Buying Fish Online And Having Them Shipped.

[skiltrip]

I'd like to hear people's experiences with buying fish online and how it worked out.

I'm considering buying some yellow labs cause I can get them much much cheaper than from my LFS.

I definitely will not be home to receive them, though the seller says UPS will leave it at the door. I'll be home around 5pm to retrieve the box, and I live in a condo set up like apartments, so the box will be indoors by my door, not outside or anything. i live in new york, and the weather is still relatively warm, so its not like there's extreme temps to deal with, besides, it's usually pretty warm in my hallway.

does anyone see any issues with this?

 

[dthoffsett]

Most, if not all places that ship fish state you have to be there to sign for them, and that any live arrival guarantee is void if you aren't there.

That said, I bought all of my cichlids but 3 labs from www.petsolutions.com, and they were hardy, great quality fish, and I would definately order from them again.

 

[skiltrip]

I was actually on Aquabid.com

this is the posting...
http/www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auc...smmb&1157759019

seems the guy has pretty great feedback. he said he "recommended" i be home for the delivery, but not that it would void the guarantee if i wasn't. though picture must be taken "within 2 hours of delivery" if there IS a problem.

the price is darn good on that auction too!

 

[Fishkeeper2004]

My only experiance has been from Trimar, a UK based aquatics retailer. Although there was a delay in them being sent, when they arrived all were healthy. Albeit, the water was rather cold, but they all seem to be doing OK now.

 

[furryrabbit]

I received my two Bettas yesterday from Jobysbettas.co.uk , they were sent from England to here and were in perfect condition .

 

[skiltrip]

seems like most people have had a relatively good experience buying fish and having them shipped to them. it just seems to go against everything we learn about how careful we have to be with our tanks. keeping temp stable, providing enough O2 in the water, proper lighting, no banging on the glass, haha. proper filtration, etc... then we go ahead and stick them in a box with heating pads and hand them over to the Fedex or UPS guy. I just have this vision of SOMEWHERE along the line the box not being respected the way it should be. Even when I'm driving home from my LFS with new fish(5-10 miles from home), i don't turn the stereo up too loud, i leave the AC off, haha, try not to stop short, etc. maybe i overdo it, but i know they are fragile little creatures in those bags, and they get freaked out easily.

 

[guppymonkey]

Try to find out if the guy you would be buying the fish from online would be using breather bags. They are bags that allow oxygen and carbon dioxide to flow through the actual surface membrane of the bag itself. It makes shipping a lot easier and works much better than tradition fish bags with air in them. The bag is completely filled with water and oxygen passes through the material of the bag, this way the fish breathes new air not old air and doesn't slosh around as much in transport. As for shipping, I ship fish and get them shipped to me all the time and have hardly ever had any problems. As long as weather is good they usually ship in great condition. Remember that to get to the pet store the fish have to be bagged and they are usually all shoved in the same bag, sometimes upwards of hundreds of fish in the same bag. If you get them shipped to you make sure they are bagged individually and in breather bags ideally, that way they are less stressed and won't run out of air. If its going to be cold make sure the seller uses heat packs. I live in upstate new york and right now most fish should be okay without heat packs but it is starting to get cold at night so it might be a good idea if it starts to cool down.