Where do you buy your fish and corals online?

AndysReef · 01/19/2014, 03:36 PM

Wondering where you prefer to shop online for fish/corals/inverts. I personally buy from reefcleaners for my cuc and they're great, and I plan to buy some corals and inverts from Vivid aquariums. Where do you buy online?

Pife · 01/19/2014, 03:56 PM

LiveAquaria

Indiana Reefin · 01/19/2014, 04:01 PM

Live aquaria
Donovon's reef

Dun Properly · 01/19/2014, 05:28 PM

Divers Den

jimmy n · 01/19/2014, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dun Properly

Divers Den

Plus one.

adam87 · 01/19/2014, 05:34 PM

LiveAquaria/Divers Den

4bruceinc · 01/19/2014, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adam87

liveaquaria/divers den

+1

Meanmike · 01/19/2014, 06:58 PM

La/dd

Buzz1329 · 01/19/2014, 09:21 PM

I've used LA, Blue Zoo, Reefs 2 Go, Vivid Aquariums, and Pacific East Aquaculture.

LA is great but the free shipping amount ($220) is a bit high and it seems when I'm looking for a particular fish or coral it's out of stock at LA.

I've never been disappointed with ANYTHING I've bought from Blue Zoo, and that includes fish, coral, and an assortment of other inverts. Plus, my fish love BZ's dry food. Orders over $140 get free shipping.

I only bought once from Vivid. One of the fish arrived clearly stressed and died a few days later. After I sent Vivid a photo of the dead fish, they refunded the purchase price to my credit card, which was nice.

I would order anything from Reefs to Go, except for fish, which I've not had luck with. They offer a lot of free shipping packages on inverts, pods, and the like as well as BOGO deals on a bunch of stuff. The prices are good and shipping is free for orders of $179 or over.

Pacific East has a tremendous selection of coral frags, including a bunch for $15 or under. No free shipping but they offer discounts and freebies depending on how much you spend. The two packages of under $15 frags I ordered arrived alive and healthy, but (as PE made clear on their website), they are small (1/2" to 1"). PE also has an excellent selection of larger coral, inverts, clams, etc.

Hope this helps,

ltkenbo · 01/19/2014, 11:04 PM

You can snag some good deals on ebay sometimes there are several businesses on there sell corals and they let you combine shipping usually with only a $1 or so more cost per coral. Plus it's usually what you see is what you get on the photos and you can often bid on the corals so you might get them at a cheaper price. I've purchased two or three times on ebay and only once I had one of the corals dies in the mail but the guy offered to replace it with my next order.

eyesinthedrk · 01/20/2014, 05:31 AM

Does anyone have experience with aquacon?

Dino · 01/20/2014, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyesinthedrk

Does anyone have experience with aquacon?

Just do a search on here and you'll find page after page of horror stories

. I can't think of a single other company that consistently gets as bad of reviews.

eyesinthedrk · 01/20/2014, 08:50 AM

That's good to know. Thanks for the response

SecretiveFish · 01/20/2014, 10:09 AM

Let's see:
- I have bought many times from LiveAquaria/DD and will again I am sure. Generally, I have been very happy with them although over the Christmas holiday I received a DD package of fish where 2 of 3 perished within 24 hours. LiveAquaria took care of it, but it was a major bummer.
- I recently bought corals from cultivatedreef.com and could not be happier with the customer service and frags received. I plan to buy from him again once I recover from the holiday spending!
- I also recently bought corals and inverts from vividaquariums and am extremely happy with that order too. The WYSIWYGs received actually had a fair amount of growth since the website photos were taken! The packaging was incredible. A strange thing to get excited about... I know.
- I have been extremely disappointed with Blue Zoo Aquatics more than once and as a result have not bought from them in quite awhile. I will not buy from them again.

aandfsoccr04 · 01/20/2014, 10:14 AM

divers den/ liveaquaria
+5

atreis · 01/20/2014, 11:13 AM

Most livestock I've bought locally. When I've ordered online it's been from Divers Den and Live Aquaria. I've never had a problem except for them not having as many as I ordered in stock (e.g. order 10, get fewer because that's all they had). They've always been healthy and well packaged.

01/19/2014, 03:36 PM	#1
AndysReef Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Sylvan Lake, MI Posts: 260	Where do you buy your fish and corals online? Wondering where you prefer to shop online for fish/corals/inverts. I personally buy from reefcleaners for my cuc and they're great, and I plan to buy some corals and inverts from Vivid aquariums. Where do you buy online? __________________ Reefing... Current Tank Info: 55g reef with 30g sump and refugium.

