Ordering online or shopping at LFS?
- Thread starter Ange
- Start date
d2mini
Reef enthusiast
There's the Diver's Den at liveaquaria.com where the pics are of exactly what you are getting.
But I've never bought livestock online, only local.
We have several decent LFS to choose from around here.
Dry goods on the other hand I buy online, especially the bigger ticket items.
But I've never bought livestock online, only local.
We have several decent LFS to choose from around here.
Dry goods on the other hand I buy online, especially the bigger ticket items.
yote
In Memoriam
+1 Dennis
I prefer to buy livestock from the LFS.That way I can see it and inspect it before my money changes hands.
But on the same token,your usually better to buy lights,skimmers,and other hardware online.
I prefer to buy livestock from the LFS.That way I can see it and inspect it before my money changes hands.
But on the same token,your usually better to buy lights,skimmers,and other hardware online.
BL1
.............
I like to support my LFS (it's a family owned business), I try to buy everything from them. But, when there's something that the LFS doesn't carry I will/have bought it online. I've bought corals, inverts, and fish from the divers den, I like them because all of their livestock is quarantined and observed for at least a month before they sell it plus, like Dennis said, you can see exactly what you are buying. Any time I buy online I only order from sites that offer WYSIWYG.
BL1
.............
I'm in Fayetteville now, unfortunatey
Hiker4twenty
Reef enthusiast
I do both. I've ordered from several online retailers and from several LFS's. I order online mostly because they LFS just don't have what I want . Just do you research and order from a reputable dealer and you'll be fine.
OhNoNemo
i love triggers
Did my very first online order from Petco and was very happy....i'd do it again....,but mainly because my local LFS just recently closed their doors after 30 + years :(
Zissou
What about my dynamite?
I've ordered from three retailers so far. Anchorage is currently down to one locally owned LFS (which rocks btw) and two petcos. I try to buy my stuff from the LFS whenever I can, but some things are just too expensive and/or unavailable.
My most recent purchase was through blue zoo aquatics; a yellow tang and some blue zoanthids. The packing was excellent, although the zoanthids were out of water (bag broke?) and the tang was much larger than I ordered. (Ordered a 'tiny' tang, 1-1.5", and the one that arrived is 3"). However, he's in excellent health, very vivid yellow and flawless fins. The zoanthids came with a anemone looking hitchhiker, haven't gotten a good glimpse of it yet but I don't think it's a pest.
I also ordered a clean up crew from reefcleaners.org, and was very impressed. I can't recommend them highly enough, they have the best snails for the money, hands down. And they ship priority mail (I live in Alaska, and despite the few days in a shipping bag, 99% of the snails made the trip perfectly fine).
My experience with my Diver's Den stuff wasn't pleasant. I lost an entire colony of pink ray zoanthids, and the box I received was beat up, probably thrown around by the guys at UPS. The shipping bag was cloudy and filled with debris. I can't say any of this is the Diver's Den fault, I didn't do their live arrival guarantee because everything was alive, it just melted away. I kept holding on to the hope that some of the zoanthids would pull through, but despite coral dips and trying different locations in the tank, they vanished over the course of a couple weeks. There were some green zoanthids on the same rock that are thriving just fine, so I don't know why the pink ones melted away. However, the pink rays is what I bought the rock for, otherwise it was $188 down the drain. The rock also had several small aiptasia on it.
Anyway, I'd rather buy from the LFS so I can see first hand what I'm getting, but WYSIWYG is awesome as well, especially when I can't find many of the prettier corals here. :Cheers:
My most recent purchase was through blue zoo aquatics; a yellow tang and some blue zoanthids. The packing was excellent, although the zoanthids were out of water (bag broke?) and the tang was much larger than I ordered. (Ordered a 'tiny' tang, 1-1.5", and the one that arrived is 3"). However, he's in excellent health, very vivid yellow and flawless fins. The zoanthids came with a anemone looking hitchhiker, haven't gotten a good glimpse of it yet but I don't think it's a pest.
I also ordered a clean up crew from reefcleaners.org, and was very impressed. I can't recommend them highly enough, they have the best snails for the money, hands down. And they ship priority mail (I live in Alaska, and despite the few days in a shipping bag, 99% of the snails made the trip perfectly fine).
My experience with my Diver's Den stuff wasn't pleasant. I lost an entire colony of pink ray zoanthids, and the box I received was beat up, probably thrown around by the guys at UPS. The shipping bag was cloudy and filled with debris. I can't say any of this is the Diver's Den fault, I didn't do their live arrival guarantee because everything was alive, it just melted away. I kept holding on to the hope that some of the zoanthids would pull through, but despite coral dips and trying different locations in the tank, they vanished over the course of a couple weeks. There were some green zoanthids on the same rock that are thriving just fine, so I don't know why the pink ones melted away. However, the pink rays is what I bought the rock for, otherwise it was $188 down the drain. The rock also had several small aiptasia on it.
Anyway, I'd rather buy from the LFS so I can see first hand what I'm getting, but WYSIWYG is awesome as well, especially when I can't find many of the prettier corals here. :Cheers:
