Where to buy fish on-line
 

Hi,

I recently started my 125 gallon FOLR.

I have the following fish:
1 yellow tang
3 green chromis
1 juv koran angel

I'd like to add a bunch more fish. Where's the best place to get it.
The local fish stores are too too expensive.

Thanks

Where to buy fish on-line
 

These places are great to order from. I highly, highly recommend
liveaquaria the most. They warrant their livestock for 14 days. Super
place for customer service. The other 2 are good places too but liveaquaria
is tops in my book!!
http://www.liveaquaria.com/
http://www.vividaquariums.com/default.asp
http://www.petsolutions.com/

Susan :)


"michael" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

I recently started my 125 gallon FOLR.

I have the following fish:
1 yellow tang
3 green chromis
1 juv koran angel

I'd like to add a bunch more fish. Where's the best place to get it.
The local fish stores are too too expensive.

Thanks

Where to buy fish on-line
 

michael wrote:
Hi,

I recently started my 125 gallon FOLR.

I have the following fish:
1 yellow tang
3 green chromis
1 juv koran angel

I'd like to add a bunch more fish. Where's the best place to get it.
The local fish stores are too too expensive.

Thanks

Just remember that you will have to add shipping costs to everything you
purchase mail order, plus you will not get to see livestock to make sure
it is healthy before you purchase. I am biased, but I always suggest
purchasing locally rather than mail order unless you are ordering a lot
of livestock so you can spread the shipping costs around. Come up with
what you want, including shipping and see if your local stores will
match it. Without local fish stores this hobby will go away since they
bring most new hobbiests into the hobby.

Kim
www.jensalt.com

Where to buy fish on-line
 

I agree that supporting the local fish stores is very important. The only
problem with purchasing locally most stores don't give much of a warranty.
I've purchased locally and took the fish home and had the fish die within
hours. The local place I purchased from refused to do anything about it.
That's hard to swallow when marine fish are expensive. I guess it left me a
"sour taste". That is kind of unusal though as most stores give at least a
several day warranty. The warranty to me is very important but that's my 2
cents. I still though do support other local fish stores sometimes if I see
something I want. To offset shipping cost when ordering on the internet I
usually wait until I get a bigger order together.

Susan :)
"kim gross" wrote in message
...
michael wrote:
Hi,

I recently started my 125 gallon FOLR.

I have the following fish:
1 yellow tang
3 green chromis
1 juv koran angel

I'd like to add a bunch more fish. Where's the best place to get it.
The local fish stores are too too expensive.

Thanks

Just remember that you will have to add shipping costs to everything you
purchase mail order, plus you will not get to see livestock to make sure
it is healthy before you purchase. I am biased, but I always suggest
purchasing locally rather than mail order unless you are ordering a lot of
livestock so you can spread the shipping costs around. Come up with what
you want, including shipping and see if your local stores will match it.
Without local fish stores this hobby will go away since they bring most
new hobbiests into the hobby.

Kim
www.jensalt.com

Where to buy fish on-line
 

Susan wrote:
I agree that supporting the local fish stores is very important. The only
problem with purchasing locally most stores don't give much of a warranty.
I've purchased locally and took the fish home and had the fish die within
hours. The local place I purchased from refused to do anything about it.
That's hard to swallow when marine fish are expensive. I guess it left me a
"sour taste". That is kind of unusal though as most stores give at least a
several day warranty. The warranty to me is very important but that's my 2
cents. I still though do support other local fish stores sometimes if I see
something I want. To offset shipping cost when ordering on the internet I
usually wait until I get a bigger order together.

Susan :)



If your fish are dieing within hours of putting them in your tank,
either they
were about dead when you got them, and you should have noticed that, or
you did
something wrong in putting them in your tank (ie did not aclimate them
properly)
or you tank conditions are very bad.

Most online stores warrantees are not that good either. They will
replace the item, but you have to cover shipping costs, plus most will
only replace it once, so if the second one dies on you, you are still
out. Plus some of them ask you to ship the died item back to them.
Many people do not end up warranteing the livestock they purchase mail
order just because of the headaches involved.

If you have a bad experiance with a LFS, try another one, most areas
have more than one. Once all the mom and pop fish stores are out of
business this hobby will come very close to going away. New hobbiests
will not mail order a complete aquarium (or they will all at once and of
course they will all die since the tank is not properly cycled), and
still quit the hobby, plus they will tell everybody how hard it is to
keep sal****er livestock alive so there is a much better chance of big
brother stopping all importation of livestock.

