I am so mad at SWF.com

[seatrueblue]

I really hope most people stay far away from this website. I recently ordered two pearly jawfish from them. I heard good things about them before I ordered. I knew I should have done more research. Ordered april 28th, they shipped may 2nd and were here on wednesday may 3rd. I am pretty sure the one of them died on the first night. We saw him all day on wednesday and it was doing ok. I even saw it eat food but the next day I saw no sign of him. We couldn't take it anymore and decided we'll take apart the tank friday night. We found what was left of him under live rock I guess the hermet crab was eating him. The other fish was still eating so I thought ok maybe this was will be alright. Nope ..it just died today at 10:50 am. I am so angry with saltwaterfish.com ..I know I won't get my money back because they ask you to send the dead bodies back. The fish only cost $15 dollars each..it will cost me even more than that to send them back. Well the corals that I ordered from them seem to be ok but I am never buying fish from that piece of site again.

[reeffreak]

Thanks for the info Seatrueblue,I considered ordering from them since I visit there message boards on occasions.They hardly have anything in stock and I question there free shipping policy for purchases over $79.I mean,9.99 processing fee and 9.99 fuel surcharge fee.Whats free about that,$20 dollars is still a good shipping charge but lets be honest here,20 bucks does not mean free.I also visit there site and can't find a contact number,When making an order I like to talk to someone on the phone not through email.I hear others had good results ordering from them.I'll stick to Liveaquaria.com and Blue Zoo Aquatics who I'm comfortable with.You said that you had to ship the dead specimen back,wow......even a picture wouldn't do.When my peppermint shrimps died I called Livequaria customer service,they remove the charge for the dead shrimps promptly,no pictures,no questions,no sending the dead specimens back.Thanks for the info.

[yote]

Ive read on SWF.coms boards where alot of their members get mad cause they either dont have what the customer wants,or they get it dead,and have trouble getting a replacment,or there money back.

[seatrueblue]

Yeah I did look at that and thought..well thats not free shipping at all. I don't mind paying for the shipping as long as I know that I'll get good livestock. They don't even give you the option to pay for the shipping at SWF.com. I trust liveaquaria though..only went with saltwater.com because liveaquaria didn't have the pearly jawfish in stock. I soo should have waited for liveaquaria I have ordered stuff from them before and I got more than what I paid for. few extra snails, hermit crabs, 1 free baby devils hand coral. So they have definately have earned some points with me.

[jermpool]

Thats why you should support your local fish store.

[AndyB4784]

I've never heard anything good about them. I also know of several people who were banned for voicing concerns about their tank size recommendations as well as gripes with their return policy.

Just a quick link to what I was talking about...
Blue Hippo Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)

Super irresponsible to suggest that a hippo tank can be kept in a 40g tank. There are lots of online retailers that are guilty of this though. Dr. Fosters and Smith comes to mind.....

[reeffreak]

I've been on there message board.When someone has a legitimate complaint and post a thread about it because they haven't been able to contact consumer service its quickly removed from the site.

Andy a Hippo in a 40gal. huh...here I thought my 75gal. was to small for a tang.I guess I was wrong...NOT!!!

[seatrueblue]

Originally Posted by AndyB4784

I've never heard anything good about them. I also know of several people who were banned for voicing concerns about their tank size recommendations as well as gripes with their return policy.

Just a quick link to what I was talking about...
Blue Hippo Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus)

Super irresponsible to suggest that a hippo tank can be kept in a 40g tank. There are lots of online retailers that are guilty of this though. Dr. Fosters and Smith comes to mind.....

OMG I didn't notice that on swf.com..40 gallons for a tang that size is way too small. Yes, liveaquaria says 70 gallons as a mim it should say 100 gal.I still trust liveaquaria way more than SWF.com. I have a 120 and I still don't think its big enough for one of those tangs. If my LFS has the fish I want, I would most definately buy from them first. Unfortunately this is not the case in San Marcos Texas. There is only two fish stores here one is called the critter shop and the other is Aanimal wonders(thats how you spell it). I can only trust Aanimal wonders their shop is always clean and have healthy nice fish. We also personally know the store owner, he was the one that helped us start out our 120 six months ago. His shop is small so its not often his tanks are full of fish. The critter shop is horrible, it stinks,its filthy and their marine fish all look sick. It some times takes Aanimal wonders months.. like 4 months or so, for them to get a new shipment of fish and he doesn't always remember what I have asked for. So rather than waiting another 4 or 8 months for his next shipment, I went online. Big mistake!

[seatrueblue]

I think I know what the problems were..
1. they shipped me very small jawfish
2. they shipped the fish in clear bags< very bad after the fish have been in complete darkness durring shipment.
3. the packing material was just a paper towel stuffed inbetween the bags.

I noticed when ever I got a shipment of snails and hermits from liveaquaria. Everything was packed well. with package peanuts, it had a heater pad because they were shipped when it was cold, All live stock was shipped with a light gaurd bags ..you know..the bottom half of the bags are colored in to keep the livestock from getting shocked of the bright light after you open the cooler they were shipped in.

That is one of the first things I noticed after I opened the cooler. I looked at the clear bag and thought maybe this is a coral...No it was the fish..that probably stressed them totally out.