Trustworthy online fish stores?

[jeflen651]

That came out too sarcastic when it wasn't meant to be.

I have a 3 hour round trip to any decent fish store, but I do it as much as I can.
I let the owners know what I'm looking for and give them a couple weeks.
It's better to be able to see the fish in person, see it eat ( hopefully) and you help a local business.
A lot of the time they will even meet or beat online pricing.

I noticed that you are in Olympia, their is a place called Aquarium Paradise in Lakewood, south of Tacoma just of I-5 at the Bridgeport exit that is kind of hit and miss for fish and corals that would be a much shorter drive. They have pretty much everything salt and reef related. If you are looking for special fish or corals they will order them and quarantine them till they are safe to leave. Having said this Barrier Reef is my go to place. I am an hour away with no traffic so I feel your pain.

 

[Mfreddy]

Super low sg is a direct indicator of managing internal parasites and other diseases. I would immediately treat for parasites and watch very closely for any other diseases to raise it's ugly head.

He went on general cure day 1, and raised coppersafe over a period of 5 days.

He's eating black worms and flake like a horse

 

[mfinn]

I noticed that you are in Olympia, their is a place called Aquarium Paradise in Lakewood, south of Tacoma just of I-5 at the Bridgeport exit that is kind of hit and miss for fish and corals that would be a much shorter drive. They have pretty much everything salt and reef related. If you are looking for special fish or corals they will order them and quarantine them till they are safe to leave. Having said this Barrier Reef is my go to place. I am an hour away with no traffic so I feel your pain.

There was a time when Aquarium Paradise use to be worth going to, but not in the last 10-15 years.
There was one other place in Tacoma called The Indoor Reef.

 

[Crashjack]

For fish, I've had good luck with Divers Den and ORA from Liveaquaria (normal Liveaquaria will ship you fish in water 1.017 and lower so I don't recommend "Liveaquaria" proper.). I've also had good luck with Among the Reef and recommend them as well. For corals (frags), Your Reef is hard to beat, especially with their online sales. They have nice livestock, very reasonable prices, and customer service that exceeds my expectations, and that ain't easy to do.

 

[ReefinND]

I strickly buy fish through only liveaquaria. For coals, I usually got with liveaquara or vivid.

This pic sums up very well why I don't use my local fish store. This fish is for sale btw.

 

[mta_morrow]

just got my CUC from John @reefcleaners! Cannot go wrong there!

The best!

 

[VietExtender]

I ordered from live aquaria, pet solutions, and saltwaterfish. Let’s just say saltwaterfish is lowest on the list due to the dumb store credit refund instead of an actual refund to your payment source. Pet solutions had the best packaging and had tons of water for the fish. If you just buy enough for free shipping and something dies, you’ll get your money back and don’t have to worry about the shipping costs [emoji119].

 

[aquariumspecialtyDane Verified Sponsor]

Check out www.aquariumspecialty.com for all your saltwater needs. There is mostly just coral online right now but If you give me a call we make special deals on clean up crews and fish for shipping. The owners name is Scott Groseclose and my name Is Dane Odom. I would be glad to help you out however I could. We get fish, coral, inverts from all around the world and have some amazing tanks at the store here in Columbia, SC where we are located. Check out our Instagram page for just some of the pics of the store. We have a lot more than whats on the website. I would say they best thing about our corals is that over 80% is actually aqua cultured in either my tank or a couple friends in town so you know your buying healthy pieces.
Thanks,
Dane Odom
(803)788-4445
www.aquariumspecialty.com

 

[mta_morrow]

Check out www.aquariumspecialty.com for all your saltwater needs. There is mostly just coral online right now but If you give me a call we make special deals on clean up crews and fish for shipping. The owners name is Scott Groseclose and my name Is Dane Odom. I would be glad to help you out however I could. We get fish, coral, inverts from all around the world and have some amazing tanks at the store here in Columbia, SC where we are located. Check out our Instagram page for just some of the pics of the store. We have a lot more than whats on the website. I would say they best thing about our corals is that over 80% is actually aqua cultured in either my tank or a couple friends in town so you know your buying healthy pieces.
Thanks,
Dane Odom
(803)788-4445
www.aquariumspecialty.com

Hello Dane

I’m moving to Bluffton SC in 2 weeks. Tore down my tank, sold my fish and have a friend keeping my corals. I will be setting up a new tank once I’m settled in and am looking for some places to buy livestock and corals.

How far away are you from Bluffton?

 

[JakesReef209]

Hey guys! An update from me (OP) my cleanup crew that you guys recommended overwhelmingly from ReefCleaners will be here tomorrow hopefully! And this weekend I’m going to my 2 nearest fish stores (which should be around a 4 hour round trip) to pick up a couple of clowns! Very excited. I’m thinking of ordering the soft coral pack from WWC next week and then the LPS pack the week after that.

 

[ReefersDirect Verified Sponsor]

I know you've gotten a lot of great suggestions but if you find that you need anything we are more than happy to help you out.
No fish leaves our store without us being sure that it eats and we get a lot of the rarer fish in as well.

 

[jenniferw]

Has anyone used Your Reef Aquarium Supply? They listed a live sale on here this weekend but would like to hear feedback on them before I order anything.

 

[XNavyDiver]

I won't by fish from any lfs store where I'm near. I've tried, and they died, and I'm talking simple fish, like chromis. All the fish in my tank came from Bluezoo. I've never been sold a fish from them that hasn't thrived. Coincidence maybe? I dunno, but I've never had a bad experience with Bluezoo.

 

[JakesReef209]

I won't by fish from any lfs store where I'm near. I've tried, and they died, and I'm talking simple fish, like chromis. All the fish in my tank came from Bluezoo. I've never been sold a fish from them that hasn't thrived. Coincidence maybe? I dunno, but I've never had a bad experience with Bluezoo.

Where are you from?

 

[XNavyDiver]

Where are you from?

We live southeast of Tucson.

 

[Terry Brown]

LiveAquaria for me. Yes I have had some fish deaths, but that is to be expected when shipping. LA has never once given me issues on replacing or crediting my account on loses. And they have even extended the 2 week warranty for me on fish that arrived questionable as to weather they will survive.

 

[rkpetersen]

And they have even extended the 2 week warranty for me on fish that arrived questionable as to weather they will survive.

They will do the same with corals that still don't look so good after 2 weeks, but aren't obviously dying. The only time I've had to invoke this was when UPS screwed up and turned my overnight delivery into 2 days. ;Bored

 

[Salty!]

I vote Reef Cleaners hands down for CUC. John is great and you can contact him personally which makes it all the better.

As far as fish, I have bought online from live aquaria and had 100% fatalities. But they were no issues getting a refund minus shipping.

Coral I’ve ordered from vivid aquarium from the WYSIWYG and was happy with them. I had the clam die on me but they refunded with no problems. Ordered fire and sexy shrimp from them and they’re still doing very well though. Other than that, I use LFS’s.

 

[Crashjack]

Has anyone used Your Reef Aquarium Supply? They listed a live sale on here this weekend but would like to hear feedback on them before I order anything.

I've participated in two of their sales. They have great customer service, nice frags, and good prices (can't beat their online sales). I don't think they sell fish. Also, people won't likely respond because they don't want more competition at the sale... the sales are pretty wild but fun once you get the hang of it. I can't participate in this sale so no skin off my nose.

 

[Xjv152]

Liveaquaria will re-ship any doa's and re-ship any that die within 2 weeks.
That includes shipping



I have to edit this post.
LA does not re-ship any more. They do give you credit back to your credit card, with proof of death in the warranty period.

No more credit back to your card, they keep your money now, give you in store credit.