Better to buy fish online or at LFS?

that was one of my worries with buying my firefish online. I had never seen this fish in person and was worried that once i do see it in person i wouldn't like it as much in person as i did online/video. I also haven't seen the bsjf or the wrasse in person either but like them both online. i have seen the cardinal in person, don't care for it, but i have to get it cause my mom wants it :

 

I am leary of buying fish online. I have ordered pumps, additives, etc. on line but would rather see my fish in person. None of the LFS around me offer any kind of guarantee on any livestock for SW but would perfer to see what im getting.

 

I'd buy the fish locally. Especially with that huge price difference. Your 5 day guarantee is much better than the guarantees most LFSs offer. Cheaper, you can pick out the exact one you want, you can watch it eat, you don't have wait for a package to arrive.

 

yea the package part is a killer especially with making sure someone is home

 

My lfs would be double the prices that i listed.....at least double, i dont mind taking my chances to save that much money

 

yea, crazy amount of price difference. Glad it's the opposite case for me

 

I prefer to buy fish at one of my LFS ive got a blue spotted jawfish on order myself for 65.00 and nobody says i cant let it sit in his tank for a week or more and make sure hes gonna eat and be healthy lol

 

Blue spotted jawfish for the most part all look the same. Except for size I would say that's a fairly safe fish to buy online.

 

Yep, and I do order on line as well.

When we have as good of a LFS as I have, I try to order from the LFS as they are almost always around the same $$ as online, with no shipping.

 

Depends, do you have a quality lfs near you. If so go get it from there because you know they have good fish and trust them. Now if you have a crappy lfs that sells people anything regardless and is only worried about making money then go to liveaquaria. I would order from them,only done it once and the results were good. But I also have the luxury of 3 very good lfs within 2 miles of me. Only reason I order from online is due to somethign beign way cheaper from there. Best of luck and just make a good decesion!