Artful-Dodger's Fish Links:
Online
Retailers
Live
Fish, Corals and
Rock
- Live Aquaria
(part
of Drs. Foster and Smith) Ordered some rock from them
with good luck. Free shipping at $175 (and, for a limted time,
10% discount for ReefCentral members. See comments in my online Marine
Tank Diary.
- eTropicals
(part of
Drs. Foster and Smith--Florida and Caribbean rock, fish and
inverts.) Free shipping at $175.
- Flying
Fish Express (now part of Drs. Foster and Smith)
- MarineDepotLive
I haven't ordered livestock from them yet, but I sure like their dry
goods
operations. Their shipping charges are flat $35 plus 10% of the
order. A bit steep...
- Northcoast
Marines They have pretty good prices, including
shipping; they ship airport-to-airport though. Haven't used them
yet, though.
- All
Oddball Aquatics Few varieties of freshwater fish.
- FloridaPets Live
animals from Florida and the Carribean
- Indo-Pacific Sea Farms
mostly critters and foods
- AquariumFish.net
Ordered some freshwater fish for planted tanks from them in 2002.
Some of the fish did great (Siamensis) others (Gold Gouramis, etc.) in
same tank didn't last long. Hard to call. Shipping charges
are high unless you are placing a big order. Fish were
individually bagged for shipment. In general, I think buying fish
from the LFS makes better sense unless it is a rare fish (the
Siamensis, for example) that the LFS can't or won't order.
- Tridacana
Reef Farms Clams, coral frags, foods and lighting
- ClamsDirect.com
Another online site specializing in clams.
- Premium
Aquatics Livestock
- frags.org Coral
frags--buy, sell, trade
- Coral Dynamics
Cultivated coral frags. Good prices on packages of 6 or more.
- o2manyfish.com
More coral frags for sale
- inlandaquatics.com
Reef fish, corals and other inverts--tank bred/raised
- Something Fishy Reef Aquarium
Specialists Livestock and dry goods.
- Phishy Business
Coral frags anemones, clams, other inverts, fish, live rock. In
Columbus, OH
- Jeff's Exotic Fish
Corals, inverts, etc. Good package prices on frags (9 for
$99). Some hardware. Located in Gardena (L.A.) CA
- CheapCorals They
have a great price on live rock; everything else seems about
normal. The website however gives no contact information other
than an email form, so I'm a little skeptical. Sent an inquiry
so, depending on response, I may order 100 pounds of rock.
(Update 3 months later: no response, ergo no order) A long
running thread on ReefCentral says that email responses are not the
worst of their problems. Seems they take months to deliver and
won't answer phone or email...but they make up for it by being prompt
on charging your credit card.
- TheLogicalReef.com
This site has a variety of corals for sale. Good selection of
zoanthids on the day that I checked. Other categories (Inverts,
for instance) were completely empty. Biggest complaint I had was
that there are lots of pictures of frags to purchase, but no way of
determining the size. Also, species names are not listed.
Just have to find a pretty picture and buy it, I guess.
- IslandReefandFin.com
Hard to figure out this site. I think they're new. Anyway,
lots of categories with nothing for sale. All the rest have
pictures and a posted price of $0. Even the dry goods.
Hmmm-m-m. Anyway, they give an email address to contact
them. Whatever.
- RobsReef.com Seems
also to be new. Located in South Carolina.
- LiveRocks.com I
guess the name says at all. Florida aquacultured live rock.
Prices (before shipping) are reasonable.
- CoralSandbar.com
Corals, frags, etc.
- GoochsCorals.com
Coral frags, etc.
- SmokyMountainCorals.com Seems to have disappeared
before I could check them out. (I hate it when that
happens!) They're still listed as a sponsor on TheReefersInn but
the link seems to be dead.
- Aquabid.com Was an
auction site dedicated to aquarium hobby. Swallowed up by eBay as
of 5/1/04. Frankly this site freaks me out. The starting
bid prices are no better than you'd get from a reliable seller but you
have no guarantee or assurance of what you're going to receive. I
can't believe anyone would buy any livestock here. (One born
every minute, I guess...)
- AmazonMoosey's
Ambit Small player (used to sell a lot through
Aquabid.com. Cute site, if you're into moose. Aquarium and
other pet supplies.
- Tropicorium
Coral frags, etc. Package deal (9 frags for $99)
- ReefScience Mostly
wysiwyg corals. also clams, live rock and dry goods.
Descriptions also include dimensions which adds a lot to a photo.
Thanks!
