References for Aquarium Arts store?

[Coral Memere]

I've seen posts that refer to Aquarium Arts, the livestock store in Mesa (?), AZ that I see with videos on Instagram, all the time. Taking everything on IG with a huge grain of salt, I'm left with questions.

Those prior posts and their website don't answer my questions. Rather than getting the "pitch" from the store, I'd rather ask you brutally-honest co-reefers:
1) Has anyone got an opinion on their shipping services?
2) How is their fish quality?
3) They say they medicate. Do they actually quarantine?
4) How long have their fish been in-house before being sold?

I'm failing miserably at home-quarantining and it's breaking my heart and hurting my soul. I'm looking for fish that are "plug and play" without breaking the bank.

Thanks for your thoughts!!!!

 

[Anna K]

They are actually a member on the forums, and I saw recently in a thread, someone tagged them and asked them a question about a fish or a clam and when they'd have more in stock, and they responded quite quickly. From the people that I know who live in AZ and frequent the store, they've never said a negative thing about them. You can also probably DM them directly and ask these questions to get answers, or search on the forums to see what others are saying. If they don't meet up to your standards with QT, you can always go with Dr. Reef!

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

As a dry goods dealer in the Phoenix area I get almost all of my livestock from Aquarium Arts. Speak to the owners Gavin and Ian. Both are very knowledgeable and can help. They have been very good to me special ordering livestock I have requested and I know that they do more to condition their fish than other local stores.

 

[Soggy Frito]

They are actually a member on the forums, and I saw recently in a thread, someone tagged them and asked them a question about a fish or a clam and when they'd have more in stock, and they responded quite quickly. From the people that I know who live in AZ and frequent the store, they've never said a negative thing about them. You can also probably DM them directly and ask these questions to get answers, or search on the forums to see what others are saying. If they don't meet up to your standards with QT, you can always go with Dr. Reef!

Did you ever order from them? If so, how was the experience?

 

[Anna K]

Did you ever order from them? If so, how was the experience?

I have only ordered from Dr. Reef and haven't had an issue :)

 

[oxo]

I've seen posts that refer to Aquarium Arts, the livestock store in Mesa (?), AZ that I see with videos on Instagram, all the time. Taking everything on IG with a huge grain of salt, I'm left with questions.

Those prior posts and their website don't answer my questions. Rather than getting the "pitch" from the store, I'd rather ask you brutally-honest co-reefers:
1) Has anyone got an opinion on their shipping services?
2) How is their fish quality?
3) They say they medicate. Do they actually quarantine?
4) How long have their fish been in-house before being sold?

I'm failing miserably at home-quarantining and it's breaking my heart and hurting my soul. I'm looking for fish that are "plug and play" without breaking the bank.

Thanks for your thoughts!!!!

never have ordered online, but i am a local. unfortunately can't answer any shipping q's but i know they sell a lot of fish online, even have signs up in store that they don't do longterm holds for that reason. most their fish look alright to me, they definitely get much more fish in much more often than the store i work at does (although the selection is just okay IMO. lots and lots of fish but not the most variety). they keep most the fish for online sale in little cubicle dividers and i don't reckon they're ever there for that long. no quarantine process but they do medicate their fish-in systems every so often. owners are good people though, so i don't think they'd send you a bad looking fish on purpose.

i second dr. reef if you want to skip QT. just keep in mind all fish carry diseases and microbes, but most of them only cause illness / infection when the fish's immune system is weakened enough (by stress). QT before shipment doesn't garuantee nothing gets introduced into your system nor that the fish won't get sick later.