Pros and Cons of Online Buying

I buy fish from my LFS and coral off the net.

Reason being is that my LFS frag tanks are chock full of GHA, aptaisa, and who knows what else. I don't want that crap in my tank.

I stick to online coral stores that have been used and recommended by 3reefers.


My LFS's fish (same LFS as above) have all been healthy and are obviously WYSIWYG. I always try to find the smallest specifmen of a fish I can find so it can "grow up" in my tank. Can't really do that online.

 

I buy everything from the LFS except for bulbs and anything else the LFS doesn't have. I believe that supporting the local guys will save you eventually. I like to watch the lfs handle my new addition so I know for sure what i am getting. I really like the instant gratification from buying now.

 

The only thing's I get online are chemicals, pumps, and equipment. There's no way I'm spending the shipping costs on corals I can almost always find locally for cheaper, but then again we have quite a few reefers here so I guess I am lucky.

 

I have purchased Livestock From Fosters and Smith Liveaquaria and I was really satisfied . The shipping is expensive so I have combined orders with a friend of mine and we split the shipping to offset the cost. I have the same problem that someone else had mentioned the LFS near me all seem to be going through an algae bloom at the same time I have been seeing it more and more so If I can get something that arrives clean from a big online place I will take it . I by almost all the Non-livestock stuff I need online it is just so much cheaper. I have even had success with a person from e-bay so I guess it is worth a try if you haven't tried yet.

 

If you're buying a clean up crew I think Online is the only way to go. If it's too cold that week just wait or maybe buy just a few at the store if you have to have them right away.
My stores are just way way too expensive relatively for cerith, small blue leg hermits ect.... also you can't get everything you want at the stores sometimes... Like a fuzzy chiton from reefcleaners.org. That guy mows down algae like crazy. You may or may not have a few losses in shipping but they work with you and I've been happy.

For fish I prefer the stores although I have been happy with pieceofthereef on ebay. For generic type fish like green chromis, royal gramma... they are very rarely much different from fish to fish. More specialized fish or fish that vary a lot in color I like to actually see the fish for the color and the exact size. But... if you're ordering a bunch of fish the price online may trump all that.
Every fish I bought online arrived alive and lived a little while then died... not saying it was cuz they were online fish.. It could have been my tank being too new. I'm not sure.

 

UMMMM NO

That's not how it works. Most online retailers don't have a drop of water in their care.

They collect orders through the day, put an order in for the jobbers at the trans-shippers a couple times a day. These fish have just arrived on a plane, are given a waterchange and are re-oxed, then they are put right back on a plane to your home town.

They've never seen your fish, whether it's eating, whether it's covered with ich, etc. They don't care if it dies. If it dies, it dies. They aren't paying for electricity, salt, tanks, etc. Replacing all those dead fish is cheaper than actually worrying about keeping them alive in the first place.

 

Took the words right out of my mouth there Mr Inwall most also arrive in just enough water to keep them wet I have noticed in the last few yrs especially the shipments that come in from the Vietnam area .

 

that's scary...I'm with Nano. I buy all my equipment and dry goods online, it's easy to find good healthy livestock around my area!!!

 

Depends where you're at...

We've purchased over the net for 10 years. We started out with Flying Fish. They had everything in stock, would pool orders with people in our area and was much cheaper including Frt.

Nowdays, since a few larger companies have bought out the others, it isn't quite as competitive as it used to be. For me, in Missouri, I can usually get two items, pay for shipping and it's still cheaper over the net. Knock on wood, I've never received a sick fish and have been extremely happy with all orders.

We can still purchase live rock (in much better shape than found locally) for less money including shipping. We actually placed an order this week. It all depends where you are on the map. A few places are having free shipping and 19.99 shipping for anything including rock right now.

 

inwall, tangster i am with you guys. buying organism, espesially fish, is very iffy. i have no problem buying dry goods online. mabye corals if they give you an exact pic of the coral you are buying not just the same type.
i guess i am just really luck with my LFS. if they dont have a coral i want they will do what ever they can to order it, no shipping cost. not to mention that their price seem to always beat out online buys after shipping stuff that i want. mabye its because i keep them in bussness.
plus local shops need your help to keep corp. america at bay, unless the store sux