Buying Fish from LiveAquaria

[Rrwilson1223]

I just recently (7/5) purchased 4 leopard wrasses from @LiveAquaria and was wondering what everyone's experience has been with them..

I've heard that they drop ship the non-Diver's Den fish from wholesalers at a lower salinity. However, aside from that, they are a question mark to me as a first time buyer. Seems reviews on here are a little mixed. Mostly just looking for people's experience but if anyone knows the answers to the below questions, it would be really helpful.

Does anyone know what the shipping schedule is like with COVID? I sent a message to their customer service and haven't heard anything. The site said that they were sending them tomorrow but I've never seen a tracking email. Are they really delayed with their order fulfillment?

Does anyone know how long fish remain with their wholesalers before being put on the site? What do they feed them in the interim?

 

[zapbap99]

i think its overpriced lol

 

[BobT]

I've been too afraid of livestock loss to order fish by mail . . .

 

[DothanReefer]

I just recently (7/5) purchased 4 leopard wrasses from @LiveAquaria and was wondering what everyone's experience has been with them..

I've heard that they drop ship the non-Diver's Den fish from wholesalers at a lower salinity. However, aside from that, they are a question mark to me as a first time buyer. Seems reviews on here are a little mixed. Mostly just looking for people's experience but if anyone knows the answers to the below questions, it would be really helpful.

Does anyone know what the shipping schedule is like with COVID? I sent a message to their customer service and haven't heard anything. The site said that they were sending them tomorrow but I've never seen a tracking email. Are they really delayed with their order fulfillment?

Does anyone know how long fish remain with their wholesalers before being put on the site? What do they feed them in the interim?

i ordered 4 fish from them last week. all arrived on time. you'll probably get a shipment tracking email this afternoon around 5pm CST. they ship from California, Wisconsin and Florida - depending on what you are buying...

all my fish are healthy too - thank goodness. got a hippo that took a day or two get off her side and start swimming around in QT. she's up and swimming and eating now. looks great!

Good luck with the wrasse!

 

[DothanReefer]

i ordered 4 fish from them last week. all arrived on time. you'll probably get a shipment tracking email this afternoon around 5pm CST. they ship from California, Wisconsin and Florida - depending on what you are buying...

all my fish are healthy too - thank goodness. got a hippo that took a day or two get off her side and start swimming around in QT. she's up and swimming and eating now. looks great!

Good luck with the wrasse!

i'll add that i am NOT implying that all their fish are QT'd and healthy....ALWAYS do your own QT. I've gotten sick fish from them in the past - or at least fish that didn't survive the 14day guarantee. allways do your own quarantine!!!!! always. Corals, inverts, fish, anything wet. QT.

 

[Rrwilson1223]

i think its overpriced lol

Sadly, all of the LFS around me are a bit pricey. So the prices on the site weren't too shocking.. DD on the other hand, that was a bit more than I was expecting..

 

[Mydoghasfleas]

I received two clownfish recently. No delay in shipping, and they arrived healthy!

 

[Dgomez10]

I just recently (7/5) purchased 4 leopard wrasses from @LiveAquaria and was wondering what everyone's experience has been with them..

I've heard that they drop ship the non-Diver's Den fish from wholesalers at a lower salinity. However, aside from that, they are a question mark to me as a first time buyer. Seems reviews on here are a little mixed. Mostly just looking for people's experience but if anyone knows the answers to the below questions, it would be really helpful.

Does anyone know what the shipping schedule is like with COVID? I sent a message to their customer service and haven't heard anything. The site said that they were sending them tomorrow but I've never seen a tracking email. Are they really delayed with their order fulfillment?

Does anyone know how long fish remain with their wholesalers before being put on the site? What do they feed them in the interim?

I just ordered a ruby red wrasse.Personally I think the shipping is well. Salinity in the water was a little lower than normal. But fish were healthy and active. Shipping took a few day’s. I ordered on a Saturday and it shipped by the following Wednesday and I received them Thursday.
As for the handling before LiveAquaria. No idea. But I have had success with them before and then seem pretty trust worthy.

good luck! I hope it all works out

 

[Miller535]

I just recently (7/5) purchased 4 leopard wrasses from @LiveAquaria and was wondering what everyone's experience has been with them..

I've heard that they drop ship the non-Diver's Den fish from wholesalers at a lower salinity. However, aside from that, they are a question mark to me as a first time buyer. Seems reviews on here are a little mixed. Mostly just looking for people's experience but if anyone knows the answers to the below questions, it would be really helpful.

Does anyone know what the shipping schedule is like with COVID? I sent a message to their customer service and haven't heard anything. The site said that they were sending them tomorrow but I've never seen a tracking email. Are they really delayed with their order fulfillment?

Does anyone know how long fish remain with their wholesalers before being put on the site? What do they feed them in the interim?

I have ordered from them multiple times during covid. No problems. The night they ship you get an email with a tracking number for UPS. For me it has been between 7-9pm when I get that email (I live in Pa). The Tracking usually says something like guaranteed delivery by (insert some time here).

They do ship their fish at a really low salinity. Like between 1.020-1.022. Then oddly they ship their corals at like 1.028.

But I have had positive experience with them.

 

[Conrad Noto]

I got order from them this morning and an order 2 weeks ago, both arrived on time.

 

[ca1ore]

I've heard that they drop ship the non-Diver's Den fish from wholesalers at a lower salinity.

Regular LA (excluding DD and ORA) are essentially an order taking entity for Quality Marine. AFAIK, all LA fish come from QM at a salinity of about 1.018. Low salinity is a very common practice - saves on salt and perhaps easier on the fish.

Does anyone know what the shipping schedule is like with COVID?

Largely unaffected at this point.

