great.

I used it as a quick reference for sizing of fish!

 

[D.WhiteShark]

Just an FYI posted by https://humble.fish/community/threads and found on a quick Bing search asking if LA is out of business:

Yes
Yes, LiveAquaria is out of business. The website has been inactive for several days, and customers are not receiving their orders. Reports indicate that the company has ceased operations, and there are no current updates suggesting it has reopened.

Edit: Not fact checked and appears to be misleading although not specifically untrue.

 

[Jasonak]

I also believe Oerci absorbed this business into Petco.com. The abrupt shutdown of the site and phone numbers feels like the classic poor handling of a transition.

I had thought they were petco owned also but according to the net Petco sold it in 2020

 

[D.WhiteShark]

Honestly? Yes. There are lots of good alternatives to them. If they are gone, that's why. If you're not familiar with the history, it's a saddeningly common one in the modern American economy:

A smaller, niche company does well in a tight market by understanding what its customers are looking for. A larger corporate owner sees that success and wants to add it to its portfolio, buying the company while not understanding what made it succeed. It dictates its own poor understanding of the market and mandates its new acquisition to play according to its rules, which are inevitably worse for customers while (theoretically) increasing the profit margins.

When this fails to achieve desired results, the new coroporate owner loots it of everything of value, saddles it with debt, and sells it off to whoever it can find. The new owner, lacking both capital and understanding of how to run a business, fails to turn a profit, and the whole thing is shuttered.

As for the alternatives: Like I said, there's many. For fish, on the high end you have TSM Aquatics, Marine Collectors and a few others. At the medium end, Blue Zoo Aquatics, Dr Reef, and Saltwater Fish. And then a few more on the lower end that I'm not totally familiar with - Reefs 4 Less is the main one I'm aware of. For corals - so many alternatives. Aquacultured, boutique, mass market, chop shops - to name just a few off the top of my head: World Wide Corals, Tidal Gardens, Unique Corals, Living Reef Orlando, Pieces of the Ocean, Top Shelf Aquatics, Aqua SD, SBB Corals, Biota, Pacific East Aquaculture, Cherry Corals, Corals.com, Zoanthids.com, and plenty more that I'm no doubt forgetting about.

Basically, amid fierce competition, it couldn't survive while being controlled by people who didn't understand the market.

Assuming it is gone. At this point, I could be wrong but I feel like it probably is. It's too easy to make a FB post to just say, "Yeah, we're still here, just having some problems," and the fact that they haven't done that isn't encouraging.

I believe this is on point. We all saw the difference immediately following acquisition by Petco. I always hoped they would settle back in, but it never really materialized.

 

[BZOFIQ]

It's a shame, it was good place to see if any fish is reef/invert safe. Not much else.

 

[D.WhiteShark]

I had thought they were petco owned also but according to the net Petco sold it in 2020

From what I recall Petco bought them in 2015 and then sold them off to an independent investor in 2020

 

[Malcontent]

It's a shame, it was good place to see if any fish is reef/invert safe. Not much else.

A lot of that info might still be available on archive.org.

 

[JayM]

Surely we have members here that could drive by the physical location?

 

[JTP424]

It doesn't look like the site was archived on the Wayback, that would have been a perfect reference guide... even if it eventually became somewhat outdated...

*correction, some pages are saved, but not easy to navigate.