Mail ordering fish.

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kittyhazelton

I eat sushi
Aug 15, 2005
198
0
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39
Hartford, VT
elfwood.lysator.liu.se
OK, I just kinda wanted to comment about the quality/health of fish that I've mail ordered, versus the ones that my local pet store carries.
First a little background on my tank. This is my first saltwater setup, it's a 55 gal with 10gal sump, backpack skimmer, 60lbs live rock, about 3inches of argo-livesand mix, 3 48" florescent bulbs (all of different specs for different purposes) 2 powerheads. I orriginally had about 6 damsels in my tank that I purchased from the pet store several weeks after seting everything up. 4 of the 6 died within a week after purchasing them. (Of course they all lived past the 3 day garrantee) The water parameters were not ridiculously out of whack, (At least not enough to kill damsels acording to my coworker who has ALOT of SW experience) I was a bit frustrated at this. I had done all the correct aclimation
Once my water seemed to stabalize I decided to get another fish. This time since the water was good, and everything seemed to be OK I decided to go a little more exotic and I purchased what apeared to be a happy, healthy, clownfish. Once again, 4 days later the fish was dead. Check water parameters, perfect. A week ago I purchased a neon goby who overnight disapeared. (If I could find the body I would have returned it, but I think my crabs ate it.)
Now, since the damsels dying I've been purchasing my fish from Liveaquaria online. every single one of the fish I've ordered has been happy, healthy, well packed, no diseases, and show very little sighns of stress. I currently have a gold-banded maroon clown, a neon goby, a lawnmower blenny, 2 peppermint shrimp, a chocolate chip starfish, and my most recent addition is a yellow tang who seems to be the most active fish in my tank so far. He also is alot larger than I was expecting him to be considering he was 1/2 the price of what my local shop was asking. The only fish I have remaining from my local pet store is the two black lyretail damsels and an assortment of snails and hermit crabs. I do also have a green mandarin dragonet that a friend of mine bought from a pet store about 45 minutes from my house that seems to be thriving on prepared foods and his favorite treat of brine shrimp.
Of course now the temp is really starting to drop in my area. And I would much rather not risk getting fish once frost hits. Besides I think I'm pretty well stocked for now ('cept I still want a dwarf fuzzy lionfish)
Anybody else have horror stories of poor quality fish from local pet stores. I have made it a point not to shop at this particular store anymore. There is a smaller private owned pet shop nearby that doesn't have saltwater fish but still has the supplys I need.
 
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mogurnda

vaguely present
Apr 29, 2003
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DC
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My experience with local stores has been similar. In the past 4 years, I've obtained all my SW fish either in trade from local hobbyists or from a few trusted sites on the internet. All arrived healthy and disease-free. That's no excuse not to quarantine, though :D

After shipping, the cost is probably about the same as getting the fish locally, unless you can do a group order, but I just can't trust the stores around here.
 

kittyhazelton

I eat sushi
Aug 15, 2005
198
0
0
39
Hartford, VT
elfwood.lysator.liu.se
Unfortunately I just don't have the space for a decent quarantine tank. (I turned the one big space I had in my apartment into a reptile room, and my Burmese python enclosure takes up all the space.) I do have a small bowfront (I think it's like 5 gal) that I've had running for about 3 weeks with some crabs in it. (My boyfriend wanted a tank with nothing but crabs in it so that's what that is for.) Though I think a 5 gal is a way too small for any fish that I would be getting, other than maybe a damsel, small clown, or other "nano" sized fish. Unless I decided to ditch my 10 gal freshwater. But I'd rather not do that since I've had it for a long time and have grown attached to all the fish in it.
 
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