01/19/2014, 05:28 PM	#4
Dun Properly Registered Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 169	Divers Den __________________ Dun Properly Current Tank Info: 40 Breeder, mixed reef, yellow watchman goby and b&w clown, ATI Dimmable Sunpower w/ Reefbrites

01/19/2014, 09:21 PM	#9
Buzz1329 Premium Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Staten Island Posts: 2,414	I've used LA, Blue Zoo, Reefs 2 Go, Vivid Aquariums, and Pacific East Aquaculture. LA is great but the free shipping amount ($220) is a bit high and it seems when I'm looking for a particular fish or coral it's out of stock at LA. I've never been disappointed with ANYTHING I've bought from Blue Zoo, and that includes fish, coral, and an assortment of other inverts. Plus, my fish love BZ's dry food. Orders over $140 get free shipping. I only bought once from Vivid. One of the fish arrived clearly stressed and died a few days later. After I sent Vivid a photo of the dead fish, they refunded the purchase price to my credit card, which was nice. I would order anything from Reefs to Go, except for fish, which I've not had luck with. They offer a lot of free shipping packages on inverts, pods, and the like as well as BOGO deals on a bunch of stuff. The prices are good and shipping is free for orders of $179 or over. Pacific East has a tremendous selection of coral frags, including a bunch for $15 or under. No free shipping but they offer discounts and freebies depending on how much you spend. The two packages of under $15 frags I ordered arrived alive and healthy, but (as PE made clear on their website), they are small (1/2" to 1"). PE also has an excellent selection of larger coral, inverts, clams, etc. Hope this helps, __________________ Current tank info: 180 mixed reef

01/20/2014, 05:31 AM	#11
eyesinthedrk Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Williamsport, PA Posts: 675	Does anyone have experience with aquacon? __________________ Everybody knows you never go full retard. Current Tank Info: SPS dominated, 125 gallon dt with 3 Apollo reef LED pendants, Apex Controler. 100 gal basement sump, 100 gallon basement fuge, euro reef skimmer, reef octopu s cr140 calcium reactor. Phos an reactor.

01/20/2014, 08:50 AM	#13
eyesinthedrk Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Williamsport, PA Posts: 675	That's good to know. Thanks for the response __________________ Everybody knows you never go full retard. Current Tank Info: SPS dominated, 125 gallon dt with 3 Apollo reef LED pendants, Apex Controler. 100 gal basement sump, 100 gallon basement fuge, euro reef skimmer, reef octopu s cr140 calcium reactor. Phos an reactor.

01/19/2014, 03:56 PM	#2
Pife Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 7,408	LiveAquaria

01/19/2014, 04:01 PM	#3
Indiana Reefin Garrett Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Indiana Posts: 847	Live aquaria Donovon's reef

01/19/2014, 05:34 PM	#6
adam87 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: IL Posts: 812	LiveAquaria/Divers Den

01/19/2014, 06:58 PM	#8
Meanmike Moved On Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Maine Posts: 473	La/dd

01/19/2014, 11:04 PM	#10
ltkenbo Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bloomington, MN Posts: 95	You can snag some good deals on ebay sometimes there are several businesses on there sell corals and they let you combine shipping usually with only a $1 or so more cost per coral. Plus it's usually what you see is what you get on the photos and you can often bid on the corals so you might get them at a cheaper price. I've purchased two or three times on ebay and only once I had one of the corals dies in the mail but the guy offered to replace it with my next order.

01/20/2014, 10:09 AM	#14
SecretiveFish Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: PNW Posts: 713	Let's see: - I have bought many times from LiveAquaria/DD and will again I am sure. Generally, I have been very happy with them although over the Christmas holiday I received a DD package of fish where 2 of 3 perished within 24 hours. LiveAquaria took care of it, but it was a major bummer. - I recently bought corals from cultivatedreef.com and could not be happier with the customer service and frags received. I plan to buy from him again once I recover from the holiday spending! - I also recently bought corals and inverts from vividaquariums and am extremely happy with that order too. The WYSIWYGs received actually had a fair amount of growth since the website photos were taken! The packaging was incredible. A strange thing to get excited about... I know. - I have been extremely disappointed with Blue Zoo Aquatics more than once and as a result have not bought from them in quite awhile. I will not buy from them again.

01/20/2014, 10:14 AM	#15
aandfsoccr04 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 3,561	divers den/ liveaquaria +5 __________________ 120 gallon mixed reef

01/20/2014, 11:13 AM	#16
atreis Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Yellow Springs, OH Posts: 942	Most livestock I've bought locally. When I've ordered online it's been from Divers Den and Live Aquaria. I've never had a problem except for them not having as many as I ordered in stock (e.g. order 10, get fewer because that's all they had). They've always been healthy and well packaged. __________________ reef tank up since 8/2009. Previous tank up since 4/2004, taken down in 2007. Current Tank Info: custom 100g reef, custom sump