Online ordering

[bmheath]

I’ve never ordered fish online. What are people’s experiences and recommendations for ordering online? What sites are good? What are the catches? Obviously the pros are you can get what you want, what are the cons?

 

[exnisstech]

Shipping stress is a big issue. Shipping delays. Not being able to observe the fish. Different acclimation than local bought. Fish ussually ship in low salinty so it best to know what it will ship in so you can have a tank ready that matches the salinty of the bag. I haven't ordered fish online since Foster and Smith sold live aquaria years ago. They offered a 14 day guarantee and would honor it. My LFS will order fish if I ask and they are available at one of his wholesalers. I can even get them still bagged if I want and save them from having to be acclimated twice.
I'm not a fan of buying fish kept in low salinty and or low level copper like many vendors do. It can hide disease that can become active with the fish is placed in normal salinty. I try to only buy fish kept in tanks that also house coral and inverts.
Unfortunately some people don't have a decent lfs.

 

[DmitryB]

Drs Foster and Smith was basically the only online retailer when I was still in the hobby last time. That brings back memories. When I thought of restarting, first thing I did was go to their website and was very confused. Like, what happened to them?!

I'm one of the people without a close LFS store. Nearest one is about 100 miles drive. So I'll be relying on online. I think for fish I'm mostly keen on Biota, Marine Collectors, Dr. Reef. That's just my personal lean based on what they say they do and overall people's reviews. But I don't have personal experience yet because I haven't put any fish in my tank yet. I did order from Marine Collectors a few days ago as my first order. Fingers crossed.

 

[Marco_99]

Drs Foster and Smith was basically the only online retailer when I was still in the hobby last time. That brings back memories. When I thought of restarting, first thing I did was go to their website and was very confused. Like. What happened to them?!

I'm one of the people without a close LFS store. Nearest one is about 100 miles drive. So I'll be relying on online. I think for fish I'm mostly keen on Biota, Marine Collectors, Dr. Reef. That's just my personal lean based on what they say they do and overall people's reviews. But I don't have personal experience yet because I haven't put any fish in my tank yet. I did order from Marine Collectors a few days ago as my first order. Fingers crossed.

I have several of Elliot’s fish in my tank because I like you don’t have a great selection where I live. Elliot at Marine collectors probably has some of the nicest fish you can get your hands on. They always eat, and look and act fantastic, they’re tanks. He’s not cheap, but his stuff is great. Biota is another one that is always flawless. If you’re into inverts Reef cleaners always has great customer service and shipping, and I live in a part of the country where all this stuff usually comes halfway across the country, so yeah, I’ve had nothing but great luck with the few I stated.

 

[kevgib67]

My lfs usually orders what I need but for the first time I received a my first online order of my final 6 fish and I ordered from Dr.Reef because I wanted them quarantined . I couldn’t have been happier, happy and healthy and packaged perfectly.

 

[serval]

Drs Foster and Smith was basically the only online retailer when I was still in the hobby last time. That brings back memories. When I thought of restarting, first thing I did was go to their website and was very confused. Like. What happened to them?!

I'm one of the people without a close LFS store. Nearest one is about 100 miles drive. So I'll be relying on online. I think for fish I'm mostly keen on Biota, Marine Collectors, Dr. Reef. That's just my personal lean based on what they say they do and overall people's reviews. But I don't have personal experience yet because I haven't put any fish in my tank yet. I did order from Marine Collectors a few days ago as my first order. Fingers crossed.

I have several of Elliot’s fish in my tank because I like you don’t have a great selection where I live. Elliot at Marine collectors probably has some of the nicest fish you can get your hands on. They always eat, and look and act fantastic, they’re tanks. He’s not cheap, but his stuff is great. Biota is another one that is always flawless. If you’re into inverts Reef cleaners always has great customer service and shipping, and I live in a part of the country where all this stuff usually comes halfway across the country, so yeah, I’ve had nothing but great luck with the few I stated.

I second the recommendation of Marine Collectors and of Biota. I also have acquired great fish from High Tide Aquatics.

 

[BriDroid]

I’ve ordered fish online from Algae Barn and BRS, they both drop shipped from ORA in Florida. I’ve also ordered directly from Biota. All the fish (and inverts) arrived super healthy and in full strength seawater - temperature acclimate and plop. No issues with them to this day. Of course these were all captive bred, not wild caught fish/inverts.

 

[commod0re]

I just this past week placed my first online fish order ever, went with Dr. Reefs, they seem to have a really good reputation on here, so I have high hopes for it

I can also second reefcleaners for inverts, have ordered from them twice and both were very good experiences

I’ve also gotten inverts (and of course corals) from Tidal Gardens, which is also great