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