Buying Fish Online

[Knox213]

Yea..

 

[stiffler69]

some good ideas but too many factors would not allow for any other gurantee other than arrive alive all you can do is know that all my new stock is wormed and quarantined for 24hrs before its put into population with the other stock.

im trying to get in rarer varietys too but i can also order in on request so should be able to cater for many peoples needs as for postage costs im also going to deliver with my own courier service and try and keep postage costs down.

Thanks.

 

[chromide]

i have to agree alot of pet stores have brackish fish but dont keep them in brackish water. I would buy brackish fish from someone who knows what they need. also rare fish are the way to go if i can get them localy i will its much cheaper, cause of shipping.


good luck, post the web page.

 

[OldMan47]

That last bit sounds like you intend to become a trans-shipper, not an internet sales source Stiffler. You bring in fresh stock that someone has already ordered, hold it for a day or two of quick fix medication and ship it on to the ultimate buyer. The places where I actually have dealt are located where they can afford to run an outdoor pond. They single species stock the ponds and other containers with the hundreds of each species that they have imported, then quarantine the lot for a month or more of observation. At the end of that time, they are fairly confident that the fish they ship out are sound and disease free.

My LFS will custom order for me and I am back to buying locally. It is not the same as having a place I can rely on to screen the fish for health before I must try to have them survive. My purchases have been much better in terms of health and survival than the custom orders I have seen come into my LFS. The ones that someone orders get ordered from wholesalers in large enough numbers to justify holding a tank aside for them. The original person that wanted them gets a first chance at them because the shop has their name and phone on file. Then I walk in and say "Hey I have never seen one of those here before." and I buy some, take them home and have a fair fraction of them die. The reason is simple, the LFS has had them a whole day and has not quarantined them properly. They came in from a source the LFS has not necessarily dealt with before and they have no idea what to expect from that particular source. When they are dealing with their main stock in trade, things like guppies, platies, convicts, common plecs, rainbows, kribs, zebras, angels, cories and other bread and butter fish, they deal with the same supplier all the time and know who they can trust. When they get in a special order, it is often from an entirely different source, even if it through the same wholesaler. That means no reputation to protect and no repercussions if the stock is terrible quality. Sometimes they are fine fish and sometimes they are not.

The people that I deal with on the internet do have a reputation to protect and when people in a place like this ask where they can get good stock, I am likely to tell them my experiences, good or bad. I do not tell them about a dealer that I have not used for the fish they are seeking. That would be like telling them to go to my LFS and do a special order. Who knows what they might get? I have my own self respect and reputation to protect too. It is all I really own on line and I will not give it up for any reason that I can imagine.

 

[Mikaila31]

Yeah that sounds like transshipping, but I'm pretty sure all the places I buy from are transshippers or indoor breeders.

IMO you really need to guarantee live arrival on priority shipping. Of course you can always label certain fish as express only. If you have real winters you can guarantee express shipping only at that time, same with holidays. I've only ever had fish shipped priority(2-3day) and have not had any losses do to shipping time. Of course this all comes down to how well you can pack fish. I've received dead fish, but they have been due to(IMO) very poor packing on the sellers part. Shipping the fish with 1" cube of mature media in the bag helps greatly with more sensitive species and is a benefit to all fish. I would only pay for express if I was buying a really sensitive fish or warm water fish.

Quarantining is not the sellers responsibility. Worming is the most common treatment. All I ask is that you only ship healthy stock. If something looks wrong with it don't ship. All my fish are quarantined, except a select few fish I buy from members of my local aquarium club.

 

[Saracirce]

I don't have the option to buy from an LFS where I'm situated at the moment (Rural area, no local petstore) and the only source I have is local fish keepers (which isn't many) and the high school that sell mostly the hardiest fish after finished with them for their aquaculture class. So buying online is a good option for me but it's the cost that gets me.

If you want to see what I consider a good online fish site, look at www.liveaquaria.com It's sponsored by Drs. Foster and Smith which is a very highly trusted and well known company (in America) that specializes in all things pets. It's also run by two veterinarians, hence the name. Even on the common, cheap freshwater fish, they give a live arrival gurantee and 14 day guarantee, meaning your fish won't die for at least two weeks with exception to new tank syndrome, bad water quality on your part, etc. On marine fish, they extend their guarantee to 30 days. Also, all the info you need to know on the fish is right there in the fish's 'profile' and it's extremely easy to navigate. Also, I can tell they know what they are doing by all the fish keeping articles on their site. It really makes it easy to find certain things and what not.

Honestly though, I would trust them more with marine stock then I would with freshwater without buying from them before hand. They quarantine their fish, especially wildcaught, for at least a couple weeks. Also, in diver's den, they actually show you the picture of the specimen you're buying so you know what you're getting. They keep the wildcaughts until they're eating well/doing well in a captive environment before putting them up for sale then on the species that can be harder, like frogfish, they say what the fish is eating. It's really a good site and I trust them at least somewhat without ever having bought from them.

