Ordering Corals Online...

[str8juizy]

Hey, I want to buy a bunch of live corals online and wanted some advice about where to buy, who has the best selection/prices and experiences people have had personally. I have never bought anything and had it shipped before. I am looking for unusual soft corals and some high end LPS. Not looking for any SPS right now. Please let me know, I don't want to spend $1000 on stuff that is gonna die

 

[TJL]

I have received orders from both Reefs 2 Go and Coral Props in the last couple weeks and was very pleased with both of our Sponsors here. Reasonably priced and extremely well packaged to get livestock to me in healthy condition.

Cheers, Todd

 

[user 26995]

I have gotten coral from a number of sponsors here on RF and have been very pleased with them. Just FYI...a number of those sponsors will be here in Tacoma on Feb 11th for the Bob Moore Frag Swap organized by the Puget Sound Aquarium Society.
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f8/official-bob-moore-2012-thread-63075/
You wont need to have them shipped and you will be able to see them in person before buying.

 

[leena2674]

I've ordered from several: Cultivated Reef, Mr. Coral, Live Aquaria, and Saltwaterfish.com. I was most impressed with the quality of product I received from Cultivated Reef. All of them packaged the product well and everything arrived in good condition. You also can't go wrong ordering from Coral Props, but I've only purchased there in person, never had anything shipped.

 

[mcoomer]

My only large frag pack came from a seller on Reef Central. I purchased 12 frags, the seller threw in a bonus, and it all shipped FedEx First Overnight with Saturday delivery. I forget the exact price but it was less than $300, all the corals arrived double bagged and in an insulated box, and were simply beautiful. Take a look at forums and check feedback on sellers that are moving these frag packs. Many of them seem to be very reliable with many satisfied customers. It was a big plunge for me but I got a dozen unique corals, including some ORA's and Tyrees, for 1/3 what it would have cost me in a local shop.

Lately, all my frags but one or two have come from local reefers. This gives me a chance to go and look at them before I buy so I can get a feel for how well kept they've been, whether there will be any pests on them, and I get them home and in the tank right away. Plus, buying from a local hobbyist helps them offset their costs so they can grow more frags for other folks. Buying from and trading with locals is my preferred method of acquiring new stuff.

Mike

 

[Maxx]

I'm stuck here in the Midwest and consequently wind up purchasing alot of livestock online.
I've bought from all kinds of RF sponsors and never had an issue.
One thing I would absolutely reccomend is to find the first Fed-Ex over night facility in your area that items arrive at from the airport, and have it held there for you to pick up. This absolutely cuts down on the time the critter spends in the box, bouncing around on the road etc. If its held for you to pick up, you can get there first thing when they open, (usually 8 am in my experiance) and pick up your critters long before they would actually get delivered to your door.

Fed Ex overnight packages arrive at the airport first, (If you're closest to the airport, then see what you need to do to pick up items there), then go to the overnight sorting facility. The overnight sorting facility is usually open at 8 am for local pick up and drop off, (Fed Ex Air/Overnight whatever specific term they use. You are not interested in Fed Ex Ground sorting facilties, totally different beast and livestock is not shipped through Fed Ex Ground...overnight/Air packages do not go to Ground facilities at ALL.)

Fed Ex's website is absolutely attrocious for providing any sort of useful information regarding this or providing a phone number for actually speaking to a person. You might very well need to physically walk into a Fed Ex store and ask the manager where the closest overnight/Air sorting facility is located and what their phone number is.

In my case, Fed Ex Overnight shipments tend to arrive at around 430 in the morning. They are then transferred over to the Overnight Facility in Maplewood MO which is about 20 minutes drive from me, and significantly closer than the airport. I have the critters held for me to pick up at Maplewood which opens at 8 am.

Depending on traffic, the critters are almost always out of the box and acclimating by 830-845 am.

Having them shipped to my door has resulted on more than one occassion of the package (which was guaranteed to arrive before 12 pm) arriving sometime around 1 pm to 3 pm.

Its faster and safer on the critters to have them shipped to the sorting facilty and held for pick up.

Just the benefit of my experiances throughout the years...

Nick