Props and Slops for aquatic plant sellers

[Goatman]

I'm hoping this can be a sticky, but even if it is only around for a few day I think it will be a help to those new to buying aquatic plants online. I just got a shipment of plants from AquariumPlants.com, and their product is really nice. The jungle vals were thick, tall and healthy, the cardamine was bright green, the echinodorus osiris is very nice, although the crypt. wendtii "green" left a bit to be desired size-wise (but I'm sure they will fill in fine). I made an order to ThatPetPlace.com a couple months ago, the bacopa was quite nice, but their crypt. ciliata was not doing well, only one leaf per plant, half dead. The plant has since made a comeback.

Anyone who can contribute to who is good, bad, or indifferent to deal with would be greatly appreciated. I think this could be a great asset to newcomers.

[plah831]

check out these threads
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78856&highlight=online+plants

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79634&highlight=order+plants


my experience with plants from LiveAquaria.com also left much-to-be-desired. Mostly the problem was that they did not package plants with water, or in bags! They just wrapped the naked plants in newspaper, so the leaves rotted off during shipping (2-day).

I recently purchased from "mikeswetpets" on ebay. The plants were beautiful, he communicates quickly, and he gave me a prompt refund for an overpayment on shipping (he discounts if you have multiple orders from him). I'm definitely buying from him again, but will also try aquariumplants.com and aquabotanic.com

[djlen]

I've got a lot of experience, both shipping and receiving plants and here's a couple of things I've learned over the years.
'Tender' plants such as Vallisneria and many stems do not ship well and often look terrible upon arrival, but many can be saved if you are patient with them.
Speaking of patient, I've very, very rarely seen Cryptocoryne (any variety) ship well. They don't like to be moved from one side of your tank to the other, let alone across country. They will drop leaves and arrive looking like limp sea weed in many cases. But as long as the roots are nice and white and crisp, if you plant them they will rebound over time and look nice eventually.
When I ship plants I never ship in baggies with water. I wet paper towels, place the plants on them and fold them over gently, keeping the plants from folding. Then I put the folded, wet towels in baggies and seal them up for shipping. I've never had anyone tell me that the plants I send died on them.
I don't ship or receive plants at this time of year. It's just too hot and they can actually handle cold better than extreme heat like we are experiencing in the east at this time.
If you want nice plants go to lowcoaster on AquaBid. He has never let me down.:)

Len

[twig]

i ordered a square foot of micro swords and a couple of red lotus from aquariumplants.com (they ship to canada now!) with a bag of Bio Spira and it was all done overnight express...

the microswords arrived bound in wet newspapers and t he bio spira had a cold pack to regulate the temp. The red lotus are mostly just the bud with 2-3 leaves on them.

All arrived well but i had a heck of a time planting so much microsword haha =x

The Bio-Spira is working too.

[tetramoon13]

I recieved my first plant order from Aquariumplants.com, and I have to say the plants were in excellent condition, The only one that was iffy was the c. beckettii, it had some leaves that were soft, but I think it may recover. The anubias nana, and nana petite were perfect! thick, healthy roots, and beautiful dark green foliage, I also ordered Brazilian penny wort, bacopa caroliniana, anacharis, java fern, java moss, narrow leaf chain sword, and ambulia, but instead of the ambulia, they gave me creeping jenny, which is actually a better deal, and looks very nice in between the bacopa and anacharis. I was hoping I would get a stowaway snail or two in the java moss, but all plants were very clean, save for some decay under the lead wraps. I will probably order some more anubias for my 5 gal, they were such nice specimens!

The baby tears are showing some decaying leaves, as are the chain sword, which I have removed, but all plants looked very good when I opened the package. I think I may have handled the baby tears a bit roughly, but hopefully they will recover. It was a gamble having it shipped this week, with it being so darn hot, but I did get overnight shipping. So kudos for Aquariumplants.com !

Just a thought....how do you guys dispose of the lead wraps? I was thinking of bringing them to work, and putting them in the biohazard bin.....

[twig]

tetra they shouldn't actually be made of lead >.>;

[tetramoon13]

oh, that's good.....so I can just throw them out?

[plah831]

tetra they shouldn't actually be made of lead >.>;
they are zinc, if i remember correctly. that's very responsible of you to think about how to dispose of them properly :)
if they were lead, it would probably poison the plants, eh?

you can toss 'em in the trash, or i keep them to help weigh down other things, veggies and such. they're also super-easy to cut with a pair of wire cutters, if you have any that are too long for you liking.