LiveAquaria Shipping Question

[beehive124]

Did they use those crappy bags instead of a proper insulated box?

Yup

 

[mfinn]

Yup

My guess is those bags contribute to a lot of fish and coral death.
But hey, at least there isn't a stryrofoam box around to worry about.

 

[Big E]

My guess is those bags contribute to a lot of fish and coral death.
But hey, at least there isn't a stryrofoam box around to worry about.

I had a package delayed for a day.....when I opened it the foam bag was just wide open which makes it useless. They could at least fold the bag over and tape it so the heat stays intact to some extent.
The result was two dead fire fish and a wall hammer.

The bags obviously cost less and it's criminal they charge $10 for it but at least have some logical consideration to use the crappy product in the best way possible to ensure live animals. Their total disregard is inecusable. I blame a lot of this kind of stuff on analytics and bottom line thinking. I'm sure their model is profitable paying less for shipping materials and cost of credit.

Once I fill my credit I'm done with them which may take a while because this order came on the heels of a dead butteflyfish that was packaged the same way. It died in less than 24 hours.

 

[Lyss]

Wasn’t the company recently sold/changed hands again? This feels to me like someone new coming in and introducing cost-cutting measures w/o proper consideration for what their unique product is. Their success as a business lies in being able to deliver healthy, living animals a majority of the time, so the packing seems like not a smart place to be applying cost-cutting.

Personally, I’ve had corals in my cart from there a few times now and in the end removed them b/c of the extra box charge, and placed orders w/other businesses instead. If they’ve changed the packaging to exclude it, I especially wouldn’t want to pay that box charge to not receive the animals in the standard cooler.

 

[acanman]

Idk why people still buy from them.. lots of better fish vendors

 

[Hallowhead]

Idk why people still buy from them.. lots of better fish vendors

Can you name a few ?

I started finding local guys who stock the more rare fish and take quarantine and observations more serious. I don't have an online supplier yet though

 

[acanman]

Saltwaterfish.com
Reef Beauties
Foxy saltwater
All 3 A+ customer service and 14 guarantee on all bit "expert" fish

 

[Sharkbait19]

I’ve read about their recently awful packaging, and from what I’ve read/seen, it’s quite horrendous. I stopped ordering from them long ago. First off, my order kept being delayed multiple weeks because they didn’t have the fish that I had ordered from them (even though their website repeatedly showed they were in stock). They willingly sent me the wrong corals (and half of the colony was already dead), and all the fish had visible internal parasites, with one DOA and another dying within 24 hours. The others wasted away and made the rest of the tank sick. I had ordered from them hearing that they were incredible shippers, but I definitely would never want to experience this again.

 

[Hallowhead]

Saltwaterfish.com
Reef Beauties
Foxy saltwater
All 3 A+ customer service and 14 guarantee on all bit "expert" fish

Saltwater fish.com I've used and had loads of issues with. It could just be a coincidence but I'd probably put them equal with liveaquria

 

[trsmith18]

Saltwaterfish.com
Reef Beauties
Foxy saltwater
All 3 A+ customer service and 14 guarantee on all bit "expert" fish

Any of these retailers provide quarantine?

 

[mfinn]

I had a package delayed for a day.....when I opened it the foam bag was just wide open which makes it useless. They could at least fold the bag over and tape it so the heat stays intact to some extent.
The result was two dead fire fish and a wall hammer.

The bags obviously cost less and it's criminal they charge $10 for it but at least have some logical consideration to use the crappy product in the best way possible to ensure live animals. Their total disregard is inecusable. I blame a lot of this kind of stuff on analytics and bottom line thinking. I'm sure their model is profitable paying less for shipping materials and cost of credit.

Once I fill my credit I'm done with them which may take a while because this order came on the heels of a dead butteflyfish that was packaged the same way. It died in less than 24 hours.

The open bag is one of the things that shocked me on all the last 2 coral orders and 2 fish food orders. ( I was desperate. Nobody had frozen mysis at the time. First frozen order came completely thawed)
The packers didn't even bother trying to seal the bag. They didn't provide enough support inside the bag to prevent the items from bouncing and rolling around.
On 2 of the orders, there was only 1 piece of tape on the lid of the box and it had separated allowing cold air flow into the bags.
It's like it's a deliberate attempt to create issues. I'm mean really? Are they that stupid?

 

[Hallowhead]

The open bag is one of the things that shocked me on all the last 2 coral orders and 2 fish food orders. ( I was desperate. Nobody had frozen mysis at the time. First frozen order came completely thawed)
The packers didn't even bother trying to seal the bag. They didn't provide enough support inside the bag to prevent the items from bouncing and rolling around.
On 2 of the orders, there was only 1 piece of tape on the lid of the box and it had separated allowing cold air flow into the bags.
It's like it's a deliberate attempt to create issues. I'm mean really? Are they that stupid?

