Thoughts on Live Aquaria

[4FordFamily]

My understanding is that their livestock does come from live aquaria. Or at least the same supplier supplies both. The only thing I can figure is that they get handled completely differently at the retail level.

Yes this is true

 

[Jerry Barnes]

I've ordered many times from LA and have always had positive results. As a side note, our local Petco has been bringing in some really nice stuff over the last six months. Prior to this their stock looked pathetic.

 

[NCreefguy]

My first order from Live Aquaria I ordered some fish on a Monday night at 11:00pm and they were supposed to ship out Tuesday(before 9:30am ships that day). Never got a shipping confirmation Tuesday night so I emailed them asking if my order shipped. No answer. I called them Wednesday since I had taken off work to be home and the customer service rep told me that my order had not shipped because it was marked as "Ordered too late to ship". I asked her how was it too late? I told her to look at my purchase time and that I was pretty sure Monday night at 11pm was before 9:30am Tuesday. She said "Yeah I guess so". I then asked her why wasn't my email answered and she said "Well I've got about 200 emails to get to so it's probably going to be a while". I cancelled that order. A week later I received an email that stated that the reason my order was not shipped on time was because I had called and cancelled it. :rolleyes:

Giving them a second chance much later I ordered some fish and 12 Mexican Turbos. The package was shipped the next day but without my turbo snails. Their website still showed that they were available but after I called I was told that they were unavailable and would ship as soon as they restocked. About a week goes by and I received a wet package (so you know this isn't good) of some turbo snails that were single bagged and barely clamped shut with most of the water leaked out soaking the box. 5 live snails were in about a splash of water,4 snails were dead and 3 empty shells. Yes some yahoo really shipped 3 empty shells. Not tiny little shells where it's hard to tell if something is in it either.The snails didn't turn to goo and come out of the shells either. I could have taken some pics and called them but I had no desire to deal with these people any more.

There will not be a third order.

 

[ca1ore]

I've been ordering from LA/DD for years. Almost nothing has changed since they've been part of Petco, other than the charging of sales tax - that would likely have happened regardless. I've had good success with both LA and DD. The former comes from their wholesaler Quality Marine with fish shipped at 1.018 salinity. No conditioning of any kind, but generally healthy fish. The latter come from their owned Wisconsin facility and shipped at 1.025 salinity. Fish are generally more interesting or unusual species sourced from multiple places and conditioned (though not properly quarantined).

Every vendor will stumble occasionally, but I have to say I've had nothing but good experiences with them. Responsive, fair, and reliable. Just ordered the most expensive fish I've ever bought anywhere. Wouldn't have done that with any other supplier. Highly recommended.

 

[JasReef]

I just ordered this week from them, 2 arrived doa, probably stress as no visible marks or damaged bags. I called them and the person on the phone seemed genuine and sympathetic that they didn't make it, they processed a refund with no problems.

The fish were all triple bagged and sealed( they even put a dark plastic around them so they don't see each other in the same box, put those in a styrofoam box with packing peanuts in it, that was in the regular cardboard box and had heat packs. The water temp was 75.5 F.

Nothing but complete professionalism from my experiences. Even though I was frustrated the 2 fish didn't make it that happens sometimes and I would order from them again no problem.

I am glad to see all the good reviews that mirror my experience, it gives me more reason to order from them again in the future. I don't care who owns them as long as they keep up the outstanding service. No, I have no affiliation with them, i'm just a happy customer and a firm believer that when given the opportunity to give a review on good customer you should. :)

 

[DanConnor]

I also heard they quarantine fish that do not come from divers den so that is good news.

LiveAquaria doesn't even see the fish; they told me this directly on the phone.

I've ordered from LA and DD about 4 times in the last 6 months, but I doubt I will again. They do honor their guarantee however.

 

[ReefTalk]

I just got my order today, I am quite pleased , but the yellow longnosed butterflyfish is swimming in only one side of the tank. Is this normal for butterflyfish to do that in a new tank.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I just got my order today, I am quite pleased , but the yellow longnosed butterflyfish is swimming in only one side of the tank. Is this normal for butterflyfish to do that in a new tank.

