Where do you buy your fish?

[neon_hybrid]

I have been going to my LFS who I definatly trust, but I have noticed that the prices of the fish on the internet are alot cheaper than at a LFS. I decided that I am going to set up a 10 gallon hospital/quarantie tank because i want to start adding fish. My question is where do you guys buy fish? Who do you trust, who have you had a bad experience with? Is it really safe to buy fish online?

 

[revhtree]

I have had good success with liveaquaria.com. I have heard others say that saltwaterfish.com was good as well. At saltwaterfish.com shipping is free over $75.00. Liveaquaria I believe is $29.99 shipping. That is what you will have to take into account. When I buy online, I buy enough to get free shipping or enough to offset the cost.

And yes you can get some great fish online with arive alive garuntee's. The lfs around here give a 24hr or no garuntee. Liveaquaria gives a 14day stay alive garuntee and saltwaterfish.com gives a 6 day. Liveaquaria has honored that when the starfish they sent was dead.

I am sure there are alot more places out there, but these two I know of.

 

[IfoundNemo]

I prefer to buy fish at my lfs unless they don't have a certain fish i wanted . Reasons are 1) I can inspect the fish conditions, colors ,etc before i take it home. 2) The lfs people i'm dealing with are very cool. They let me swap fish dead or alive no problems. But if you prefer online, visit the two websites revhtree mentions. I dealt with livewaquaria.com before. It has good customers service.

 

[JPloman]

I buy mine at the lfs because I dont have to pay for shipping

Seriously though... The shipping costs will easily make up for the discount you get on the fish. I would measure the cost difference (include the shipping) before you buy online. I have gotten some stuff from a few different places, here is a list:

http://www.reefermadness.us/
http://www.vividaquariums.com/default.asp
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/

 

[Jason]

I only buy stuff from this 1 fish store in my area.

My reasoning....
1.) the owner hand picks most of his stuff and has the same taste as I do.
2.)I get a discount because i've bought so much stuff from him.
3.)He only picks really healthy stuff (not having a fully stocked store is better than having idiots come back and complain when stuff dies )
4.)I'm never at home during the day to pick up deliveries
5.)I like to physically pick things out (medium to me may not be medium to the people at the online store)

I'm sure their are more, but in my opinion the prices of the livestock at a store (although they may be high) are worth it just to see what you are getting.

 

[JodiW]

Also, our LFS said they would order fish for us if we want something specific. We haven't tried this so I don't know how it would work if the fish came in unhealthy or whatever. But I figure they're getting a break on their shipping already for their large orders, so I might as well let them order for me rather than pay the full shipping amount by myself. I'm too nervous to add more than one fish at a time, so I'd probably never have a large enough order to get the free shipping from an online place.

Also, I don't have a QT tank, so I could kind of use the store tank as one for a little while, anyway. Hopefully any serious problems would show up while it was still at the store. I may be way off base on that, however.

Just my thoughts for exactly the 2 cents they're worth.

Jodi

 

[austinsdad]

Kudos for the QT tank.

I just love it when I hear that!

Have you bought it already. Just wonderin' how much more for a 20g. Got milk... I mean, space?

 

[revhtree]

If you buy multiple items like I like to do... ....then you can really rack up online. The savings will outweigh the shipping by a ton, and you will have saved more money than at the lfs. Then again it all depends on what lfs's you have in your area and how their customer service is and how much they sell their fish for..

 

[Phyl]

The LFSs in my area don't guarentee the fish past their doorstep. I like the 2w guarentee on fish at LiveAquaria. That way if something goes wrong with a fish it is on them. I've also been happy with the quality of the items that I've gotten from them.

The purple tang that I got recently I bought at a LFS. Not only did I pay about 30$ more than I would have paid online (it went on sale the week after I bought mine) but the one I bought ended up having ich and if it doesn't survive too bad on me.

 

[RocketSeason]

I buy from various LFS. I would rather be able to choose a fish based on size, color, attitude, etc, then go for a crap shoot.

However, I order my equipment online, cause THAT is WAY cheaper than my LFS.