I'd imagine it's a result of being short staffed as people just are too comfortable not working anymore lol.

Either way unacceptable.

 

[Tamberav]

Any of these retailers provide quarantine?

for QT you want to use:

Home - Quarantined Fish

About Us WELCOME TO DR. REEF We specialize in quarantined fish. All orders are by request. We may have a

drreefsquarantinedfish.com

TSM Aquatics Inc

Largest Quarantined Saltwater Fish Facility. All fish go through a minimum 30 Day Quarantine. We carry Captive Bred & Wild Livestock. Angelfish, Anthias, Basslets, Butterflyfish, Blennies, Clownfish, Filefish, Gobies, Rabbitfish & Foxface, Mandarins, Triggerfish, Tangs, Wrasses. SPS & LPS...

tsmaquatics.com

Saltwater Fish

Alien Reef Aquatics

alienreefaquatics.com

https://ethicalaquatics.ca/ (Canada)

The FisHotel - The place for Quarantined Fish

The FisHotel provides Quarantined Saltwater Fish welcomed into the aquarium. So if you can't quarantine your Saltwater Fish, we will.

fishotel.com

Saltwater Fish for Sale in Los Angeles, CA | Ocean Devotion

Ocean Devotion provides high-quality, healthy saltwater fish for your aquarium needs. When it comes to our fish, what you see is what you get!

oceandevotionla.com

Premier Reefs – Healthy Cheap Coral

Shop Now Featured Products View this profile on Instagram Premier Reefs (@ premier_reef_mn ) • Instagram photos and videos Info

www.premierreefsmn.com

Most do not take pre-order as the wait time is long for many fish due to sourcing and getting them through a full QT then observation. Some do... a few have emails or text messages so you can see when new fish are posted. Inventory on the website is low because the fish sell very fast. It seems there is a big demand for QT/conditioned fish. So you will need to sign up for the emails/text messages and check back frequently.

Don't get mad if your full order does not ship... fish die in QT. Better they die in their QT then in your tank.

 

[madlos123]

Made a post about this

Worst Shipper in the Planet - Liveaquaria more like Deadaquaria

Worst Shipper in the Planet - Liveaquaria more like Deadaquaria So I have some store credit and bought some Biota Captive-Bred Court Jester gobies that are in stock. First time ordering fish from this morons. The facility is from Wisconsin and my location is Iowa. I received the shipment...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[mfinn]

I'd imagine it's a result of being short staffed as people just are too comfortable not working anymore lol.

Either way unacceptable.

You know if it was a delay from being short staffed, I can understand ( I might gripe a little), but the horrible, non-caring way the corals and fish are being packaged. Absolutely no attempt to seal the cheapo bags. Air flow in and out of the shipping bag is a heat killer. No attempt to stabilize the bags of water inside the shipping container. In my case no heat packs inside the shipping bag.
The serious lack of effort packing a live animal is appalling.

 

[beehive124]

Figured I’d let you guys know my california order arrived. The flame hawk was fine until he wasn’t. He stiffened up and croaked. They almost immediately gave me store credit. The snails I ordered were in great health!

I see the lack luster packaging and what not. It’s quite unfortunate. I’m willing to spend this credit and order some more fish, but this will likely be the last time I order from them

Sad to see

 

[Sharkbait19]

Hopefully they’ll see enough complaints to return to their old packaging. It would be very unethical to ignore their customers and continue this practice, and they would certainly lose patrons.

 

[tylo92]

I ordered from California two weeks ago and the packaging was bad. I hope they do make changes. I had my Wisconsin order come in a giant 2 foot rectangular cooler for three things. My one small fish was packed in at least a gallon of water. Sounds like they need to really get consistency.

 

[Big E]

All my orders have been from DD and the last four have had that funky bag set up.

If they would have done things right I would have been 3 for 3 with live specimens.
To compound the poor shipping practice the last order should have never been shipped out. The temp was below zero with a blizzard in the forecast for the Wisconson area. The box never left Fedex that day because the planes were grounded.

Shipping 101.........you don't put heat packs straight against a bag with corals or fish......the pack should be tapped to the box lid. Or with a big box they need to have air or at the very least packing material in between. And for crying out loud, having no packing material so the bags can bounce around in two foot box is ludicrous.

I think it's obvious this place isn't go to last much longer as a live marine supplier........... the push to make it more profitable has rendered them as one of the worst live on line sellers.

There have been a myriad of fish online sellers that have more comprehensive QT practices and also charge less for fish. The DD pricing on fish is laughable.

Even though I have a year to use my credit I plan to use it asap as I would not be the least bit surprised that without warning they go out of business and my credit is gone.

 

[beehive124]

Even though I have a year to use my credit I plan to use it asap as I would not be the least bit surprised that without warning they go out of business and my credit is gone.

I’m definitely afraid they will go out of business and take my credit