Saltwater & Reef

03-17-2005, 05:30 PM

My LFS wanted $25 for 1"-2" for a clownfish! And $40 for a 4-5" anenamea!

They were really high.

What is a cheap but good place on the net (With respect to shipping)?

midiman · 03-17-2005, 05:43 PM

I think saltwaterfish.com includes shipping with minimum order, as does etropicals.com.

JPloman · 03-17-2005, 05:45 PM

I would not recommend only going for cheap, I would also be concerned with the quality of what you are paying for.

03-17-2005, 07:19 PM

Should I buy a fish in the quality of the tank though?

Their show tank looks nice and clean (and they sell fish out of it too).

But their other tanks have lots of nasty algea stuff or something in it. Its really grimey. Should I buy stuff in there?

It looks like etropicals.com is reasonable, and only $25 to ship.

Flsprophet2 · 03-17-2005, 08:04 PM

I've ordered from etropicals.com and they are not bad. Just remember that there is a min 30 dollar order on fish and inverts.

seaham358 · 03-18-2005, 03:27 PM

Best and cheap don't go together

WhiteCloud · 03-18-2005, 05:13 PM

I have found saltwaterfish.com to have great prices and service!

Got 70 inverts (reef package) and 2 fish to Maine in very cold temps. Box was still warm when I opened it...and everything was alive and well. The fish acclimated and looked better than fish I had got from a LFS. SW.com also has some GREAT sales from time to time...tangs for $2.99, Caridinal for $1.99...great things to add to large order..and free shipping for orders more than $80!

WC

fishfreek · 03-18-2005, 06:00 PM

Any retailer online for livestock will have the fish prices cheaper. Sometimes as much as 1/2 the price of local stores but you have to pay a premium on shipping OR order multiple fish and your tank may not be able to accept the qty of fish all at one or at all inorder to get 'free' shipping. If you order only 1 or 2 fish online the final cost to you may be as much as it is localy if not more after you factor in shipping.

We have an article about things to look out for when buying livestock online in our articles area. Another location that no one has mentioned yet is http://www.petwarehouse.com

Jonathan G. · 03-18-2005, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seaham358

Best and cheap don't go together

lol how true it is... my lfs store charges more for a fish but i also get to pick out which one i want and if i wanted to he would hold it for me however long i want to make sure it is healthy. $25 is pretty steep for a clown if it is a perc but if it is a different clown then it wouldnt surprise me to charge that much. also if your lfs sells the fish in a bare bottom tank it is healthy to have algea and stuff in the tank cause that is part a lot of fishes diets. if the fish dont look healthy then i would buy online but if there is nothing wrong with them and they give you a guarantee then i would go for it. also $50 is not a bad price for an anemone considering when you get them shipped only about half of them survive. also if your just wanting to save a buck then go to a chain pet store that sells SWF, but be warned that a lot of them have diseases. as far as online vendors i have heard good things about saltwaterfish.com, marinedepotlive.com, and vividaquariums.com personally i wont buy anything other then a cleaning crew online because i really enjoy picking out my own specimen and dont mind paying the extra buck. i payed $40 for 2 O clowns that were babies for my first fishes and they have been doing great, also the good thing about getting to babies is that they haven't went through the sex change so you can witness them go through that as your aquarium gets established. i added a beautiful LMB last week and am now acclimating my 6 line wrasse. also with the clowns you have to take into account whether it is tank raised or wild. sometimes the wild ones cost more becuase they are more prone to host an anemone.