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Would you order an aquarium fish online?

I want to order an aquarium fish online (a medusa pleco). I have been looking for this fish forever and could never find it. The only problem i am having is that im afraid that it will not survive the trip. What should i do?

Public Comments

1. Of course you should. Fish are shipped all the time. They must be shipped just to get to the fish store right (and the way most fish are shipped to the store would make some people cringe). Naturally I would only order from a place that guarantees D.O.A's 100%.
2. I am lucky enough to be within a 2 hour drive of some of the best aquarium stores in the country. If you look around, you will find you are probably near some excellent ones too. Fish keepers use a cooler with warm packs to transport fish from auctions, club meetings and distant stores.
3. You can order online usually without much trouble at all. As the first poster pointed out, pick a place that has a really good guarantee. As the second said, look around a bit, you can probably find a really good store that will get the fish you want. A have only rarely ordered fish from a retailer on line personally, I prefer to buy locally or directly from a hobbyist breeder. MM
4. I would really recommend ebay. You can see customer comments about if the fish made it okay or if it died on the trip. You could also ask around to see if the breeder has a good reputation.
5. I have bought fish online (Dr. Foster and Smith) and they were the best fish I've ever bought, due to local pet stores not having as good of stock and not taking as good of care of the fish. I would just make sure the company guarantees the fish will be alive and explains how they ship their fish, you should be fine. The shipping for live fish is somewhat expensive (I think I paid $25), but it's worth it in the quality of the fish (usually!). Good luck!
6. No I would not and I will tell you why. No guarantee! They can pretty much ship you the sickest fish they got! However, if you can find a supplier that offers a guarantee, and that is trusted by many, I would say go for it.
7. You should do it. This one girl says 99% of her bettas survive when she ships them. If they don't, she sends them another one and a free one also! She also lets you chosse what you want them shipped in. And I think she says in the winter she puts a heating pad in there. A$H!
8. Certainly you can order fish online if you feel like that's what you wanna do. Make sure whoever is selling offers refunds or replacements for dead on arrival fish and try to find a feedback section to see how hard the people are to contact in case of a problem. Another option you could look into is that most fish stores will special order fish for you. This would let you actually see the fish before you buy it and will eliminate the shipping costs which when I looked into buying fish online was about $30 when you're already buying an expensive fish in that medusa pleco.
9. Hi check your nearest fish stockest first and they may be-able to get you the fish you request even if they don`t sell the type you want,they may still be-able to get it you and its traveling life will be covered on their insurance,,,,,worth a try,,,,