Best place to buy Zoanthids, mail order

steelmen · #1 03/05/2007, 10:20 AM

Looking for the best mail order place to buy Zoanthid frags. Who has the best selection, deals, etc.... Let me know. Thanks,Bob.

DrBegalke · #2 03/05/2007, 05:14 PM

i've been wondering this too.

so far i've noticed marineflora.com has some nice frag packs, but i have not personally bought from them (yet..)

hexedagain · #3 03/05/2007, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DrBegalke
i've been wondering this too.

so far i've noticed marineflora.com has some nice frag packs, but i have not personally bought from them (yet..)

I have been told that while the polyps were very nice and colorful, they were microscopic sized. I have not purchased from them, but I have a few friends that did. I have drooled over some of the polyps on Marine Flora one more than one occasion.

I have purchased online from Extreme Corals , and from Coral Fanatics. I have received nice stuff from both. Coral Fanatics used to offer free shipping after a certain amount spent, but they quit recently. Extreme Corals does offer free shipping if you spend $150 on the order.
Google zoanthids and see what pops up.

hexedagain · #4 03/05/2007, 06:01 PM

I would also never recommend frag packs from online stores. Unless you get to pick what frags are going into it, or you can at least see the frags first.
If you buy "there choice" frag packs, you will be letting someone else decide what goes into your tank, and what it will look like.
Just an eye opener if nothing else.
This is also just my opinion.

Siffy · #5 03/05/2007, 08:07 PM

I was pretty happy with my zomania.com order. A few didn't look exactly like their pictures or the names they were given on the site. But I didn't complain as I still got nice things from them. If I had, I got the feeling from talking to Chad via e-mail a couple times the frags would have been replaced. Also, my lighting is different from what the pictures were taken under so I let it slide. The items were bagged and shipped well and the survival rate was great.

I also purchased a colony of Fire and Ice from liveaquaria.com 's diver's den section that I've been extremely happy with. 150+ polyp colony for $60. I see some pretty nice stuff on there frequently. It's normally sold before I find another piece on there I want to split the shipping with though. It's all WYSIWYG. And a FYI, you can't combine the order with items from their regular selection, but I think you can with other pieces from the Diver's Den.

Bebo77 · #6 03/05/2007, 08:46 PM

reefermadness.. as of today they have some really sweet zoas...

sambo123 · #7 03/05/2007, 09:15 PM

I also thought zomania looked nice, I love Liveaquaria, just look in the Diverden section for some show size zoo rocks

Mr.First · #8 03/05/2007, 11:41 PM

I thought Zomania sucked, worst shipping methods (dry) worst survival rate, Zoo's looked nothing like pics, just about another Reef kingdom, not quite an Aquacon though.

chadscamaro · #9 03/05/2007, 11:58 PM

Actually dry shipping zoanthids in damp paper towels works great. I have been shipping this way for 8 months now and ship worldwide and even after being in a bag for 2-3 days we still get a 95+% success rate. Where as wet shipping would be 80-85%. Things can happen with shipping. We stand behind the livestock, but hard to help if we dont know about a problem.

Chad

DrBegalke · #10 03/06/2007, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by hexedagain

I have purchased online from Extreme Corals , and from Coral Fanatics. I have received nice stuff from both. Coral Fanatics used to offer free shipping after a certain amount spent, but they quit recently. Extreme Corals does offer free shipping if you spend $150 on the order.

I happened to be in Dallas a couple of weeks ago and spent about 6 hours at Extreme Coral's store/facility. I was impressed!

They have 20,000+ gallons, great corals, great system, and very friendly people.

Most of the corals are in the 'warehouse', but they'll take you back there, turn off the pumps, and let you look at anything you want. They also have a computerin the store front area that you can use to browse the corals.

I would definetly buy from them.

In general, I was impressed with the LFS's in the DFW area... If anyone is out that way, check some of them out: http://www.dfwmas.org/lfs.html

DrBegalke · #11 03/06/2007, 12:31 AM

CHad: the 'damp' shipping method is interesting, i'll have to try that sometime.

Siffy · #12 03/06/2007, 06:24 AM

The damp method is great. Of the 6 frags I received from Chad I only lost 2 polyps and that was because those came unglued. And half the frags had more polyps on them than expected. Even on the Zomania "ultra" zoanthids where you purchase by the polyp. I'll definately be ordering from Chad/Zomania.com/Gateway Aquatics (all the same) again when I see enough on the site I like and don't have.