That should only be temporary.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

My first order from Live Aquaria I ordered some fish on a Monday night at 11:00pm and they were supposed to ship out Tuesday(before 9:30am ships that day). Never got a shipping confirmation Tuesday night so I emailed them asking if my order shipped. No answer. I called them Wednesday since I had taken off work to be home and the customer service rep told me that my order had not shipped because it was marked as "Ordered too late to ship". I asked her how was it too late? I told her to look at my purchase time and that I was pretty sure Monday night at 11pm was before 9:30am Tuesday. She said "Yeah I guess so". I then asked her why wasn't my email answered and she said "Well I've got about 200 emails to get to so it's probably going to be a while". I cancelled that order. A week later I received an email that stated that the reason my order was not shipped on time was because I had called and cancelled it. :rolleyes:

I don't like to hear that... those are not responses I would ever expect to receive from them.

 

[NCreefguy]

I don't like to hear that... those are not responses I would ever expect to receive from them.

I'm not sure if she was just having one of those days or what but I didn't expect that myself. My wife and I used to own a small pet supply company and I fully understand how it can get sometimes handling a wide range of customers. Some customers can not be satisfied no matter what you do. However,when we made a mistake with an order,we in no way shape or form got "short"with a customer. You can't treat your customers that way no matter what kind of day you're having. If the same thing happened to one of my customers,I would have wanted to know why myself and followed up with the customer to make sure this was taken care of in a satisfactory manner. This was not the case with Live Aquaria. I was given the "Oh well" treatment. I mean they did answer my email a week later but to say that the reason my order didn't ship on time was because I cancelled it is just unprofessional.

In all fairness I didn't give them a chance to correct the snail mishap but whoever shipped them didn't have any business handling livestock. After reading a few threads though I'm not sure if Live Aquaria even fills those orders or just contracts them out.

These were just my experiences with them but I've moved on...Life is too short and I'm getting older. :)

 

[ReefTalk]

I'm not sure if she was just having one of those days or what but I didn't expect that myself. My wife and I used to own a small pet supply company and I fully understand how it can get sometimes handling a wide range of customers. Some customers can not be satisfied no matter what you do. However,when we made a mistake with an order,we in no way shape or form got "short"with a customer. You can't treat your customers that way no matter what kind of day you're having. If the same thing happened to one of my customers,I would have wanted to know why myself and followed up with the customer to make sure this was taken care of in a satisfactory manner. This was not the case with Live Aquaria. I was given the "Oh well" treatment. I mean they did answer my email a week later but to say that the reason my order didn't ship on time was because I cancelled it is just unprofessional.

In all fairness I didn't give them a chance to correct the snail mishap but whoever shipped them didn't have any business handling livestock. After reading a few threads though I'm not sure if Live Aquaria even fills those orders or just contracts them out.

These were just my experiences with them but I've moved on...Life is too short and I'm getting older. :)

I had no problem with there service, always answered my email

 

[NCreefguy]

I had no problem with there service, always answered my email

Maybe yours was one of the first of the 200 emails she had. :D

 

[HiddenUser]

Nearly all of the fish in my display have come from Divers Den. No complaints here. I have had a couple fish that didn't survive their first night and they refunded me no questions asked.

 

[Double J]

Almost everything in my tank is from LA, through numerous orders, and I have had good luck with arriving alive and staying alive. This being said don't put a false sense of security in them, like I did. the last fish I purchased from them, a royal gramma, brought ich into my tank, then died. Now all my fish are in an emergency qt I had to set up due to the ich. Also just found a zoa eating nudibranch that came in on a frag from the zoa pack. so yes, they have nice livestock and I have had nothing but positive conversations with their reps when I do have an issue, but I am now a big believer in QT. I am planning to set up a coral qt as well, even though
I dipped all these before they went in, there are just too many pests out there now to risk introducing them into your tank.

 

[ca1ore]

QT really is a no brainer. Better for the fish and for the wallet. Over the past decade I've caught ich a dozen times or so, flukes and velvet a few times, and uronema once. Unfortunately ich slipped though one time, but no process is perfect I suppose.

 

[Double J]

Ca1ore, that's for sure! I have one set up now for fish and planning to set up another for coral and inverts. All my new fish, which will only be 2 at the moment, will be qt'd and get copper and prazi. Not going through an ich outbreak again, it is terrible!

 

[ReefTalk]

Here's how my Live Aquaria order went , it went very well.