Live Aquaria....California facility

[Justfebreezeit]

I have always ordered from divers den when online. 5 so far, all lived and still doing well. I just ordered some fairy wrasses from LA side and ill update, I get them wednesday.

 

[nereefpat]

It may not be clearly stated in the thread yet, but when you order from Live Aquaria, fish come straight from the wholesaler (Quality Marine) to your door.
When you order ORA fish from Live Aquaria, fish come straight from ORA to your door, with no stops in LA or wherever.

I agree there seems to be some problem with collection and / or disease at the wholesalers' locations.

 

[CoralNerd]

I agree with what Ca1ore said.

Also Quality Marine has better fish than a lot of wholesalers. A bit more expensive but I like their facility and practice.

 

[Hitch08]

Interesting thread. I had a recent order from LA where one fish didn't ship. I called several times asking when it would. Each time, the LA rep made a comment about asking the "vendor" to respond with a status. I did not understand whey they kept referring to a "vendor" and not their shipping department.

 

[User1]

With regards to saltwater I've ordered:

1. Lt. Tang (May 2018) - arrived alive, well bagged, black lower half of bag, clear top. Acclimated well. Fresh water dip using Methylene Blue via Fenner's instructions. Worked well, fish was fine. Sadly it passed last month with no visible signs of cause. It was well rounded, fed, and large. My only guess is a possible internal parasite that I didn't catch. No other fish I have was impacted.

2. Purple Tang (2018 - one of their sales) - arrived alive but poorly bagged. Lower half of bag was clear not like previous orders. Fins looked rough. Forums here had a few others order the purple tangs on the sale and also shipped similar condition. It was poor. I tried acclimation then the Methylene Blue dip and it appeared ok. However, less than 24 hours later it died. Call into LA/DD and I received credit back.

3. Scopus and Lavender tangs (April 2019) - arrived alive, great condition, properly bagged with black lower half of bags. Acclimation, Methylene blue dips, both eat well especially GHA.

Having said that I've had great success this year with the exception of the fire sale purple tang. I look at weather conditions before I place the order and it may help that I'm also in Ca although up North. Overall I've had good success. My daughter on the other hand who has a freshwater planted tank has not. Her success rate is about 15% give or tak and has since stopped using them.

 

[jschultzbass]

Quality Marine, a West Coast wholesaler, has been the replenishment source for live aquaria orders for as long as I can recall. They also supply fish to some other online order centers and many local fish stores. The supply chain for marine fish is generally worse today than in the past - partly because growing demand means less qualified collectors and collection practices and partly because it is rife with disease problems. I’ve been ordering from LA for over a decade, and while disease is more rampant today than in the past, with a competent QT system, I don’t find the mortality rate to be materially worse overall (I get between 70 and 75 percent of new fish through QT). I know it has become fashionable to ‘bash’ LA because it is part of Petco (which MUST be a bad thing, right) but for me personally the data doesn’t support the rhetoric.

I agree and disagree. LA has always been great but with Petco now running the show they definitely aren't best in class like they used to be. I hadn't ordered a fish from them in probably a year and a half due to not needing any but they have always been my go to place. Over the last 6 - 8 months I ordered a few fish from DD and a few from stock. DD fish were amazing as always but not going to lie, the packaging on the stock fish was horrendous. Deflated bags, barely any O2 left, wet inside of the box, not much packing, smaller bags then before. I've noticed this on the last 3 orders of stock fish I did. I just ordered a purple tang on this sale that I will be getting tomorrow and we'll see how that one looks.

 

[russell13]

I’m not sure I understand. How is Petco running the wholesalers? Please explain

 

[Oberst Hajj]

My Local Fish Store Even QT's my Fish for me, which also allows me to see if they get along with each other and let them sit in Copper for Two weeks. This keeps me from buying any fish online.

I've been trying to get any of my LFS to do this for me, even offering to pay a premium, but none of them are interested in doing it

 

[VR28man]

Last night I just order a snowflake clown and a trio of kamohara blenny’s they are all ORA’s captive-bred and shipping from their Florida location so we will see how they do.

This is completely different from ordering from the LA California facility. ORA a is a breeder, with I assume an as sterile as practical system.

LA California, Quality Marine, is maybe the largest distributor in the world. They get fish from all over the world and apparently there are more and more disease problems in the supply chain.

 

[ca1ore]

I’m not sure I understand. How is Petco running the wholesalers? Please explain

Precisely!

 

[Coral Newbie]

This is completely different from ordering from the LA California facility. ORA a is a breeder, with I assume an as sterile as practical system.

LA California, Quality Marine, is maybe the largest distributor in the world. They get fish from all over the world and apparently there are more and more disease problems in the supply chain.

That is kind of why I order specifically the ORA Fish from the DD on LA's website. I hear the packaging at qt process seems to be better. It will be interesting to compare as I am also getting a order of fish from Fishy Business Aquatics delivered tomorrow at the same time. I recently just did a thread on getting hit with a $10 packaging charge from Fishy Business and not getting hit with one from LA and being a little upset because you don't know about that charge till you go to check out. So I expect the packaging to be top notch from Fishy Business.

 

[wkd4b11]

I used to order from LiveAquaria a lot and they were always excellent at refunding or replacing any dead livestock. They would rarely ask for details.
Seems like they're starting to be more careful with the refunds

 

[Hitch08]

That is kind of why I order specifically the ORA Fish from the DD on LA's website. I hear the packaging at qt process seems to be better. It will be interesting to compare as I am also getting a order of fish from Fishy Business Aquatics delivered tomorrow at the same time. I recently just did a thread on getting hit with a $10 packaging charge from Fishy Business and not getting hit with one from LA and being a little upset because you don't know about that charge till you go to check out. So I expect the packaging to be top notch from Fishy Business.

Sounds very fishy!

 

[Coral Newbie]

Sounds very fishy!

Check it out. I also see what you did there....

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/really-fishybusiness-a-“packing-charge”.604468/

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ive had pure luck with live aquaria but haven’t ordered since Petco assumed operations and nothing to do with petco ..... just been getting a lot of nice fish locally from private owners taking their tanks down.
From the LA facility, we must factor handling by carrier, temperature, packing and time in transit before blaming shipper once specimen leaves its facility

 

[Soronus]

I've been trying to get any of my LFS to do this for me, even offering to pay a premium, but none of them are interested in doing it

I have never seen a Fish Store without an empty tank. Plus I come in more and always try to buy something, check on the fish and get a water test. it is a win for everyone. Sold it like this, beside I don't think they want me shopping online.

 

[Fallling]

It seems to me the issue isn't necessarily LA but the wholesaler.

I've lost fish (several expensive wrasses) in QT around week 2 -3... I think it's actually velvet that wasn't apparent until I found the fish dead and covered in white dusting. Copper is part of my QT routine, but in these cases, I was too slow to get it started and only had done prazi by that point. This has happened to fish from DD along with a fish from a few other reputable online retailers. However, the 2 wrasses I got from LA CA facility both made it through QT and have been in DT for months now (one did have flukes but prazi took care of it, and I was quick to get copper started with the other when I noticed it seem to have "puffy" gills even after prazi).

I believe all the captive-bred fish that aren't DD come straight from the vendor in FL (I have several ORA fish from LA, and if I recall correctly, it was a ORA return label on the box).

Given I've had similar experiences with other reputable online retailers (there's a bunch retailers I will not buy from), I lean more towards the wholesalers being the problem (and also why I'm aiming for at least 1/2 captive-bred fish for my stocking since disease seems so rampant).