How many of you order fish over the internet?

[TwoTankAmin]

Unless you catch your fish in the wild, they have likely been shipped several times before you get them.

Collected in a river etc. and sold (and maybe sent) to the exporter who ships them to the wholesaler who ships them to the retailer who sells them to you and who may do so by shipping them to you.

In March of 2020 with an associate we imported 324 zebra plecos from Indonesia plus 26 P. comptas via Chicago airport. 100% arrived alive and in good condition. Of those 25 were then shipped to me in NY. All arrived alive.

If you buy healthy fish from a quality shipper you should get nice fish. Most decent sellers guarantee live arrival.

 

[emeraldking]

they have likely been shipped several times before you get them.

That's the case with most fish...

 

[anewbie]

Our one and only one dedicated fish store does not qt fishes; they sell them the day they arrive so i mostly order mail order. There are only 4 or 5 sellers I will use and i pretty much know what to expect from them. I'm not sure if we are allowed to mention stores on this site so i will not mention any but there are better and worse stores out there.

 

[Essjay]

You are allowed to mentions stores. The only problem arises when posts are generalised criticism of a particular store or chain. In other words, don't say "store x is terrible avoid at all costs", say "in my experience, store x is best avoided because when I bought fish from there........"

If you give valid reasons, they can't sue the forum

 

[anewbie]

Ok this is the list of stores I have used and my feedback:
aquarticarts (many like them i was a little disappointed)
aquahuna (ok for schooling fishes - rasbora/tetra; very cheap shipping; something seems off with some of their fishes - so i consider them b stock but mostly healthy - will sometime have defects; bad for cichlid if you want them sexed); very liberal doa for mail order
wetspot - very healthy fishes - not perfect but definitely noticed better fishes than from aquahuna (won't go into details)
aquaticclarity and tangleupcichild and jdaquatics - good places for specialized or less common fishes
there are two sellers on ebay i like not named but ebay is always risky unless you know something about the seller
there are two sellers from forums i like - again not named but they are older folks who know what they are doing.
-
generally less happy with other places i have used and have mostly stopped using other places

 

[GaryE]

No fish you buy online is really quarantined. You do that when they arrive.

Unspecialized online sellers and stores order from the same sources and get their fish shipped the same way, to them. There is zero advantage there. The price difference can be fewer employees.

So if you are unhappy your local store doesn't QT - you have the equivalent of an online seller.

I have personally visited 5 online sellers, as a person with a reputation in the business who is allowed to look at things. They weren't me showing up and asking in. Three of them specialized in wild caught fish only, and all three had short quarantines, but a clear policy on not selling fish they had even the slightest concern about. They were great, and I would buy from them. I would understand that shipping can harm even the best fish though. Stuff happens out there.

One was South American only, and two sold both West African and South American.

The other two could have been any pet chain, except the fish were in 40 gallon tanks arranged in rows, on central filtration. Everything was ergonomic for quick catching, and they had table of people filling orders very industriously. The fish were from Asian farms, and looked it. They had employees (pushing a cart in one place) picking up the deads every few hours. One of the places had an online set up for out of town customers only, and also supplied local pet stores and chains. They had two different names and boxes for one company. That was a huge installation, with half a dozen people working hard. The other Asian fish reseller was smaller and shabbier. It has since been bought out.

if you want the bread and butter, common fish of the hobby and can go to a store to do a health check on them, do it. If you have no stores, you're stuck. If you are hunting for something uncommon, there are some reputable places suggested here.

Just remember it's an unregulated business and the fish can be under any conditions you can imagine. You'll never see.

 

[anewbie]

No fish you buy online is really quarantined. You do that when they arrive.

I think we will have to disagree here; yes you should qt your fishes (i live in a condo and the associatation will not let me setup any more aquariums due to weight issues); however there are stores that will qt fishes for a min of two weeks before selling and treat them for parasite and similar; you could argue that is not qt'ing a fish but it is much better than a store that receives the fish and immediately sell it the same day while it is still in shock.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Overnight shipping is expensive; but most vendors require it to honor a "no DOA" (live arrival) guarantee.

I've used TWS many times, with excellent results; from other suggestions I've seen here in the past, I'll be checking out Dan's Fish, as well.

 

[anewbie]

Overnight shipping is expensive; but most vendors require it to honor a "no DOA" (live arrival) guarantee.

I've used TWS many times, with excellent results; from other suggestions I've seen here in the past, I'll be checking out Dan's Fish, as well.

I have heard mix things on Dan's fishes but they certainly have some interesting species. The things i have heard of Dan's fish it is an open question on user error or otherwise so my personal opinion is mixed based on others feedback (I have not used them).

The biggest problem esp with tank raised fish (I hear this is more true from Asia than Florida) is that some will carry pathogen that is not necessarily harmful to them (or immediately harmful) but can be deadly to fishes with no immunity. I know several discus keepers for example that will not only qt new fishes for at least 8 weeks but will also then take a 'guinea pig' from their tank to 'test' with the new fishes another 4 weeks before adding them. I can also say that at times they have been quite happy to 'sacrifice' the guinea pig rather than cause havoc to their main tank. I ran into this problem when i introduced some cherry barbs to my community tank. They pretty much wiped out everything in the tank but they have not been affected even after 4 months.... Hum well not everything all species of pleco and zebra loaches seemed to have not been effected; but clown loaches; angels fishes; tetras; .... all died.

After i move in may and setup my 450 and 550 you can bet i will have a 120 in the basement to qt any new fishes and will take the 'guinea pig' approach before adding anything new to these aquariums.