Buying fish online Good or bad

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

I would like to buy online but i dont know much about it...

 

[Bol]

Generally, my answer would be "no", but if there was ...

A fish that I really wanted, and knew would fit in an existing tank, and
I couldn't find it anywhere around home (this happens often), and
I felt confident in the online shop, through research, ...

then I would probably do it.

(I answered "yes -- other").

 

[plecoguy]

Ive done it, and loved it. in fact i just put in an order for 7 discus online. Its worth it if you go through the right people!

 

[Inchworm]

I voted "Yes, because it's the only way I can get the fish I need," which is not entirely true.

I don't need any more fish at all, but there are a number of different kinds of corys that I would really like to have. I'm talking about ones I've never seen at my lfs.

These fish include the color variations of C. aeneus (Peru orange, green or red stripe) and the gold cory. I understand that from time to time, albino C. sterbai also becomes available through mail order sources.

For me to buy fish by mail, to take the risk and pay the additional shipping charges, they would have to be very special, indeed.

 

[justethe]

ya i did it and they died so i don't know if it is that good of an idea but that is just me mabey it worked for other people well give it a try and see :stupid:

 

[guppygirly]

I've always wanted to try it, but the shipping is sooo expensive and I wouldn't want to kill them after paying all that money...maybe after I'm more confident in my fishkeeping ability I will.

 

[CFC]

I have bought fish via mail order and will again. Often it is the only way i can get the fish i want and is usually cheaper too, the fish i have bought have arived in perfect condition and i have been pleased with the ones they have selected.

As long as you check that the water in the bag matches the pH of the water in your tank before adding the fish there should be no problems with buying fish online, if it doesnt then you need to slowly acclimitise the fish by dripping water from your tank into the bag. The easiest way to do this is to take a length of airline tubing and tie a loose not in one end, place the unknotted end into your tank and start a syphon with the water going into the bag with the fish in, tighten the knot untill the water is slowed to just a drip and allow the bag to fill up scooping out excess water with a cup to prevent it from over filling, if the pH is only out by a little then you will only need to do this for a couple of hours, if its big difference then you will need to do it for longer, to acclimitise fish from a pH of 6 to the 7.5/8 that my tapwater is i drip the water in for 4 hours and so far have not had any problems with any of the 4 fish i have bought this way.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Good results.

Its a shame that LFS just dont have the room to hold loads of stock.

Well Except for Wal-Mart

 

[guppybaby]

i thought about buying online untill I saw the shipping charges. I wanted to get some guppies of course, just to see what would happen. The shipping cost I was looking at was $20.00. The fish i beleive were $6.00 for a pair of them. With me just starting out i said no way! I voted no, for other reasons

 

[Shizat]

I dont know if we are able to post sites here but there is a site called aquabid.com which is kind of like ebay where you can buy any type of fish you want and they have some of the coolest fish that I have ever seen on there. Shipping charges wouldnt be so high if people didnt have to overnight air the fish and put ice packs in the package to keep them alive, but thats the only way of transporting them.

 

[Adrinal]

I am interested in this as well, but not confident...

If you cant afford the space to have a sick tank set up for 2 weeks before you put them in the main tank... no dont do! (should have one any how for getting stuff from LFS...
It actually would take one stop out of the stressfull chain of getting to its final destination (see fozzy post on wild fish to tank trip).
I worry about temperature alot, and shipping of fish !!! Now I think you can get them to let you pick them up at the airport... that would be nice... I want to get LR online too...
But in the winter? isnt it too cold?
But in the summer? isnt it too hot?

I know they must be packed well... but im not confident.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

what i would like to know. is how do they keep the temprature high enough in the boxes. I know my pizza is cold after it comes out of the thermal boxes.. so how do they keep the fish at 24deg in the post??

 

[CFC]

The fish arrive in a polystyrene box, double bagged with oxygen added, then packed out with newspaper and with a small thermo pad in the bottom of the box (these are often sold in angling/hunting shops as pocket hand warmers). Dont forget that the fish have already survived a much bigger journey before you buy them whether it be from the wild or a fish farm in the far east and they would not have been packed with as much care and attention is one thing you can be sure of.

 

[rsz]

I've not done it, I might in the future though, if I desperately want a certain fish.

I'm not too keen on the idea though, but I think that's because I have this horrible image of getting an envelope through the post, opening it up and a fish lying in there all folded up like a letter

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I haven't bought on-line exactly. I looked at the stock list of a mail order compant online and then phoned them.

Is that the same?

I see no problem with it other than you don't actually get to see your fish properly before buying it. It's also probably a much shorter journey than the one they made to the shop to start with.