Mr.First · #13 03/06/2007, 08:47 AM

I am not suggesting that the damp method is not a better way to ship. But the one shipment of Zoo's that I received, either became unglued or did not survive, When I informed Zomania I was told to reglue them and the will be fine. In my business, we follow up with customers after the sale in insure satisfaction and return customers. Last tning I want is to have to call and complain (again) there are too many other sources out there these days

rabid frog · #14 03/07/2007, 12:19 AM

as for right now stay away from QualityMarineLife. They sent me something totally diff that what they were supposed to. I ordered PPE's and got some crap zoo's. Hopefully they will step up nd fix the order or refund my money.

chadscamaro · #15 03/07/2007, 12:26 AM

If shipping gets rough some may come unattached, so regluing is what needs to be done, as for loosing any corals or doa's we need to be notified , I agree that following up with customers can be beneficial,but a lot of time people do not want to be bothered or do not reply,etc. So by just dropping an email about your problems is the right way to get it taken care of. If you buy a car and it has problems , would you wait for the dealership to contact you and ask how things are or do you contact them ? With shipping problems can and do arise,but we try to make the best of it and do what we can. Nobodys perfect,but we cant fix what we dont know. Mr. First you have a pm. Chad

Mr.First · #16 03/07/2007, 10:02 AM

Wow, I was not aware that you and Zomania were one in the same. Thank you for replying, and for the PM. I appriacate your desire to keep your customer satisfied. I will surely work with you again

)))

ABQ Custom · #17 03/07/2007, 05:20 PM

I recently ordered from zoomania and received product in the dry method.

I ordered a frag of bam-bams that looked pitiful when they arrived and died after 1 week.

I ordered a frag of enchanted meadow, looked pitiful when it arrived and died after 4 days.

I ordered a 5 polyp-5 frag pack 4 of the 5 were all the same zoos. 1 of the 5 died the other 4 that were all the same are doing great.

All these were ordered at the same time and were my first order to zoomania, I went in with someone to get free shipping.

I won't order from them again
I don't recommend them to anybody.

dbartkow · #18 03/07/2007, 07:53 PM

I ordered a bunch of frags from Zomania. They will be arriving tomorrow. Hopefully all will come through fine. I'll keep you posted.

Dave

chadscamaro · #19 03/07/2007, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ABQ Custom
I recently ordered from zoomania and received product in the dry method.

I ordered a frag of bam-bams that looked pitiful when they arrived and died after 1 week.

I ordered a frag of enchanted meadow, looked pitiful when it arrived and died after 4 days.

I ordered a 5 polyp-5 frag pack 4 of the 5 were all the same zoos. 1 of the 5 died the other 4 that were all the same are doing great.

All these were ordered at the same time and were my first order to zoomania, I went in with someone to get free shipping.

I won't order from them again
I don't recommend them to anybody.

Was this the week of really cold weather in the midwest ?
We had a really bad week a few weeks ago and lost a lot of stuff ,but as listed above I cannot help if I dont know about the problem . Not sure what looked pitiful means ? They are frags, so they are small and closed up ?? I can 100% garuntee you that 4 of 5 frags in a frag pack were not the same color. I pack all items and have NEVER packed any doubles much less quadruples in a 5 frag pack. We all have bad weeks and we had a bad one when it got really cold a few weeks ago,but otherwise our success rate is very high and I do what i can to help out with problems. Zoanthids usually dont just do fine for a week in a tank then die,unless there is other problems going on or something is eating or messing with them. Chad

sm fragman · #20 03/07/2007, 10:45 PM

chad i can not get to your sight on zoomania i would like to get some coloful zoos ,,,what is up wiht your sight? let me know how i can get ahold of you
thanks shawn

ct_vol · #21 03/07/2007, 10:50 PM

This thread should be moved to the feedback forum... This is rediculous...

Chad~ You're a stand up guy taking care of all these complaints... Kudos chap!!!!!

Mr.First · #22 03/08/2007, 09:18 AM

He's a big boy, He's doing fine. This is a cost of doing business. Dont be a Kissass.

ct_vol · #23 03/08/2007, 09:28 AM

Not being a kiss ***... I'm far from it... But this is a DISCUSSION forum... Not a VENDOR or FEEDBACK Forum... There is a place for everything... And this isn't the place to talk to Chad or ZoMania about your business with him... You have hijacked steelmen's thread... He was looking for places to buy zoanthids online... Not for everyone to chime in how they think they should be reimbursed for being dumb enough to order during bad weather...

DJ88© · #24 03/08/2007, 10:54 AM

obviously the purpose and aim of this forum is lost on some.

This is not a fourm for bashing vendors etc.
[chimp]

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