Buying Fish Online

[dh058977]

Hi All,

Just wondering what people’s opinions/experiences are of buying fish online? I do have one or two LFS but their stock never seems to be that great and working 6 days a week I find it hard getting to those further away (going to a fish shop on my day off wouldn’t sit right with the Mrs!)

I currently have a Malawi setup and a community tank. I have seen some lovely looking fish online, including some beautiful guppies that I don’t think I could get locally. However, I’m worried about a few things -

1. The high postage costs would make be buy more fish in one go to justify the cost and I don’t like adding loads in one go (apart from small groups of Malawi’s)
2. The fish won’t survive the Journey or will have problems due to the stress of the journey.
3. The fish won’t be anything like those in the images.

Any advice much appreciated!

 

[jojouk]

What web-sites have you been looking at? I am interested too...

Where did you see the guppies?

 

[dh058977]

What web-sites have you been looking at? I am interested too...

Where did you see the guppies?

Hi, not sure if im allowed to post links to sites? but ive been looking at a few plus some sellers on ebay.

 

[CezzaXV]

I would personally do your best to get to a shop on your day off. Although fish are posted all the time, I don't imagine it's a very fun experience for the fish and I'd avoid it wherever possible.

If you had a specific species in mind, have you considered asking your LFS to get some in?

 

[zuulan]

+1 on CezzaXV comments

 

[ApistoNut]

people who post fish use certain methods such as calming tabs and using pure oxygen to fill the bags, they are allways posted next day delivery so they are just like being turned off for a bit longer. i do admit postage is expensive but if your looking for certain speices and your LFS cant get them then its worth it. I would get more tho to make up for postage, you can usually get 15-20 small fish in one post and are all protected with DOA's

 

[fishyfeet]

to be honest i cant buy any of my fish locally anywhere near the quality and variety i can get online, and you know out of prob 20 deliverys ive no fatalities, if you want a good online seller and he does sell on ebay but privately as well, i got some ottos, 3 types of apistos, and some rare charicens, i will pm you a link to his site, i sware the fish from him were in better condition than my lfs. di

 

[ApistoNut]

the good thing about buying from breeders is that they actualy look after there fish not like some LFS. it is there job and passion to making sure there fish strive and carry on the strain they created

 

[dh058977]

Thanks fishyfeet, I guess that was the point I was trying to make - If the real things live up to the photos then they are 10x better than anything in my local shops.

 

[Tizer]

I dont buy any fish from shops anymore, not that i can fit any more in my tank! They all come from private breeders, some of which use eBay and i can highly recommend a few of them. Postage is not an issue for fish as far as im concerned, they ship them in from all over the world in bags/boxes which can take days. So an over night delivery in my eyes isnt really that stressful. You can find quite a few good deals starting at 99p on eBay, some of which stay below £5. So taking that into account, you could get half a dozen wild imports for £15....

 

[fishyfeet]

this guy is a guenuine breeder i used to buy fish from him on a forum and i think due to the job market he has decided to increase his number cos he has a lot more choice now, he will give unlimited advice too.
His fish are stunning, dont forget when you get them they will be less colourful, the traveling will undoubtably caused some stress no matter how careful they are, so a quite, easy, dark will a few extra minutes acclimatising them and they will hide for a few days, i leave the lights off all day once i added new fish.

He sends about 5 bags with 4 or 5 fish in each for £12.00 i think thats pretty good.

i had 5 charicens, 5 ottos, 3 lots of chichlids, two or three in each bag and delivery was £12.

i think the lots cost me £25. Think of petrol costs too, ive got to go a long way for the choice of fish, and they are same price or more than he charges. Plus you can get good deals bidding on ebay.