buying plants from the internet

[pcam86]

I was thinking about getting some plants from a site from the internet and was wondering if the plants would still get to me in good condition as opposed to getting them from an aquatic shop?

The reason i'm asking this is because some of the main plants i'd like aren't available in shops closeby so i didn't wanna have to wait for them to order them in.

 

[Angry_Platy]

Only order online if you are totally, absolutely desperate. My reasons for this are that you are not seeing the plants before they are shipped....they may be in bad condition and the transporting will make them even worse. Also, you have no control over which bunch is picked for you. Me, I am very picky with the plants I buy from the LFS. It drives them mad but quite frankly I don't care....a healthy plant in the store will do better after transplant etc. than a sick one.

THAT and the fact that during shipping they will be out of water at least overnight. I ordered my first lot of plants online....they were meant to be overnight shipping...leave on the Thursday arrive on the Friday. On the Thursday night however the plane that had the plants on board was delayed and the distribution truck didn't wait for it.....so my plants sat in a distribution centrefor the whole weekend (since the distribution truck didn't travel on Friday nights)....I was less than impressed. The only plant that survived until now was the Rotala reinickii.....

 

[newfishies]

it probably also depends on your lfs. i don't really trust mine, so i just ordered a bunch from aquariumplant.com and from aquabid. they haven't arrived yet, but will keep you posted!

 

[pcam86]

Ok i might just buy some and then at least that will make my mind up about internet buying.

Can anyone help with which plants are best to have (hardy and long lasting). Are there also any plants that are best for fry to hide in if they haven't been separated from the main tank?

 

[emo]

Only order online if you are totally, absolutely desperate. My reasons for this are that you are not seeing the plants before they are shipped....

Personally, I think some of the online aquatic plant retailers are excellent. I've only ever dealt with Greenline Aquatics (i'm not sure where you live... but they are UK) and I was overly impressed with the entire service.

The plants were extremely good value for money, all in excellent condition and continue to thrive. I did have a couple of small snails piggy-back in, but that could just as easily happen with plants at the LFS.

I don't belive you should limit yourself to only buying plants from your LFS. In my experience, the stock my LFS has is fairly limited, and way over priced.

As long as you read the details on the websites about the ordering and shipping dates, the plants won't be out of water longer than they can handle.

 

[MsDad]

I've bought online from three different companies lately. There's only one of them I'll recommend, but they will get ALL my business from now on. I won't say the names of the bad ones (and they are bad; all the plants from one died within 30 days and the one plant I bought from the other one is quite pitiful), but the one I will continue to buy from is freshwateraquariumplants.com. A couple of the plant species I ordered weren't up to their standards, so they sent them anyway, but added similar plants at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE! And ALL the plants (even the ones they were "ashamed" to sell) were incredible and are thriving!! I'll never buy plants anywhere else, even locally.

 

[squirrelrabbits]

I ordered some very nice plants recently from www.aquaticplantdepot.com. They were dirt cheap compared to my LFS--even with the shipping chrage. All items came well packaged and well marked in air sealed baggies via priority mail. The quality of plant was higher--for every single plant--than any of my three lfstores. The only problem was they were just a little bit slow...took them a week to fulfill the order. But the plants were gorgeous and they were very kind when I emailed and asked about shipping dates.

 

[gale]

Are you in the US or...somewhere else? I'm in the US and I've bought plants from two online sites. I have had no complaints at all. Just be sure you buy from a reputable site and you should be ok. btw one of my shipments was back in december when it was freezing cold out and I just chose regular priority (2-3 day) shipping and it was fine when I got it.

eta: just read the other posts. My lfs has NO live plants and rarely gets them in. I drove an hour to Petsmart to buy some and they looked awful so I passed and bought online. Even with the shipping charge it was well worth it.

 

[red-devil0602]

i use java plants online and all the plants i've had are fantastic.

 

[MsDad]

I ordered some very nice plants recently from www.aquaticplantdepot.com.

Actually, this is one of the companies I first ordered from, whose plants all died within the first 30 days. (I know, I wasn't going to mention names) I've since heard that some growers (don't know about these guys) grow many of their plants emerged, i.e., only the base/roots are in water and the rest is in the air. Then when they are fully submerged, either they lose all their emerged leaves before growing new, submerged ones or they just die altogether. To those of you with more plant experience than I have, is this true?? Or maybe I just got ahold of some bad specimens. At any rate, I'm glad yours turned out nice!

 

[newfishies]

it probably also depends on your lfs. i don't really trust mine, so i just ordered a bunch from aquariumplant.com and from aquabid. they haven't arrived yet, but will keep you posted!

well, my plants from aquariumplant.com came in and they were great. the customer service answered my questions, but it did take several days to get back to me.

i ordered a HUGE box of plants from aquabid for $40. i had to wait several weeks for the seller to get back to me (i guess he was out of town), but the plants look awesome.

being a newbie to plants, i can't tell you much more than that, but so far i am satisfied!!