Kim

Where to buy fish on-line
 

The fish I had that died did not look unhealthy. The fish store I wouldn't
think would sell me a fish that looked bad anyways. Although I think that
happens sometimes from staff that doesn't understand marine livestock. Water
quality was/is fine. I've got very delicate livestock in the tank without a
problem. I've dealt with liveaquaria and never have had to send any dead
livestock back to them. Was a simple phone call and they immediatly said
would you like this credited back to your credit card account or credit for
the livestock. I believe they also will reship if you request without
shipping charges. Much easier than taking back dead livestock to a local
fish store. There maybe other internet places that do make you return the
dead livestock but the 3 places I've listed don't. Actually liveaquaria
sent me an entire order free at the end of last year. They made a mistake
on the day they were suppose to send the order out and sent the complete
order for free. They said that Dr Foster wanted me to have it without cost.
They just seem to be a great company. Like I mentioned I do recommend
supporting local fish stores also. I buy from both places. Just depends on
where I can find what I want.

Susan :)


"kim gross" wrote in message
...
Susan wrote:
I agree that supporting the local fish stores is very important. The
only problem with purchasing locally most stores don't give much of a
warranty. I've purchased locally and took the fish home and had the fish
die within hours. The local place I purchased from refused to do
anything about it. That's hard to swallow when marine fish are expensive.
I guess it left me a "sour taste". That is kind of unusal though as most
stores give at least a several day warranty. The warranty to me is very
important but that's my 2 cents. I still though do support other local
fish stores sometimes if I see something I want. To offset shipping cost
when ordering on the internet I usually wait until I get a bigger order
together.

Susan :)



If your fish are dieing within hours of putting them in your tank, either
they
were about dead when you got them, and you should have noticed that, or
you did
something wrong in putting them in your tank (ie did not aclimate them
properly)
or you tank conditions are very bad.

Most online stores warrantees are not that good either. They will replace
the item, but you have to cover shipping costs, plus most will only
replace it once, so if the second one dies on you, you are still out.
Plus some of them ask you to ship the died item back to them. Many people
do not end up warranteing the livestock they purchase mail order just
because of the headaches involved.

If you have a bad experiance with a LFS, try another one, most areas have
more than one. Once all the mom and pop fish stores are out of business
this hobby will come very close to going away. New hobbiests will not
mail order a complete aquarium (or they will all at once and of course
they will all die since the tank is not properly cycled), and still quit
the hobby, plus they will tell everybody how hard it is to keep sal****er
livestock alive so there is a much better chance of big brother stopping
all importation of livestock.

Kim

Where to buy fish on-line
 

kim gross wrote:

If your fish are dieing within hours of putting them in your tank,
either they
were about dead when you got them, and you should have noticed that, or
you did
something wrong in putting them in your tank (ie did not aclimate them
properly)
or you tank conditions are very bad.

Fish that were caught using cyanide frequently appear to be healthy right up to
the point at which they go belly-up.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

Where to buy fish on-line
 

I don't have a warranty on my fish, but I also have date
tags of when the fish came in, so the customer can see
that I have had the fish for a while. And I warn the
customer not to buy a fish if it is not looking good, that
they need to hold off on that as it is still stressed from
the wholesaler. Now if I sell something, and then realize
later that there was a problem, then I will refund. But it
is hard to find stores that will take that kind of effort
to sell you healthy fish. But when you do find a store
like that you should support them.

So many customers will purchase fish without providing the
right environment such as not cycling the tank, or putting
peaceful fish with aggressive fish. I will warn them that
they should not do it, but if they insist, I will sell it
to them because if I don't then they will just go down the
street and purchase there. Then they will come up to the
counter and ask, "So what is the warranty here?", thinking
that they don't have to take care of the fish, as if it
dies, they can just replace it.

When I purchase something at a store, and the sales person
ask me if I want an extended warranty, I think to myself,
"don't try to sell me a warranty, just sell me a quality
product". And for customers that want to purchase fish the
day they come in, I sell $30.00 fish or more for half
price. That helps take care of the extra risk.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Susan wrote on 8/1/2006 12:18 PM:
I agree that supporting the local fish stores is very important. The only
problem with purchasing locally most stores don't give much of a warranty.
I've purchased locally and took the fish home and had the fish die within
hours. The local place I purchased from refused to do anything about it.
That's hard to swallow when marine fish are expensive. I guess it left me a
"sour taste". That is kind of unusal though as most stores give at least a
several day warranty. The warranty to me is very important but that's my 2
cents. I still though do support other local fish stores sometimes if I see
something I want. To offset shipping cost when ordering on the internet I
usually wait until I get a bigger order together.

