Hesitations about LiveAquaria.com

[jamesvchin]

Hey guys just thought I'd share my experience purchasing off LiveAquaria.

So I don't know who packaged this fish, but I ordered a snowstorm clown (prettiest clown IMO) and I was SO excited when it got in. Only to be shocked to see the bag of water laying directly on top of an ice pack with the fish laying flat on the bottom not moving.

The water the fish was in was FREEZING cold. I don't know if this is normal practice but it seems like livestock abuse to me, or if they thought, "oh! This fish is going to California, guess it needs an ice pack!". But all in all I will be filing a DOA claim.

Has anyone else had this sort of experience with LiveAquaria? This makes me extremely hesitant to order from them again.

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[joseserrano]

They are very hit or miss. I believe they ship from multiple places depending on location and stock of animal

 

[Not an IT guy]

Super hit or miss. If you go to the other site, you know the other site, tons of same scenario as you spoke of.

 

[Daniel]

I've had less than stellar experiences from them in past years... I've stopped now and do not plan to buy any more livestock from LiveAquaria. It is unfortunate, as they used to be "fairly" dependable. I've been trying to support local and smaller online vendors with more reliable processes. Biota has been one of my favorites recently!

 

[Pygo]

I've had less than stellar experiences from them in past years... I've stopped now and do not plan to buy any more livestock from LiveAquaria. It is unfortunate, as they used to be "fairly" dependable. I've been trying to support local and smaller online vendors with more reliable processes. Biota has been one of my favorites recently!

They were bought out back in 2020. I worked for the company that now owns them and it was nightmarish. Super cool job but the conditions were atrocious. I'm talking many large chest freezers overflowing with dead fish every week and just all around terrible conditions for fish and workers. I left at the end of 2020, but from what I understand, the ORA stuff is still cared for and sent from the original facility(dont know if theyve made any significant changes since my leaving), but the other stuff could be coming from Florida or Gardena, CA from less than stellar warehouses.

 

[joseserrano]

The big issue With them is if they fail x amount of times, they’ll just keep trying or give you store credit. You’ll never/rarely get a refund.

 

[Daniel]

Thanks @Pygo for offering that perspective!

 

[jamesvchin]

The big issue With them is if they fail x amount of times, they’ll just keep trying or give you store credit. You’ll never/rarely get a refund.

Yeah I called them to try and get a refund rather than store credit cause I'm not buying from them again and they said they would only do a one time refund, so that cemented my decision

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[mattyzang]

was it from ORA? i only see ORA selling snow storms on there

if u order ORA stuff on there it comes drop shipped from the ORA facility in florida. the times i've ordered from there, i've been impressed. large bags, lots of water, well packed. same for DD stuff in WI, but i haven't ordered from DD since kevin kohen left

regular LA is doodoo, smaller bags, less water, more DOA. i don't think they even use quality marine as their dropship wholesale anymore? not sure on that one, though

 

[Pygo]

was it from ORA? i only see ORA selling snow storms on there

if u order ORA stuff on there it comes drop shipped from the ORA facility in florida. the times i've ordered from there, i've been impressed. large bags, lots of water, well packed. same for DD stuff in WI, but i haven't ordered from DD since kevin kohen left

regular LA is doodoo, smaller bags, less water, more DOA. i don't think they even use quality marine as their dropship wholesale anymore? not sure on that one, though

lol nailed it. I worked husbandry management(with no power to actually change anything ) Usual packing was done with as little water as possible to reduce weight/shipping cost. On the occasion we'd have DD orders, I'd personally pick and pack each fish and was allowed to give them some extra water(and usually larger bags). They dont use QM, they use Tropical Fish Intl(the new owner)

Edit: and to really nail home how dysfunctional they are... I have been receiving texts and emails for the last two years(most recent being 2 weeks ago) on questions about which fish goes with which order/promo. This isn't someone reaching out for some friendly assistance.. The production team apparently doesn't realize that I'm gone lmao

 

[mattyzang]

lol nailed it. I worked husbandry management(with no power to actually change anything ) Usual packing was done with as little water as possible to reduce weight/shipping cost. On the occasion we'd have DD orders, I'd personally pick and pack each fish and was allowed to give them some extra water(and usually larger bags). They dont use QM, they use Tropical Fish Intl(the new owner)

Edit: and to really nail home how dysfunctional they are... I have been receiving texts and emails for the last two years(most recent being 2 weeks ago) on questions about which fish goes with which order/promo. This isn't someone reaching out for some friendly assistance.. The production team apparently doesn't realize that I'm gone lmao

that sucks, too bad it has gone downhill

i rarely even peruse LA anymore. the daily DD drop used to be interesting, now it's just ridiculous stuff for absurd prices. someone posted they had were selling 3 blue chromis for like $150 the other day, and it still sold quickly lol

 

[jamesvchin]

was it from ORA? i only see ORA selling snow storms on there

if u order ORA stuff on there it comes drop shipped from the ORA facility in florida. the times i've ordered from there, i've been impressed. large bags, lots of water, well packed. same for DD stuff in WI, but i haven't ordered from DD since kevin kohen left

regular LA is doodoo, smaller bags, less water, more DOA. i don't think they even use quality marine as their dropship wholesale anymore? not sure on that one, though

Yeah it was ORA, the main issue I saw was that they placed an ice pack in direct contact with the fish bag which made the water extremely cold, all packaged, albeit, very nicely in a styrofoam box. I didn't know if this was standard practice or not.

The customer service rep I called said they look up the weather forecast for where they send shipments to, but I feel that the fish would've done a lot better without the ice pack. I've bought plenty of coral online, but never fish until now.

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[mattyzang]

Yeah it was ORA, the main issue I saw was that they placed an ice pack in direct contact with the fish bag which made the water extremely cold, all packaged, albeit, very nicely in a styrofoam box. I didn't know if this was standard practice or not.

The customer service rep I called said they look up the weather forecast for where they send shipments to, but I feel that the fish would've done a lot better without the ice pack. I've bought plenty of coral online, but never fish until now.

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i didn't mean to discount your experience, i'm sure they screwed up

i'd just give ORA another shot, regular LA maybe not

 

[jamesvchin]

i didn't mean to discount your experience, i'm sure they screwed up

i'd just give ORA another shot, regular LA maybe not

No, you're totally fine! I don't know if I personally will just cause of the emotional rollercoaster of excitement to devastation in the span of 5 seconds (not to be overly dramatic lol) but it is nice to hear that maybe I was just unlucky.

But I might just stick to LFS for now.

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[mattyzang]

No, you're totally fine! I don't know if I personally will just cause of the emotional rollercoaster of excitement to devastation in the span of 5 seconds (not to be overly dramatic lol) but it is nice to hear that maybe I was just unlucky.

But I might just stick to LFS for now.

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yeah that sucks. age of aquariums in long beach orders from ORA, so you could go through them if you wanted

 

[jamesvchin]

yeah that sucks. age of aquariums in long beach orders from ORA, so you could go through them if you wanted

I'll definitely have to check that out, thanks for the suggestion!

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[JohnBRZ]

I have good experience with Biota. They have a sale right now too but bump up free shipping to $200. I'm thinking about getting an orange storm clownfish for my nano. But it's hard to justify $95 shipping cost for one fish and I don't think my nano can support 4 more fish just to get free shipping haha

 

[DETANE]

All
I can legally say is that if you want quality anything, run far away from LA!! Seriously, RUN!!!