Ordering Fish Online? Your Thoughs please

[DeeSeven]

I'm just curious to see if anyones ever done this? if you have can you please shed some light? I'm fairly curious about this since some of these places have pretty decent prices for fish of course you get killed on the shiping cause its overnite which is roughly 20-30 bucks.

[Darrin]

I have not bought fish online, but a buddy has. Never a problem. The fish always arrive in good shape. Downside is you have to home when they are delivered.

[5xevy]

I was wondering this too. I wanted to order a rare fish that none of the LFS near me have. I'm a bit nervous but I keep reading many positive things. I would just make sure the company you're using has a decent guarantee, or an arrive alive, policy.

Just curious- what company are you thinking of ordering from?

[Rbishop]

Never had a problem with it here. Stay with reputable dealers.

[DeeSeven]

I was thinking of ordering from Pet Solutions (http://www.petsolutions.com) but like 5xevy I'm just nervous cause I don't want to spend 50-60 bucks on fish that are gonna die within 2 weeks. And no i won't order fish off eBay..i love eBay and use it for mainly everything else but defiantly not fish lol

[coupedefleur]

Shipping is terribly high. If the fish are being shipped out of or to the cold parts of the US they will have a hard time of it right now- even with heat packs the bags might arrive frozen solid!

With some fish you can get a better price on fish and shipping (and possibly better quality) by getting them through a specialty society. Find out if there's a society for the type of fish you're interested in- like the AKA for killifish, and find out if they have a trading post, fish and egg listing, etc.

[BucJason]

Only worth it if you are getting something really rare that no LFS has. The shipping is expensive because it needs to be overnighted or 2 day air at least.

The fish handle it fine though. I never ended up with dead , dying, or overly stressed fish.

[wataugachicken]

i hate paying for shipping. i got my bristlenose plecos off ebay for $30, free shipping. all seven arrived in great condition. the seller labelled the package as aquarium plants. just ordered 16 endler's off aquabid for a total of $28 with shipping ($1.75 per fish). priority mail + heatpacks is good enough for me.

[jm1212]

liveaquaria does a good job, and they have a 14 day replacment guarantee.

i dont really like ordering online though, i would rather pick out the fish myself and check out the tanks to amke sure none of the fish are dieing, dead, or diseased

[5xevy]

I was thinking of ordering from Pet Solutions (http://www.petsolutions.com) but like 5xevy I'm just nervous cause I don't want to spend 50-60 bucks on fish that are gonna die within 2 weeks. And no i won't order fish off eBay..i love eBay and use it for mainly everything else but defiantly not fish lol

Hehe- that's the same site I'm ordering from. :)

I decided I'm going to take my chances. Fortunately because of my total, the shipping is free.

[5xevy]

DeeSeven- not sure where you live but, I just called them and they're not shipping to certain areas today, and may not be for the rest of the week because of the cold weather.

I was pleased that they told me this, instead of them just shipping for the sake of a buck. They do include heat packs, but they do not want to risk it. I found that respectable even if my order is forced to be cancelled if they cannot ship for the rest of the week.

[wataugachicken]

purchase with care from that site. some of their info is totally wrong about some of their fish. whenever you buy any fish do your own research on them and don't listen to the people trying to sell the fish. for example?
pacus max out at 8 inches in a tank?
vampire plecs given that name because they look sinister? mkay.
clown loaches don't get over 5 inches long?

[5xevy]

purchase with care from that site. some of their info is totally wrong about some of their fish. whenever you buy any fish do your own research on them and don't listen to the people trying to sell the fish. for example?
pacus max out at 8 inches in a tank?
vampire plecs given that name because they look sinister? mkay.
clown loaches don't get over 5 inches long?

Thanks wataugachicken. I agree it's always good to research beforehand the fish you plan on purchasing.

While I don't know much about freshwater fish, the saltwater species that I looked up seemed to have pretty accurate information.

I'm glad you pointed out some discrepancies and hope that others will look at more than one site to obtain as much information as possible.

[DeeSeven]

i'm over in the newly named state "frozen tundra" aka connecticut..thanks for the info guys I probably won't be buying fish from there or any place online till roughly aprilish...sadly my car needs more tlc then my tank does

[phaedraeos]

apparently one should NOT order from www.thefishdepot.net

see this thread:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54245