Susan :)
"kim gross" wrote in message
...
michael wrote:
Hi,

I recently started my 125 gallon FOLR.

I have the following fish:
1 yellow tang
3 green chromis
1 juv koran angel

I'd like to add a bunch more fish. Where's the best place to get it.
The local fish stores are too too expensive.

Thanks

Just remember that you will have to add shipping costs to everything you
purchase mail order, plus you will not get to see livestock to make sure
it is healthy before you purchase. I am biased, but I always suggest
purchasing locally rather than mail order unless you are ordering a lot of
livestock so you can spread the shipping costs around. Come up with what
you want, including shipping and see if your local stores will match it.
Without local fish stores this hobby will go away since they bring most
new hobbiests into the hobby.

Kim
www.jensalt.com

Where to buy fish on-line
 

Yep that's true, and don't let anyone fool you into
thinking that that place does not ever sell any cyanide
caught fish, as to be 100% sure is just not likely, as it
is still too frequently happening. Most privately owned
stores do what little they can to try to avoid such fish,
but it's practically imposable to be 100% sure.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



George Patterson wrote on 8/2/2006 10:07 AM:
kim gross wrote:

If your fish are dieing within hours of putting them in your tank,
either they
were about dead when you got them, and you should have noticed that,
or you did
something wrong in putting them in your tank (ie did not aclimate them
properly)
or you tank conditions are very bad.

Fish that were caught using cyanide frequently appear to be healthy
right up to the point at which they go belly-up.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

Where to buy fish on-line
 

That's sad the some fish are caught with cyanide :( I don't know how many
times I've been in a local fish store and I've heard someone tell an
employee I just set up a fish tank and I want one of those pointing to a
mandarin. It just makes me sad that people don't educate themselves on any
livestock before purchasing. It makes me real sad whenever I loose any kind
of livestock myself as I try to provide the best environment. Sounds like
you have a nice fish store Wayne :) Wish I lived closer and I'd support you
:)

Susan :)
"Wayne Sallee" wrote in message
...
I don't have a warranty on my fish, but I also have date tags of when the
fish came in, so the customer can see that I have had the fish for a while.
And I warn the customer not to buy a fish if it is not looking good, that
they need to hold off on that as it is still stressed from the wholesaler.
Now if I sell something, and then realize later that there was a problem,
then I will refund. But it is hard to find stores that will take that kind
of effort to sell you healthy fish. But when you do find a store like that
you should support them.

So many customers will purchase fish without providing the right
environment such as not cycling the tank, or putting peaceful fish with
aggressive fish. I will warn them that they should not do it, but if they
insist, I will sell it to them because if I don't then they will just go
down the street and purchase there. Then they will come up to the counter
and ask, "So what is the warranty here?", thinking that they don't have to
take care of the fish, as if it dies, they can just replace it.

When I purchase something at a store, and the sales person ask me if I
want an extended warranty, I think to myself, "don't try to sell me a
warranty, just sell me a quality product". And for customers that want to
purchase fish the day they come in, I sell $30.00 fish or more for half
price. That helps take care of the extra risk.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Susan wrote on 8/1/2006 12:18 PM:
I agree that supporting the local fish stores is very important. The
only problem with purchasing locally most stores don't give much of a
warranty. I've purchased locally and took the fish home and had the fish
die within hours. The local place I purchased from refused to do
anything about it. That's hard to swallow when marine fish are expensive.
I guess it left me a "sour taste". That is kind of unusal though as most
stores give at least a several day warranty. The warranty to me is very
important but that's my 2 cents. I still though do support other local
fish stores sometimes if I see something I want. To offset shipping cost
when ordering on the internet I usually wait until I get a bigger order
together.

Susan :)
"kim gross" wrote in message
...
michael wrote:
Hi,

I recently started my 125 gallon FOLR.

I have the following fish:
1 yellow tang
3 green chromis
1 juv koran angel

I'd like to add a bunch more fish. Where's the best place to get it.
The local fish stores are too too expensive.

