Alternative to Live Aquaria

[Rchamp03]

I've used bluezoo three times and never had any trouble with them. I've also used saltwater fish.com once and everything was fine. Kpaquatics is also good for some harder to find things.

I would avoid Saltwaterfish.com at all cost. First order lost three fish. Had to pay new shipping/handling to try to use partial refund. New $100 fish died immediately and refund is $32 (no credit for the original refund). Scam.

 

[LAReefer4Life]

I’ve spent the last few days emailing back and forth with Adam from Ocean Devotion. First off his customer service has been way beyond par. He responded to my first email within hours, I’m east coast he’s in LA. He responded thoughtfully to all of my questions and was forthright with his QT practices. He also produced a quote for fish in less than 24 hours. His prices I find very competitive even if quarantined. For example a Copperband at my LFS is $60 not quarantined or conditioned to prepared food. From Adam $50 for this fish qt cost $30, now this does not count shipping. But I would say $80 for a fully quarantined and conditioned Copperband is pretty reasonable. I will be giving him some business in the very near future for sure. Marine Collectors looks great and very high end but too rich for my blood.

I've worked with many vendors over years, mainly Live Aquaria Divers Den because of their great guarantee and capably to order "pre-quarantined" rare specimens. Adam sources only the healthiest fish so I feel confident I am purchasing from him.

 

[RedSea500MaxS]

Ok....I am going to kudo Life Aquaria.

my order came packed impeccable again! Fish ready to eat in the bags. Huge box, huge bags, perfect!

thank You.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well, I get my order tomorrow. They called again today to let me know the status of a few fish. I am happy to say they did not want to ship the ones looking iffy. However, enough of my order was ready for shipment. I will let you all know how they come in and do in qt.

 

[RedSea500MaxS]

Ok....I am going to kudo Life Aquaria.

my order came packed impeccable again! Fish ready to eat in the bags. Huge box, huge bags, perfect!

thank You.

my wife are all doing great. No QT. Eating happy and out.

 

[redwayjay]

Stay away from saltwaterfish. Very deceiving company regarding their doa credits.

+1 on that 2 orders from them and nothing is alive 2 years later.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Well, my order from Reefs4Less arrived just now. Water came in at pH 7.5, Salinity 1.020, Temp at 70.5 degrees. So, I matched one of my qt tanks to this and added them all after a quick acriflavin bath.
All arrived alive. One of the Kupang Damsels was in bad shape, but still breathing. One 4stripe Damsel was very faded, but swimming, the Kole tang was on its side, mouth wide and white, but could be freaked as they are not great shippers.
So, I will get them acclimated slowly to my large qt later today and tomorrow.
I will keep any updates going.

 

[DeniseAndy]

So far so good. Tang is actually swimming a bit as long as I am not watching. Funny things. The damsels look good (cannot see all the kupangs due to hiding in tubes, but the 4 stripe are so cute and active. The blenny is in a tank with algae, so hoping to spot him tomorrow when lights come on.

 

[RedSea500MaxS]

AQUALOCKER FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY!

The company is closing and filing for bankruptcy. Access to this site is restricted. So long and thanks for all the fish!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Second time - Salgado aquatics (NY)
First round : Both eating same night (Copperband and sailfin)

This past Tuesday ( eating in 10 minutes)

 

[jsvand5]

Well, my order from Reefs4Less arrived just now. Water came in at pH 7.5, Salinity 1.020, Temp at 70.5 degrees. So, I matched one of my qt tanks to this and added them all after a quick acriflavin bath.
All arrived alive. One of the Kupang Damsels was in bad shape, but still breathing. One 4stripe Damsel was very faded, but swimming, the Kole tang was on its side, mouth wide and white, but could be freaked as they are not great shippers.
So, I will get them acclimated slowly to my large qt later today and tomorrow.
I will keep any updates going.

Off topic, but what made you buy a 4 stripe damsel?

 

[fragit]

Second time - Salgado aquatics (NY)
First round : Both eating same night (Copperband and sailfin)

This past Tuesday ( eating in 10 minutes)

Did you buy QTd fish? Or plop and drop?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Did you buy QTd fish? Or plop and drop?

They QT and try to assure feeding prior to ship. I have my own acclimation process to complete the introduction

 

[DeniseAndy]

Off topic, but what made you buy a 4 stripe damsel?

I had read they would do well in groups and they stay fairly small. However, I really wanted Talbots and or Smith's and they are just not available anywhere. I love the azures (kupang) as I have had them before in my 210g and they are very peaceful. We will see how my 4stripes do. I may just add them to my more aggressive tank with clowns and carpets. We will see in qt how it goes.
I have had Blackmouths (as I was told they stay small and after research knew they grew large, but wanted to try them). What a nightmare! They are very aggressive and large! Do not be fooled by the cute juveniles yellow and black stripes.
Time to go see the babies in qt!

 

[albano]

Off topic, but what made you buy a 4 stripe damsel?

+1... would definitely not add 4 stripes to DT, unless it’s a small tank and easily emptied for their removal!

 

[DeniseAndy]

Thank you. Where I got in my head those were good is beyond me. I will put them in with the carpets and clowns. Should be a fun tank to watch.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Over the past year or so Live Aquaria quality and service has really fallen off. Today was the last time I will use them. I'm looking for an alternative. I don't have a Lfs near me. Here's the story. I ordered a leaopard wrasse from Divers Den and 3 cleaner shrimp from the regular live Aquaria site. The fish came doa ice cold. No heat packs in the box!! They never shipped the shrimp. I called and they couldn't tell me why the order did not ship or when it would. This seems to be happening more and more often. It's really unfortunate. They used to be great. I am wondering if anyone else has noticed the drop off in quality.

Quality was bad enough for me, I started learning to quarantine because of them. This was 2 years ago. But mainly from the Wisconsin facility

 

[bluprntguy]

FWIW, I ordered a Randall Assessor and a few other fish many years ago from Divers Den (way before Petco purchased them). The fish arrived DOA with water in the 40 degree range even though there were plenty of heat packs. The response from Divers Den indicated that they had lots of problems with shipments due to local weather. I looked at the weather and it was 20 below zero in Michigan even though it was 65 in California where I am.

I now always check weather in both places when I place an order. I don’t order fish or coral when it’s too cold (or too hot) in either location. Most of the time the boxes are left indoors, but in buildings that aren’t heated or cooled or are just minimally heated.

There’s always a rash of these types of posts in winter.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Anyone used SaltyBottomReefCompany.com before? Just curious as I found their site today.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Oh, my fish are doing great. The one Kupang I was worried about did not make it. It was super tiny and I think could not handle shipping. All others are out eating this morning. Tang looks fine so far.