Liveaquaria (Diver's Den)

[Friday24]

So is it just that I have extremely bad luck or has Liveaquaria, specifically the Diver's Den gone way downhill since being owned by Petco? I'm not really one that leaves negative feedback every time something goes wrong with an order no matter who it's from because I understand that mistakes can happen occasionally, but I feel I have to at this point. I've been purchasing from Liveaquaria for over 3 years now with ZERO problems until Petco became involved it seems. Since that time they have somehow messed up 5 of my last 8 orders! And not the same thing over and over, it's been orders containing some correct and some incorrect items, showing that they shipped something that they didn't, shipping me someone else's complete order (I ordered some expensive fish, around $600 and received probably $100 worth of Zoos and Mushrooms) and now today the latest around $400 on 4 fish and 2 show up DOA and one has a damaged dorsal fin. Now, they have on all accounts refunded me for their mistakes, which is the one of the only reasons I keep purchasing from them, but I find it HIGHLY irritating that this continues to happen. I purchase off of Diver's Den because they have some of the harder to find species and I don't mind paying a little extra for the quarantining process that they have. Which is my other concern, are they actually doing that correctly as well or at all still. If they can't do the simpler tasks of just shipping the correct items to the correct people and get them there alive it forces me to question the more difficult tasks they are hopefully still doing. I hate blasting anybody publicly but I am just fed up with their processes, or lack there of.

 

[michellejy]

I was actually just coming in this forum to ask about recent Diver's Den experiences because I really feel like I have lost my mind today.

I received an order this morning of a blue and gold Midas blenny, scarlet cleaner shrimp, a Yasha Goby pair, and a pistol shrimp. I acclimated everything in a room with minimal lighting, and obviously the bags are blacked out anyway, so you can't really see what is in them. I tested for salinity matches and started adding everything to the tank.

Scarlet Cleaner - all good

Pistol shrimp - super tiny (as expected) but healthy

First Yasha Goby...can't find it. The bag is there, but the fish is not. I start to panic and think that maybe it ended up in the outer bag and got thrown away. I was putting everything into the styrofoam container they were shipped in as I went, so easy enough to check. Definitely not there.

At this point, I decide to get the other Yasha Goby and Midas blenny into the tank before I look again. Both were fine.

I go back and pull apart each bag, even the ones I know it wasn't in. I dump the styrofoam box on the floor and dig through all of the peanuts. I crawl all over the floor and look under the shelf the quarantine tank is sitting on, just in case I somehow completely missed the fish leaping out onto the floor. I check the bucket where I set the bags while opening them, again in case it ended up in the bucket (even though I know it didn't).

By now I am doubting my sanity and wondering if I somehow managed to throw away and kill this poor fish. I dumped out the trash on the floor for a third time. I got a flashlight and crawled all over the floor again. I looked behind the tank and in even in the buckets of saltwater I was mixing in the room (that were covered with lids and had no possible way for the fish to get in them).

I just didn't get the fish. I just called them, and I hope they find it--even if they don't send it to me. Honestly, even though I rationally *know* I could not have missed it during the three different checks of trash and bare concrete floor, I still have the nagging worry in the back of my mind that I just didn't look in the right place.

 

[MCooper]

This makes me nervous considering I was planning on ordering all of my livestock from divers den

 

[Naiad]

I was actually just coming in this forum to ask about recent Diver's Den experiences because I really feel like I have lost my mind today.

I received an order this morning of a blue and gold Midas blenny, scarlet cleaner shrimp, a Yasha Goby pair, and a pistol shrimp. I acclimated everything in a room with minimal lighting, and obviously the bags are blacked out anyway, so you can't really see what is in them. I tested for salinity matches and started adding everything to the tank.

Scarlet Cleaner - all good

Pistol shrimp - super tiny (as expected) but healthy

First Yasha Goby...can't find it. The bag is there, but the fish is not. I start to panic and think that maybe it ended up in the outer bag and got thrown away. I was putting everything into the styrofoam container they were shipped in as I went, so easy enough to check. Definitely not there.

At this point, I decide to get the other Yasha Goby and Midas blenny into the tank before I look again. Both were fine.

I go back and pull apart each bag, even the ones I know it wasn't in. I dump the styrofoam box on the floor and dig through all of the peanuts. I crawl all over the floor and look under the shelf the quarantine tank is sitting on, just in case I somehow completely missed the fish leaping out onto the floor. I check the bucket where I set the bags while opening them, again in case it ended up in the bucket (even though I know it didn't).