Thanks

Just remember that you will have to add shipping costs to everything you
purchase mail order, plus you will not get to see livestock to make sure
it is healthy before you purchase. I am biased, but I always suggest
purchasing locally rather than mail order unless you are ordering a lot
of livestock so you can spread the shipping costs around. Come up with
what you want, including shipping and see if your local stores will
match it. Without local fish stores this hobby will go away since they
bring most new hobbiests into the hobby.

Kim
www.jensalt.com

Where to buy fish on-line
 

"Susan" wrote:
That's sad the some fish are caught with cyanide :( I don't know how many
times I've been in a local fish store and I've heard someone tell an
employee I just set up a fish tank and I want one of those pointing to a
mandarin. It just makes me sad that people don't educate themselves on any
livestock before purchasing. It makes me real sad whenever I loose any kind
of livestock myself as I try to provide the best environment. Sounds like
you have a nice fish store Wayne :) Wish I lived closer and I'd support you
:)

Susan :)




Unfortunately not all stores are honest or more frequently they have
employees who don't know anything about what they are selling. Kind of like
Radio Shack where you have one tech whiz in the store and two or three others
who usually say "huh?" when you ask a question. Usually my experience is there
will be a couple of experts who know marine life inside and out and then a few
other employees who tell you alot of gobbily-gook, probably not to cheat anyone
but because they don't know any better. I have a store I support locally (Tails
and Scales, Chesapeake VA) but I know which salespeople to talk to there. I'm
rather ashamed to admit that I didn't do nearly enough independent research
when I started salt water. I relied on the store's personel for advice (not
Tails and Scales). With my first tank they were right on in telling me how to
cycle a tank and did free water perameter checks..BUT....they also told me a
yellow tang was very comptatible in a community tank (so I bought it
FIRST...ouch!!) and that a madarin dragonet ate brine shrimp. So I learned the
hard way (and expensive) about mixing the right type of fish. It takes time
and research and you pretty much have to do it on your own. Even so everytime I
get cocky enough to think I understand how to run an ecosystem occassionally I
get bitten. Most of my fish live for years but I just lost a tomini tang
(beautifull fish which I've only seen once in a pet store) that came down with
some sort of bacteria infection that I just couldn't eradicate no matter what I
tried. I've been brooding about that all week.

Bob

Where to buy fish on-line
 

"Susan" wrote in message .. .
Was a simple phone call and they immediatly said
would you like this credited back to your credit
card account or credit for the livestock.

So they did not offer free shiping...

I believe they also will reship if you request without
shipping charges.

You believe ? So you are not sure ? You are guessing ?
Check this out:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/g...ral_pagesid=23
Where do you see in the guarantee anything about free reshiping ?
I see only refunding your money - that is it!

There maybe other internet places that do make you return the
dead livestock but the 3 places I've listed don't. Actually liveaquaria
sent me an entire order free at the end of last year. They made a mistake
on the day they were suppose to send the order out and sent the complete
order for free. They said that Dr Foster wanted me to have it without cost.
They just seem to be a great company.

Guess one more thing... Who has payed for this order ? Customer!
Any "gifts" you get are offset byt the higher price...
If a company is "great" in accepting returns, the rule is that
their prices are higher than the other players on the market.

When I read about your stories from liveaquaria I know already
that if I order anything from them I will have to pay for all
their mistakes and refunds they made to their "happy" customers
and pay for all poor fish people did not care enought and they
died within 14 days, and for all that fish people has simply
stolen from them - saying they died, but keeping the fish & money.

www.MarineDepot.com has no returns, www.DrsfosterSmith.com has them.
Guess who's prices are much, much lower ? :-)
In the first store you pay for the merchandise only and limited "CS".
In the second, you pay not only for the merchandise but also all this
generousity the company provides "for free" (read: with your money)
to other custommers requesting free "dead" fish or returns of opened
and used merchandise...

Where to buy fish on-line
 

www.reeftopia.com has some good deals as well.

Best thing to do is get a group order together to save on or get free
shipping.



wrote in message
...
"Susan" wrote:
That's sad the some fish are caught with cyanide :( I don't know how
many
times I've been in a local fish store and I've heard someone tell an
employee I just set up a fish tank and I want one of those pointing to a
mandarin. It just makes me sad that people don't educate themselves on
any
livestock before purchasing. It makes me real sad whenever I loose any
kind
of livestock myself as I try to provide the best environment. Sounds
like
you have a nice fish store Wayne :) Wish I lived closer and I'd support
you
:)

Susan :)




