Saltwaterfish.com

[CoppBandbuttfly]

Hi,

Anyone has experience with saltwaterfish.com for live fishes?

It seems there are problems with my LFS' fishes. 2 out of five died for no good reason. My water parameters are fine.

Looks like saltwaterfish.com has the lowest minimum amount to spend $79 and low shipping/processing fee $20. I wonder if this is too good to be true?

I started my tank 5 weeks ago so I don't want to spend too much yet....you know....

Coppband

[GoingPostal]

If this is a new tank you shouldn't have had five fish in the first months, maybe two fish max and I wouldn't add anything else soon.

[rustybucket145]

care to elaborate what the 2 out of 5 were?

[michaeljames]

Of all the people I know that have ordered from saltwaterfish.com 95% have been satisfied, but these are people with well established systems, on another note, I personly have had nothing but bad luck and poor service from segrest farms, very poor quality livestock...

[CoppBandbuttfly]

RustyBucket145,

I bought two green Chromis five weeks ago, one medium, one small. The medium one died a week later. He started a "cut" like spot on his body after four/five days. He ate well before this spot show up. He had no spot when I bought him. The small one does great up til now. My LFS said it's probably bacteria as a few of them died too with similar spot.

Last week I bought two more Chromis(another shippment from LFS), big one, and one Nemo clown. The two Chromis do great and they are always hungry and very active. Nemo ate a little bit the first day but then stopped eating and float at top of water next to the overflow box all the time. This morning it died.

[Charger21_SD]

www.saltwaterfish.com is a great site. I bought mushrooms and inverts from there and all arrived safe and acclimated well. I've heard nothing but good things from there.

[ArgonDreams]

Liveaquaria has a min order of 29.99 and a shipping of 34.99. I think that's a pretty good deal.

[MalHavoc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10602741#post10602741 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CoppBandbuttfly
RustyBucket145,

I bought two green Chromis five weeks ago, one medium, one small. The medium one died a week later. He started a "cut" like spot on his body after four/five days. He ate well before this spot show up. He had no spot when I bought him. The small one does great up til now. My LFS said it's probably bacteria as a few of them died too with similar spot.

Last week I bought two more Chromis(another shippment from LFS), big one, and one Nemo clown. The two Chromis do great and they are always hungry and very active. Nemo ate a little bit the first day but then stopped eating and float at top of water next to the overflow box all the time. This morning it died.

Can you post some tank water quality measurements? I'm concerned that you added two green chromis 5 weeks ago, which is how long you said your tank has been up and running in your first post. It generally takes a minimum of a month before you be looking at fish when you set up a tank from scratch. Yes, even if things test fine.

[Ismellikefish]

I ordered a flame Angle from saltwaterfish.com > I have only had him a couple of weeks but so far he looks great and is very active

[Carlos]

Since you are asking for "vendor experiences" for a specific seller, I moved the thread to the correct forum.

Carlos

[Growurown]

I ordered twice from them, had a tang arrived dead, I emailed them and they handled it very professionally for the return

[CoppBandbuttfly]

Jason,

Thanks. Here are more details. I tested my water 5 mins ago, A=0, Nitrite=0, Nitrate=20, PH=between 8.2 to 8.4. Don't you think Nitrate is too high?

On 7/15 I filled my tank(90G) with water & sand-aragonite(excuse my spelling), add 50lbs uncured Fiji live rocks a few days later together with Stresszyme from API and Stability from Seachem. I did these two because of my friend who did the same and had great success with his new setup.

On 8/2 I bought two Chromis, one died a week later. The one left is doing great up til now. On 8/15 I bought two Chromis and one Nemo. Like i said today the Nemo died this morning.

I have AGA Model #3 wet/dry, PM skimmer ES 100, Gamma UV 25W, Coralight, white and actinic blue + lunar light. Light is on around 5 hours everyday.

Thanks.
Coppband

[CoppBandbuttfly]

Jason,

Thanks. Here are more details. I tested my water 5 mins ago, A=0, Nitrite=0, Nitrate=20, PH=between 8.2 to 8.4. Don't you think Nitrate is too high?

On 7/15 I filled my tank(90G) with water & sand-aragonite(excuse my spelling), add 50lbs uncured Fiji live rocks a few days later together with Stresszyme from API and Stability from Seachem. I did these two because of my friend who did the same and had great success with his new setup.

On 8/2 I bought two Chromis, one died a week later. The one left is doing great up til now. On 8/15 I bought two Chromis and one Nemo. Like i said today the Nemo died this morning.

I have AGA Model #3 wet/dry, PM skimmer ES 100, Gamma UV 25W, Coralight, white and actinic blue + lunar light. Light is on around 5 hours everyday.

Thanks.
Coppband

[Illuminati]

In regards to saltwaterfish.com I had very good luck with them.

I ordered a blackcap basslet and a bicolor blenny and both arrived great. Packaging is A+.

One way to hit the limit without ordering all fish is to get inverts and copeopods. Maybe a peppermint or a cleaner shrimp and I would recommend their copeopods, I think it was $20 and it comes in a little pack, pop the top and dump it in.

Here's my blackcap, great fish

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h73/colinadam/BlackcapBasslett.jpg

[SDguy]

I have ordered from them a couple times. Fish were very well packed. Prices are very cheap. I had one DOA. Followed their procedure...got my money back. No biggie. The other fish are fine. And they are delicate fish. Considering their prices, and their guarantee, I'm OK with no phone contact.

[scotmc]

Your tank is far too young to be adding fish. Nitrate should be zero. I would wait a month and get your tank stable.

[CoppBandbuttfly]

What about salt level? I have 1.019 now. I did this because my LFS's level is around 1.018. They said low level like this will reduce chance of parasites on fishes.

Now that I read more from this RC forum, looks like most people keep between 1.02 to 1.025 for "fishes only tanks". Does 1.019 too low and will affect the health of fishes? If so my LFS is wrong on parasites?

Coppband

[scotmc]

Your LFS is correct. If you only have fish 1.19 is fine.

[JetCat USA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10610972#post10610972 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scotmc
Your LFS is correct. If you only have fish 1.19 is fine.

1.019 would be, 1.19 would kill just about anything you put in it.