By now I am doubting my sanity and wondering if I somehow managed to throw away and kill this poor fish. I dumped out the trash on the floor for a third time. I got a flashlight and crawled all over the floor again. I looked behind the tank and in even in the buckets of saltwater I was mixing in the room (that were covered with lids and had no possible way for the fish to get in them).

I just didn't get the fish. I just called them, and I hope they find it--even if they don't send it to me. Honestly, even though I rationally *know* I could not have missed it during the three different checks of trash and bare concrete floor, I still have the nagging worry in the back of my mind that I just didn't look in the right place.

They have done this to me as well. Sent a bag of water no fish.... I'm almost afraid to think what is happening at this place.

BTW I was eyeing those gobies at least one of them ended up in good hands. I'm not allowed to order more fish until I get the eunice worm out and know for sure that is what killed the others.

 

[michellejy]

They have done this to me as well. Sent a bag of water no fish.... I'm almost afraid to think what is happening at this place.

BTW I was eyeing those gobies at least one of them ended up in good hands. I'm not allowed to order more fish until I get the eunice worm out and know for sure that is what killed the others.

I know it doesn't make you feel any better, but it does make me feel better to have some confirmation that I really didn't somehow totally misplace the fish. I *know* I couldn't have missed it with all of the checking, but still...

They did make things right and gave me a credit for the missing fish immediately. They even called today to ask if I wanted the pair that are due to show up in Diver's Den tonight before they made them available. It wouldn't work since I do have one of the pair already, but I thought it was nice that they made that offer.

I am a little concerned about the one I did get. I haven't seen it since I put it in quarantine. Even though I have 1/8 inch mesh wrapped around egg crate for stability AND a divider wrapped in mesh between the inhabitable portion of the tank and the heater/filter, I have still checked the floor to see if it jumped. I have one small container of sand in there, and it has apparently completely buried itself with no opening. I had a YWG before, and even though it was reclusive in the beginning, it never buried itself alive!

 

[Baby Ray]

I had an interesting (I am not going to say bad) experience with live aquaria as well!!!!
I order a pygmy angel (not from divers din though) and the package showed up on time and everything looked like it was going to be great……… until I looked in the bag. Yes, there was a pygmy angel and yes, it was the correct size. But it didn't have a tail!!!!!! I had to look several times to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me but I was positive the tail was gone.
I acclimated her and I still have her now. She was very timid for the first 3 weeks (probably because she felt vulnerable without a tail) but she is used to everything now. I just thought the whole experience was kind of odd. I notified live aquaria and they gave me $10 off my next order. Oh, and by the way, her tail has grown back a lot since I got her. I am a little scared to try live aquaria again but they always have something I want

 

[michellejy]

I had an interesting (I am not going to say bad) experience with live aquaria as well!!!!
I order a pygmy angel (not from divers din though) and the package showed up on time and everything looked like it was going to be great……… until I looked in the bag. Yes, there was a pygmy angel and yes, it was the correct size. But it didn't have a tail!!!!!! I had to look several times to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me but I was positive the tail was gone.
I acclimated her and I still have her now. She was very timid for the first 3 weeks (probably because she felt vulnerable without a tail) but she is used to everything now. I just thought the whole experience was kind of odd. I notified live aquaria and they gave me $10 off my next order. Oh, and by the way, her tail has grown back a lot since I got her. I am a little scared to try live aquaria again but they always have something I want

Poor thing! I'm glad she ended up in good hands.

 

[michellejy]

So I had to update what I wrote earlier. I have 1/8" mesh dividing my quarantine tank so the fish can't get to the heater or filter (nor the holes in the screen to accommodate the cords). It genuinely NEVER occurred to me that the "missing" fish had somehow managed to get through two layers of overlapping 1/8" mesh wrapped around egg crate and secured with zip ties. When I couldn't find it, I had put the entire shipping bag into the tank, on the off chance that it was stuck in the bottom without water. Apparently that is exactly what happened, and while I was getting out the two other fish, it made it through the mesh to hide behind the filter intake and heater.

Yes, I called Live Aquaria and apologized profusely while having them charge me for the fish again. I feel like an idiot.

 

[Omar Torres]

Had a terrible experience with them as well. Got a box full of dead fish. Got the wrong order one time. Also had my shipping date mixed up due to the stupid customer service rep that was supposed to fix this.

 

[4FordFamily]

My recent (and previous experiences) have always been wonderful. I've probably purchased 40-50 fish from them in the past three years