Does anyone know how long fish remain with their wholesalers before being put on the site? What do they feed them in the interim?

No prescribed time. Some fish may have been there for a day, others for a few weeks. I do not know what they feed specifically.

 

[cmoore806]

Ive purchased from Live Aquaria exclusively because over the last three months I've just started in saltwater fish I haven't been able to find the specific fish I want locally. There were close substitutes but not EXACTLY what I wanted.

The fish that come from the California facility are at a lower salinity. I setup my QT at 1.020 and checked the bag on arrival. It was 1.018 so I did a water change to get it to 1.018. I now measure salinity in ppt because I've found it easier to not be concerned about specific gravity being effected by temperature differences. I lost a nice purple firefish before realizing I need to measure salinity of the incoming bag. LA refunded my money completely. I accepted responsibility but they said they'd give me a refund since dead same day it was received. Also, their acclimation instructions said nothing about the need to check salinity so for a newbie like myself I missed this important step.

The fish have all been healthy, shipping never an issue. They ship them Monday through Wednesday. In my experience fish have been ordered on a Friday or weekend and get shipped Monday night and show up Tuesday morning (from California or Wisconsin facility) before 11am. floated bags for temp acclimation and followed their website instructions for acclimation. never a problem.

 

[HighChiefKC]

Every fish I look for is out of stock!

 

[Rrwilson1223]

Every fish I look for is out of stock!

I know the feeling! I lucked out. The leopards were available for a short time so I made an impulse buy!

 

[Rrwilson1223]

Interesting info from a LiveAquaria customer service rep that goes contrary to what I’ve been told by others

“We do not have exact hold times on the specimen(s) as they are in a holding unit, all specimen(s) are held at least 14 days for the quarantine process.”

This was in response to my question about how long the leopard wrasses I purchased were at their facility. Or what the avg turnaround time was for them...

I’m still going to prepare as though these fish were shipped in the past few days without qt.

 

[Rrwilson1223]

Received the package and unfortunately, 2 of the 4 were DOA. One was completely dead and the other was barely holding on. Swimming upside down in small amount of remaining energy it had.

The other 2 are in my QT set up. Seem to be ok. I’ve got the tank set up with both a light and dark corner. Both seem to prefer the light side. Threw some Mysis in there to see if they would eat. So far, they are just picking at some and spitting them out. Will see if they hunt for any pods later.

Submitted a claim with @LiveAquaria and hoping for replacement wrasses.

 

[User1]

I just recently (7/5) purchased 4 leopard wrasses from @LiveAquaria and was wondering what everyone's experience has been with them..

I've heard that they drop ship the non-Diver's Den fish from wholesalers at a lower salinity. However, aside from that, they are a question mark to me as a first time buyer. Seems reviews on here are a little mixed. Mostly just looking for people's experience but if anyone knows the answers to the below questions, it would be really helpful.

Does anyone know what the shipping schedule is like with COVID? I sent a message to their customer service and haven't heard anything. The site said that they were sending them tomorrow but I've never seen a tracking email. Are they really delayed with their order fulfillment?

Does anyone know how long fish remain with their wholesalers before being put on the site? What do they feed them in the interim?

My kids purchased a Copperband for me on Father's Day from them. It arrived on time, well boxed, blacked out lower half of bag, cold packs, and healthy. However, it has lymphocystis. It isn't life threatening but unfortunate never the less. Because in my opinion these butterflies are a bit of a challenge to eat and mine is young (small) I went ahead and did a 15 minute Methylene Blue freshwater dip and placed it into my display anyway. Since lymphocystis isn't going to cause issues with my other fish and I wanted the copperband to eat that was my best option (my opinion). Anyway it is doing great and I couldn't be happier.

I've also personally ordered a Lt. tang, Scopas Tang, and a Lavender Tang all from them. Each arrived in perfect condition. I had one bad shipment with a purple tang for which they credited my account the next day. My daughter has ordered freshwater fish with low success so goes to LFS only now.

TL; DR - good success. Always arrives first thing in the morning (before 1030 AM). Low mortality rate.

 

[Rrwilson1223]

My kids purchased a Copperband for me on Father's Day from them. It arrived on time, well boxed, blacked out lower half of bag, cold packs, and healthy. However, it has lymphocystis. It isn't life threatening but unfortunate never the less. Because in my opinion these butterflies are a bit of a challenge to eat and mine is young (small) I went ahead and did a 15 minute Methylene Blue freshwater dip and placed it into my display anyway. Since lymphocystis isn't going to cause issues with my other fish and I wanted the copperband to eat that was my best option (my opinion). Anyway it is doing great and I couldn't be happier.

I've also personally ordered a Lt. tang, Scopas Tang, and a Lavender Tang all from them. Each arrived in perfect condition. I had one bad shipment with a purple tang for which they credited my account the next day. My daughter has ordered freshwater fish with low success so goes to LFS only now.

TL; DR - good success. Always arrives first thing in the morning (before 1030 AM). Low mortality rate.

I've heard good things about LA on here and was hopeful. Unfortunately, 2/4 wrasses were dead on arrival. I put in the claim and am awaiting a response. The other 2 seem to be good.

 

[piranhaman00]

I received 4 orders since covid with no deaths and very healthy fish very happy

 

[ca1ore]

Interesting info from a LiveAquaria customer service rep that goes contrary to what I’ve been told by others

“We do not have exact hold times on the specimen(s) as they are in a holding unit, all specimen(s) are held at least 14 days for the quarantine process.”

This was in response to my question about how long the leopard wrasses I purchased were at their facility. Or what the avg turnaround time was for them...

I’m still going to prepare as though these fish were shipped in the past few days without qt.

I think somebody confused ‘regular’ LA with Divers Den.