Places to buy Fish on-line ?

[kenor33]

Hello folks, I'm interested in trying to buy fish on-line and having a hard time finding a place. If you know any good stores please post where you shop at on-line. It would be great future reference as well as now.I been looking for Severums, Oscars,big Plecos etc. thanks in advance

 

[BrianNY]

www.aquabid.com Even if you don't buy, it's a fun place to surf.

 

[Gunnie]

Kenor33,
I don't know how far Cartersville is from Atlanta, but the stuff I hear about that people bring to sell or trade just makes me drool! You may want to talk to other members here about what goes on at their meetings, and see if a member has what you are looking for. It will probably save you money, and the fish are so much more special when you get them from other hobbyists.

 

[kenor33]

You may want to talk to other members here about what goes on at their meetings

where are you talking about Gunnie? would love to talk to them

 

[Phlegethon]

I've ordered fish from two different places;

Liveaquaria.com
Adequate service, so-so prices. I got a pleco and some corys here that arrived in good condition. The tetras I got were also decent. However the last order of two angelfish was not ideal. They looked like they had been dropped in a garbage disposal for a second or two - fins ripped to shreds. The plants however have not been very good, a bit scrawny.

AZgardens.com
Very good service, decent prices (except on shrimp - I'd try franksaquarium.com). The fish I've gotten from here have been great, though selection is more limited they have some very interesting choices. Their plants have been very good, very healthy.

 

[kukerdan]

how do they ship fish?

 

[Gunnie]

Go to Regional Forums, and then to the Georgia forums. They even have a sticky with the dates, times and locations of the Atlanta Aquarium Association meetings:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=10704

 

[kenor33]

LOL I never even knew it was on this forum thanks for the imput guys, will check into the sites.

 

[cheezysquirrelz]

Take a look at aquariumstuffers.com

 

[kukerdan]

how do they ship the fish

 

[Medusa Head]

These are the ones I have ordered and received specimens from:

• Live Aquaria: http://www.liveaquaria.com. Halfway decent prices, very good and professional packaging. Specimens are usually of very high quality, although sometimes livestock is smaller than advertised (which is OK as you get to watch it grow and it will live longer). I ordered some fancy goldfish from them that have grown into gorgeous specimens with long flowing tails. They ship when they say they will, which is usually next day, for a $25 flat fee for FedEx overnight. Currently they are offering free shipping on an order that is $175 or more. However, they have a minimum order amount of $30. You are unable to place your order if it doesn't come to this amount. I don't like this, as it may encourage people to buy more than they need just so they can get their order placed. I would much rather they charge $30 if the order doesn't come to that amount.
  
• Aquarium Stuffers: http://www.aquariumstuffers.com. Again very professional packaging and excellent specimens. They usually always ship next day. Not as an extensive selection as Live Aquaria but not bad either. Shipping is higher with them - $40. No minimum order amount.
  
• Aquariumfish.net: http://www.aquariumfish.net. A good source for some of the more desired hard to find algae eaters, mainly the true Siamese Algae Eater (or SAE which will eat red algaes like Black Beard/Brush Algae (BBA) that most other algae eaters don't like), Bristlenose Plecos, and Otocinculus (at least when the other sources are out of stock). I would rate their packaging as good but not as good as Live Aquaria or Aquarium Stuffers. They ship in smaller bags with less water, and their packaging isn't as "thick" as the other sources. However, I've never received a dead specimen from them. Their selection is good but not as extensive as Live Aquaria. No minimum order amount.
  
• Arizona Aquatic Gardens: http://www.azgardens.com. An alternative source to Siamese Algae Eaters, Freshwater Clams (mussels), and Rubbernose Plecos (Live Aquaria has them but calls them "Thomasi Plecos"). Very limited selection. However, prices are much lower than other sources, but they have minimum quantity limits on some items, mainly their invertebrates. They also charge a fee if the order is under $100 - for me it was $5. Packaging is on the order of Aquariumfish.net. Shipping is not billed at the time of order. For me it was around $40. It may be a few days before they ship. I had a semi-bad experience with them - I ordered some Siamese Algae Eaters which arrived fine, however I also ordered various snails and Freshwater Clams. The snails and clams came in bags with no water! Of the dozen clams I ordered, every one was opened up and dead. Some of the snails were alive, but most were dead. I e-mailed them suggesting they ship their invertebrates in water, like fish, and asked for a credit. After several e-mails and no replies, someone called me and left me VM that my e-mail was going to their spam folder, and that was my fault! They said they'd credit my account, but never did. When I tried to follow up, again with no replies, they finally replied again complaining that it was my fault that my mails were going to their spam folder, assured me that my account would be credited, but it never was. They also said that they had been shipping invertebrates for a long time and they know what they are doing, and they don't need shipped in water!! 8O
  