 

[GAB99]

I don't have the option to buy from an LFS where I'm situated at the moment (Rural area, no local petstore) and the only source I have is local fish keepers (which isn't many) and the high school that sell mostly the hardiest fish after finished with them for their aquaculture class. So buying online is a good option for me but it's the cost that gets me.

If you want to see what I consider a good online fish site, look at www.liveaquaria.com It's sponsored by Drs. Foster and Smith which is a very highly trusted and well known company (in America) that specializes in all things pets. It's also run by two veterinarians, hence the name. Even on the common, cheap freshwater fish, they give a live arrival gurantee and 14 day guarantee, meaning your fish won't die for at least two weeks with exception to new tank syndrome, bad water quality on your part, etc. On marine fish, they extend their guarantee to 30 days. Also, all the info you need to know on the fish is right there in the fish's 'profile' and it's extremely easy to navigate. Also, I can tell they know what they are doing by all the fish keeping articles on their site. It really makes it easy to find certain things and what not.

Honestly though, I would trust them more with marine stock then I would with freshwater without buying from them before hand. They quarantine their fish, especially wildcaught, for at least a couple weeks. Also, in diver's den, they actually show you the picture of the specimen you're buying so you know what you're getting. They keep the wildcaughts until they're eating well/doing well in a captive environment before putting them up for sale then on the species that can be harder, like frogfish, they say what the fish is eating. It's really a good site and I trust them at least somewhat without ever having bought from them.

that is a good reference and so is Petsolutions.com

id definatley buy from you if you were like these sites and had lower shipping rates! and if you had chocolate chiclids.

you could also add that if the customer wants a certain gender that they call and say what they want or include it in the checkout.

 

[stiffler69]

That last bit sounds like you intend to become a trans-shipper, not an internet sales source Stiffler. You bring in fresh stock that someone has already ordered, hold it for a day or two of quick fix medication and ship it on to the ultimate buyer. The places where I actually have dealt are located where they can afford to run an outdoor pond. They single species stock the ponds and other containers with the hundreds of each species that they have imported, then quarantine the lot for a month or more of observation. At the end of that time, they are fairly confident that the fish they ship out are sound and disease free.

My LFS will custom order for me and I am back to buying locally. It is not the same as having a place I can rely on to screen the fish for health before I must try to have them survive. My purchases have been much better in terms of health and survival than the custom orders I have seen come into my LFS. The ones that someone orders get ordered from wholesalers in large enough numbers to justify holding a tank aside for them. The original person that wanted them gets a first chance at them because the shop has their name and phone on file. Then I walk in and say "Hey I have never seen one of those here before." and I buy some, take them home and have a fair fraction of them die. The reason is simple, the LFS has had them a whole day and has not quarantined them properly. They came in from a source the LFS has not necessarily dealt with before and they have no idea what to expect from that particular source. When they are dealing with their main stock in trade, things like guppies, platies, convicts, common plecs, rainbows, kribs, zebras, angels, cories and other bread and butter fish, they deal with the same supplier all the time and know who they can trust. When they get in a special order, it is often from an entirely different source, even if it through the same wholesaler. That means no reputation to protect and no repercussions if the stock is terrible quality. Sometimes they are fine fish and sometimes they are not.

The people that I deal with on the internet do have a reputation to protect and when people in a place like this ask where they can get good stock, I am likely to tell them my experiences, good or bad. I do not tell them about a dealer that I have not used for the fish they are seeking. That would be like telling them to go to my LFS and do a special order. Who knows what they might get? I have my own self respect and reputation to protect too. It is all I really own on line and I will not give it up for any reason that I can imagine.

Yeah i realised it sounded like that from the last post, but the last stock i had was with me a couple of months before i moved it on, i have a large fish room with some large holding tanks and i intend on moving into a premises where i can have alot more space, so with the intention to order stock in before the old stock has been sold, so what should happen is the new stock will stay in my holding tanks for atleast a month before it will be moved on this way it gives a good quarantine period so that any stock that maybe sick or weak can be dealt with before the customer get thems.

I really would not consider sending a fish out until i had held it more than a week, and would not order in fish what i could not allow adequate space for and keep stocking levels at a resonable amount.

Also alot of stock i would be selling will be from my own breeding stock and a friends breeding stock so these fish will have already been adequately monitored and treated for any diseases or infections.

But i couldnt possibly fill ponds its just far to cold in the uk for this and would cost far too much money in heating costs etc.

thanks for the feedback the site is up and running and slowly getting interest, hopefully after the new year i can move in a adequate premises and and get things up and running with larger stocks etc

 

[stiffler69]

bump/hump heads? i really want 2 of these but cant find them now
id like courteous CS and an arive alive gt

Do you mean blockhead cichlids? if so these are availible

 

[Knox213]

Stiffler will you be doing half moon betta's? by any chanch? if so i might need some in the future.

 

[AdamM]

can we get some sort of link? (pm me if this isnt allowed)