Unfortunately not all stores are honest or more frequently they have
employees who don't know anything about what they are selling. Kind of
like
Radio Shack where you have one tech whiz in the store and two or three
others
who usually say "huh?" when you ask a question. Usually my experience is
there
will be a couple of experts who know marine life inside and out and then a
few
other employees who tell you alot of gobbily-gook, probably not to cheat
anyone
but because they don't know any better. I have a store I support locally
(Tails
and Scales, Chesapeake VA) but I know which salespeople to talk to there.
I'm
rather ashamed to admit that I didn't do nearly enough independent
research
when I started salt water. I relied on the store's personel for advice
(not
Tails and Scales). With my first tank they were right on in telling me
how to
cycle a tank and did free water perameter checks..BUT....they also told me
a
yellow tang was very comptatible in a community tank (so I bought it
FIRST...ouch!!) and that a madarin dragonet ate brine shrimp. So I
learned the
hard way (and expensive) about mixing the right type of fish. It takes
time
and research and you pretty much have to do it on your own. Even so
everytime I
get cocky enough to think I understand how to run an ecosystem
occassionally I
get bitten. Most of my fish live for years but I just lost a tomini tang
(beautifull fish which I've only seen once in a pet store) that came down
with
some sort of bacteria infection that I just couldn't eradicate no matter
what I
tried. I've been brooding about that all week.

Bob

Where to buy fish on-line
 

"Pszemol" wrote in message
...
"Susan" wrote in message
.. .
Was a simple phone call and they immediatly said would you like this
credited back to your credit
card account or credit for the livestock.

So they did not offer free shiping...

**I'm sorry I didn't put that in the post but yes they did offer free
shipping when I talked to them. I had just put this post up at the time I
was working on an order so didn't know if they would offer the free
re-shipping. But indeed found out they would. My apology as I didn't know
at the time.



I believe they also will reship if you request without shipping charges.

You believe ? So you are not sure ? You are guessing ?

***I'm sorry. I did go out on the line on that saying "I believe" as I was
currently working on an order with them and didn't know 100 percent for
sure. Indeed they reshipped with no extra cost. Again, my apology and am
very sorry as I reread the sentence and should have worded it different.


Check this out:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/g...ral_pagesid=23
Where do you see in the guarantee anything about free reshiping ?
I see only refunding your money - that is it!

***Appears they don't have that written in the guarantee. My apology again
as it must have sounded like I was quoting from their guarantee. I would
have to discuss this with them to see why they offered the reship to me.


There maybe other internet places that do make you return the dead
livestock but the 3 places I've listed don't. Actually liveaquaria sent
me an entire order free at the end of last year. They made a mistake on
the day they were suppose to send the order out and sent the complete
order for free. They said that Dr Foster wanted me to have it without
cost. They just seem to be a great company.

Guess one more thing... Who has payed for this order ? Customer!
Any "gifts" you get are offset byt the higher price...
If a company is "great" in accepting returns, the rule is that
their prices are higher than the other players on the market.

When I read about your stories from liveaquaria I know already
that if I order anything from them I will have to pay for all
their mistakes and refunds they made to their "happy" customers
and pay for all poor fish people did not care enought and they
died within 14 days, and for all that fish people has simply
stolen from them - saying they died, but keeping the fish & money.


*** I'm sorry I don't know why places price their livestock like they do so
I'm unable to comment on that. It truly is a shame that some people in the
world are dishonest. Thankfullly there are honest people out there.

www.MarineDepot.com has no returns, www.DrsfosterSmith.com has them.
Guess who's prices are much, much lower ? :-)
In the first store you pay for the merchandise only and limited "CS".
In the second, you pay not only for the merchandise but also all this
generousity the company provides "for free" (read: with your money)
to other custommers requesting free "dead" fish or returns of opened
and used merchandise...

***Indeed MarineDepot may be a good place to buy from. I'm sorry though as
I haven't ordered from them so am unable to comment on prices etc.. to
compare. I'm glad if you have had a good experience with them. I hope I
answered your questions and hope your having a better day than you were
having when you posted your note as it sounded like you were having a bad
day.

Susan :)

Where to buy fish on-line
 

"Susan" wrote in message . ..
***Indeed MarineDepot may be a good place to buy from. I'm sorry though as
I haven't ordered from them so am unable to comment on prices etc.. to
compare. I'm glad if you have had a good experience with them. I hope I
answered your questions and hope your having a better day than you were
having when you posted your note as it sounded like you were having a bad
day.

Is everything ok with you, Susan ?
Calm down and take a deep breath :-)))