• River Wonders: http://www.riverwonders.com. I placed an order for a zebra pleco on July 21 2004. I haven't received it! They also wanted the money Paypal'd to them. I e-mailed them asking for status, they replied on July 22 that it would ship "next week." On Wednesday of next week, 07/28/2004, I e-mailed them asking how it was coming. They didn't reply the next day, after two more e-mails they finally replied on Friday 07/30/04 apologizing for they delay, saying "zebras are the hardest for us to get," they "hope it won't be much longer," "unexpected situations occurred," "no delivery date," and "let's be in contact next week." Next week, I e-mailed them on Thursday 08/05/2004 asking how it was coming... they didn't reply. Also, these are not my words, but another person on another forum told me, "...customer experiences in general weren't very positive. People received the wrong fish, pictures on the RiverWonders-site were used from forum members without asking permission first, fish were wrongfully labelled on the website, and prices in general seem to be a bit on the high side (talking mainly about piranha's...)" Hopefully I'll eventually receive it!
  
  UPDATE 09/04/04 - I never received the zebra pleco, I did e-mail them and asked them to refund my money, which they promptly did.
  
• Aquatic Wholesale: http://www.aquaticwholesale.com. You are supposed to pay for a "membership" for $35 to their service, then they say they sell members fish at greatly reduced prices. They recently added a link to purchase a zebra pleco without needing a membership for $70 on a site called "Aquaticbid.com" (note this is NOT Aquabid.com). Currently I only see 15 "auctions" on this site, and most all of them have broken image links, except for the zebra pleco one. I actually did try buying the $35 "membership" on July 17 to see what would happen (yeah, stupid me, I dare). The purchase was processed on bcentral.com. After sending three e-mails, I got a reply from them on July 27 that "We have not processed your order. You will need to go back and place the order again on our website as we have a new shopping cart setup and we are no longer able to access your credit card details from your previous order." When I went back out to the site, the "membership" link appeared to be the same to me, so I did nothing. My account didn't appear to have been charged. On August 5 however, I received a message from them that my "order" has "shipped," and my account was charged the $35 on August 6. I have sent them an e-mail asking for further explanation, and am currently waiting on a reply.
  
  UPDATE - 09/04/04 - After sending e-mails on August 9th and 10th, I received a reply from them saying they "sent me their pricelist several times." I replied telling them I am using no spam filters, and waited until August 19th. I sent another request for their "master catalog of 400+ selection of rare exotic tropical fish and plants." They finally replied that day, attaching an Excel spreadsheet listing 23 different species and prices. I checked their site today, now they say they don't require membership, but if you do buy a membership, you can get 10% off. According to this page, you are supposed to get a "membership ID," "master catalog packed with color pictures," and "our entire inventory list of over 300 fish types." I've received none of these.

Additionally these are some other sites I know of but don't have personal experience with:

• That Fish Place: http://www.thatpetplace.com/LiveFish. This company usually always takes out a half to full page ad in most of the popular aquarium magazines advertising their large selection and service. On their site, they boast "An incomparable, state-of-the-art fish room with over 800 aquariums of fish, plants and invertebrates." However, when actually going to their site and looking at their freshwater specimen catalog, there's hardly anything there! I recently e-mailed them asking them to explain this. Their answer: "We do also have a great deal of freshwater livestock, but for the time being our inventory system prevents us from posting most of these online....Over the next months we will continue making necessary changes in order to provide all of our livestock though our website (This includes our corals as well as freshwater fish). In the mean time, any item you don't see online is very likely available over the phone."
  
• Shark Aquarium - http://www.sharkaquarium.com. No experience with them. There isn't an online shopping cart system, so it looks like you have to call them or e-mail them. Doesn't look like they have the biggest selection, but they do have rare species.
  
• Fish2U.com - http://www.fish2u.com. No experience with them. It looks like they have a decent selection, although many links show "out of stock."
  
• Aquaboy Aquatics - http://www.aquaboyaquatics.com. No experience with them. Like Shark Aquarium, there isn't an online shopping cart system, so it's e-mail or phone. Again, not a big selection, but rare species.

IMHO what we really need is a "rating" site for live fish, live plant, and equipment vendors. Have a look at Garden Watchdog. This has nothing to do with fish, but gardening equipment, supplies, seeds, and plants. But the setup of the site is something I'd like to see applied to the above.

 

[kenor33]

WOW nice selection there Medusa Head, thanks alot, i'm checking them now

 

[Phlegethon]

They ship fish FedEx net day air, with a heat/cold pack as needed. LiveAquaria uses pure oygen in the bag I think, they show up in bags full of blue water (looks like windex). AZgardens ship similarly, but use some kind of special plastic bag that is porous to air but not to water...

 

[kukerdan]

sticky??