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ac7av

ac7av

Bring on the FISH!
Joined
Jul 8, 2008
Messages
1,393
Location
Spokane Valley, WA.
I would like to know what your opinions on where to buy fish on line and what your experiences were when you ordered your fish. I am planning on making a large fish order at one time and wanted to order all the fish from one place.

If you had a bad experience from some place please just PM me the info, we don’t need to give any negative press on a specific company on this thread.

I have ordered several fish from WPH and I will continue to get things from Les when he has what I am looking for.

I have looked on line and found several sites that have many of the fish I want to get in stock and most of them say they have a good guarantee like 15 day live guarantee or something like that. Most have free shipping over a certain amount and so on. Saltwaterfish.com has most of what I want in stock but the prices are not all that great, at least for what I’m looking for but I just have a good vibe from the site. What do you think? I don’t need the cheapest price just the best value.
 
I hear good things about les and I do plan on getting some fish from him when I get my big boy up and running. but in my honest opinion I would work something out with a LFS. I am good with the LFS back in vegas so they ship what ever I want 10% over cost. so for me it is easy. and I know all the fish I bought from that store never had an issue. but I would go with Les or talk to a LFS that you go into alot.
 
Thatpetplace has treated us good. Wouldn't ship our order because one of the Corals we ordered was bleached. They have been keeping us updated on it's health since. Also Saltwaterfish.com as long as your putting in a big order to get free shipping. And LFS are always a good place. (keep them open during the dropping economy)
 
Thanks I will talk to my local fish store but even when they have there yearly sale of 50% off that only gets the prices to the on line retailers prices but I never thought of asking if they would make a deal if I order a lot at once. Ill check on it and let you know how that goes.

I am budgeting for $250 give or take and that seems to be over the free shipping mark for most places.
 
There are several great LFS to deal with off the Island. Rob at ARSA in Shoreline is a good place to go and he takes good care of his customers. I've heard from several people that I work with that Clark Feed and Seed in Bellingham is also a wonderful store with some really good prices.

You won't beat the annual sell that Island Pet has. If you are making a large order and talk to Brian, he will give you 20% off if you buy the fish out of the bag. Rob at ARSA offers 30% off if you buy your fish out of the bag. If you're up for the drive Barrier Reef Aquarium in Renton is also a great store and they hold sells all the time. They also are the only LFS in the area that "warranties" their fish.

I would be weary of purchasing fish online due to the fact you have no idea what kind of specimen you are getting. At least if you are purchasing them local you have the chance to see how the fish is doing in captivity prior to purchasing it. If you do the math, you end up paying a little more from online retailers due to the shipping costs.

I would be a little leary about putting in more than 2 fish at a time in my set up, as you will end up with spikes as you will be producing more waste. It takes time for the bacteria to multiply to keep your system balanced.

I have a pretty good repport with the above stores that I have mentioned. I make trips down to Shoreline to check out the new selection of coral and fish at ARSA a couple times a month if you ever wanted to catch a ride with me down there and I can introduce you to them. I'm currently getting an order put together at ARSA, so maybe you'd want to jump in on that with me?
 
+1 for all the stores minus island as i've never been there, go with LFS if you can as it keeps them afloat and also they can answer pretty much any question you throw at them as well as they can help find/locate the best specimens for you
 
Thanks bigblue141
I have talked to Brian and gave him my list.
I want to order all the fish from one place to introduce them all to the tank at the same time to help prevent any turf wars or pecking problem, at least keep it to a minimum. I told Brian that I didn’t want to know the price per fish on the list the total. He said he will send the information in an email to me by the end of the week. I’m not worried about the change in chemistry of the tank introducing 8 to 10 fish, they will all be pretty small and not much of an impact in comparison to the tank. I don’t have any corals to worry much about, this is a mostly fish with live rock tank. I have a few little softies but that’s it.

As for purchasing the fish on line or out of the bag, you don’t get to see the fish interacting with anything ether way. I have made large orders from Brian before and he has given me a discount on it, I just wanted to keep my options open because the fish I want are fish he doesn’t normally keep and I have priced them on line and the quantity I am getting will be over nearly everyone minimum free shipping amount.

Bag price is better then tank price because he will not have to mess with the fish.

I have been to ARSA, they drilled my tank, very nice store just further then I ever go. I hardly ever get time to get off the island.
 
I got all my fish in yesterday. Thanks to Brian at Island Pet for the good local pricing on the fish I wanted. It just goes to show you that if you ask your local pet store you can get the tempting online pricing at your local store. I will get some pictures of the new critters in a day or so. Thanks everyone for the advise to shop local.
 
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