bp908
New Member
As I am nearly finished stocking up my Reefer 525 with primarily wrasses over the past 3 months, I figured it would make sense to compare my experience at various vendors for folks looking at the many options to stock their tanks. After buying 22 fish, my stats are below in terms of success. Note that my latest fish has only been in my DT 2 weeks, with the rest being 1 month+ at this point and well settled in.
Overall - 14/22 in my DT for an overall success rate of 64%
LFS that quarantines (2 weeks copper/metro/prazi, not to an ideal Humblefish or similar standard) - 7 fish purchased, all living (100% success).
Saltwaterfish.com (Performed a ~30 day quarantine myself) - 7 fish purchased, 1 DOA shortly after arrival. 2 fish perished 21+ days after arrival but both instances I would not blame the vendor. My Labout's wrasse purchased here arrived in great shape but died after about 4 weeks and either had a spinal injury or the dreaded UNWD. Overall 4 of the 7 fish (57%) are now living in my DT.
Liveaquaria Divers Den (Performed a ~30 day quarantine myself) - 1 fish purchased, living
Dr Reef - 7 fish purchased. 4 were purchased initially, 3 of which arrived in rough shape and died within 1-4 days. Replacements were sent for all 3 free of charge, 2 of which perished. In total only 2 (29%) fish have successfully settled into my DT with this vendor.
My preferred online vendor of the 3 above is surprisingly Saltwaterfish.com. All of my fish from them arrived in good health, save 1 who mysteriously died about 12 hours after arrival, and were packaged extremely well. Many of my purchases from this vendor were fairy wrasses who are sensitive shippers. For my one fish that perished within their 8 day guarantee they were quick to issue credit.
Dr Reef responds to emails right away, and I fully support his mission. His DOA policy is also the only one I know of that includes shipping for a replacement fish. He was also generous with crediting me for a fish that was just outside of the 3 day window per their policy. I should also mention some of the fish I purchased through Dr Reef are known to be sensitive shippers like a leopard wrasse. All of this being said, I will not be using this vendor going forward. The fish nearly always arrived in very rough shape, laying on their sides (and none of my shipments arrived late). The water in the bags was always dirty - presumably from waste from the fish but this is something I did not experience with any other vendor. Some of the fish were also in very small bags that the other vendors did not use, and these fish always perished.
Going forward, I will likely solely use my LFS and would recommend folks work on building a relationship with a trusted LFS vs going online. I've learned that buying fish online is one of the few things that, while may initially look more convenient/easy online, is much better done through a local vendor if possible, so they can deal with the mortalities and unhealthy fish prior to getting to the customer. If you do buy online, be prepared for fish deaths, potentially a lot. It shouldn't, but even new fish that I receive who die always gives me a bad day. Even more so when I've had the fish and QT'd it for a month.
Overall - 14/22 in my DT for an overall success rate of 64%
LFS that quarantines (2 weeks copper/metro/prazi, not to an ideal Humblefish or similar standard) - 7 fish purchased, all living (100% success).
Saltwaterfish.com (Performed a ~30 day quarantine myself) - 7 fish purchased, 1 DOA shortly after arrival. 2 fish perished 21+ days after arrival but both instances I would not blame the vendor. My Labout's wrasse purchased here arrived in great shape but died after about 4 weeks and either had a spinal injury or the dreaded UNWD. Overall 4 of the 7 fish (57%) are now living in my DT.
Liveaquaria Divers Den (Performed a ~30 day quarantine myself) - 1 fish purchased, living
Dr Reef - 7 fish purchased. 4 were purchased initially, 3 of which arrived in rough shape and died within 1-4 days. Replacements were sent for all 3 free of charge, 2 of which perished. In total only 2 (29%) fish have successfully settled into my DT with this vendor.
My preferred online vendor of the 3 above is surprisingly Saltwaterfish.com. All of my fish from them arrived in good health, save 1 who mysteriously died about 12 hours after arrival, and were packaged extremely well. Many of my purchases from this vendor were fairy wrasses who are sensitive shippers. For my one fish that perished within their 8 day guarantee they were quick to issue credit.
Dr Reef responds to emails right away, and I fully support his mission. His DOA policy is also the only one I know of that includes shipping for a replacement fish. He was also generous with crediting me for a fish that was just outside of the 3 day window per their policy. I should also mention some of the fish I purchased through Dr Reef are known to be sensitive shippers like a leopard wrasse. All of this being said, I will not be using this vendor going forward. The fish nearly always arrived in very rough shape, laying on their sides (and none of my shipments arrived late). The water in the bags was always dirty - presumably from waste from the fish but this is something I did not experience with any other vendor. Some of the fish were also in very small bags that the other vendors did not use, and these fish always perished.
Going forward, I will likely solely use my LFS and would recommend folks work on building a relationship with a trusted LFS vs going online. I've learned that buying fish online is one of the few things that, while may initially look more convenient/easy online, is much better done through a local vendor if possible, so they can deal with the mortalities and unhealthy fish prior to getting to the customer. If you do buy online, be prepared for fish deaths, potentially a lot. It shouldn't, but even new fish that I receive who die always gives me a bad day. Even more so when I've had the fish and QT'd it for a month.
