liveaquaria.com and Mail-order sites in general

T

tmnterminator

Medium Fish
#1
Oct 29, 2005
66
0
0
#1
I knwo this is a ways away for me since Im still setting up shop, but I was curious about this site and mail ordering LR, coral, fish, etc. in general...

Has anyone here ordered form them before. Is it worth it considering you dont see the animal, LR, etc. yet still pay at least $29 in s/h? More than anything I guess Im thinking about the fish, as LR seems like a great deal, even when compared to my LFS. The price in shipping alone can be the price for fish itself at a LFS, if not a sizable amount of the the total. Tack on the price of the actual fish and it seems like you'd be better off just at your LFS. I guess for exoctics and hard-to-find fish it seems worth it, but what about "reg" fish? Thnx.
 

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CAPSLOCK

CAPSLOCK

Elite Fish
#3
Jul 19, 2004
3,682
33
48
39
Cape Cod
#3
For regular fish that are available locally, I don't know why you'd want to pay the shipping. For exotic fish, I think they're probably okay... they have a 2 week guarantee (minus shipping), which is better than any stores around me. If the prices are cheaper, it's probably worth shipping if you get 2-3 fish for the one shipping charge.
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#5
Oct 22, 2002
4,077
3
0
#5
can be good, can be bad. Certainly it can be worth buying rock this way, stuff you don't see locally.

I would feel bad mail ordering something that had a difficult reputation if it got to my tank and died. You have no idea if it's the extra stress of more travel that's finished it off, especially stuff like anthias, butterflies and things that are very demanding of O2 content. I would not be comfortable calling ni my 2 week guarantee then - you know it's a crap shoot before you start.

I'm also never super comfortable with newbies ordering stuffthey haven't seen, and have no option to return
 

T

tmnterminator

Medium Fish
#6
Oct 29, 2005
66
0
0
#6
Yea well, thats whay I figured. Again, I know its down the road for me but since I was looking at potential equipement to get on their site (drfossmith) and just came across this site, Icouldn't belive what I was seeing. Again, for the shipping fee alone, you could get a a very decnet fish at my LFS. However, the LR seems to be a fantastic deal, considering at my LFS it was cost to me an arm and leg to get about of HALF of what I can through the site, even including the high shipping cost (i think its around $50 or so)...
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#7
Oct 22, 2002
5,862
2
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42
San Ramon, CA
#7
i did buy my rock that way and it worked out very well for me...very pleased with that. i also bought a couple corals and a fish from them (the corals because my LFS couldn't get them and the fish just to see how it went) and that went very smoothly as well. i do tend to not order fish online but i think coral and definitely live rock are safe bets. as far as equipment, make sure you shop around because the docs don't always have the best deal in town

you can try www.marinedepot.com and also www.marineandreef.com these are both places i have ordered from with no problems
 

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