- Harbor
Aquatics Live corals, clams, anemones and cleanup
critters
- Reeftopia All
sorts of marine fish, inverts, plants--just about anything alive.
Great package deals on hermits/snails...best I've seen. (For
large lots, less
than $.50 apiece with free Priority Fed Ex shipping at $120. Also
have 10% discount at $200 plus frequent "freebies" with mid-week
orders.)
- GulfView (aka
FloridaLiveRock.com) I haven't bought from Dale, but good reports
on this site from various forum posts. Has a great section on
identifying (good and bad) inverts that may ride along on live
rock/sand.
- Tampa Bay
Saltwater Aquacultured rock. They feature a two part
"package" that ships half your rock early to cycle the tank and then
ships the second half to avoid dieoff. Ships their rock in
saltwater (the only place I know of that does) so shipping expense is
high but the survival is reported to be first rate.
- Dr. Mac &
Sons Corals, rock, etc. One order of live rock them was
great. They had a good price (sale) and arranged for drop
shipment of the 2 boxes of Tonga rock...I picked it up from my
local airport the same day it arrived in LA from the Pacific.
Still had a cycle but much less than other previous batches.
- Saltwaterfish.com
One order placed with them for a 150 snail/crab/shrimp combo
package. Everybody arrived alive except a couple of snails...no
complaint. Packaging and shipping were both first rate. May
take up to two days to ship, but
almost free
Fedex Priority (next day a.m. delivery) with $79 order (they do charge
a $12 fee per order).
- clownfishdirect.com
Captive bred and tank raised, delivered to your door.
- Cquarium Coral
frags...wysiwyg purchase. also clams and anemones. I just
wish that dimensions were included with the pictures. It is hard
to interpret "medium".
- West Coast
Tropical Marine critter packages, rock, fish.
Free shipping at $125. 5% discount for Reefcentral members.
- reefstuff.com coral
frags primarily
- Reefer Madness
Coral frags, fish, inverts. Minimum order $75 but shipping is
included (flat $10 box charge per order) Only weird thing (well,
besides their homepage photos) is that they won't sell you any inverts
unless you have already added $100 into your cart.
- Gooch's Corals
frags, some inverts Free shipping at $200
- Reef Science
Corals, clams, rock, lighting and dry goods
- Blowfish
Aquatics Ricordia, soft corals, anemones, lighting
- Aquadesignz
Zoas, soft, LPS, SPS, some fish and inverts, dry goods
- Rob's Reef Corals,
clams, inverts, cleanup crew packages Free shipping at $125
- Marine Center
Mostly livestock. Some skimmers and lighting.
- Keys Critters
Small time operation--bulk cleanup inverts only. $100 minimum
order.
- MarineFlora.com
New shop (2006) Macro algaes, mushrooms, zoanthids. I
haven't used them yet so no reference.
-
General
Equipment, Food, etc.
- Big
Al's Online Generally, the cheapest supplier that I've found
on the net...they can
also be a big pain to deal
with. I ordered some "decorative driftwood" items back in 2002
for one of my freshwater plant tanks. What they actually sent was
molded resin fake wood. Nowhere on the webpage did it say
anything but "driftwood". When I called to complain they gave me
an RMA to return it, but I had to pay the return shipping fees.
I've also placed some large orders (>$500) where several items were
backordered for weeks. Their printed catalog as well as their
website is done without much informational detail or pictures.
Fine for commodity dry goods.
- Drs. Foster & Smith
Good selection, products, service, paper catalog, etc. Prices
better than average, though not the best. They are, however, very
reliable. Their full color catalog is, by far, the best that I've
received.
- Pet
Warehouse
- That Fish Place
Used to be one of the cheapest...lately not so
good. Haven't ordered from them in a couple of years, but their
service used to be good. They also produce a paper catalog that
is useful for browsing.)
- Web Aquatics
General hardware and dry goods for marine/reef as well as freshwater
and pond. Has specials for
ReefCentral members...follow the link from RC.
- Aquatic
Warehouse Web Page
- Aquarium Pros
General equipment vendor with informational articles and bulletin board
and forum.
- Pet
Solutions
- AquariumShoppe.com
- All
Oddball Aquatics
- Marine
Depot See comments
below under Salt, Marine and Reef Specialty.
Highly recommended!
- Premium
Aquatics This site has so many spelling and grammatical
errors that I have a hard time taking them seriously. Doesn't
reflect a sense of caring about details...I placed my first order with
them in May, 2004. Stand by for feedback.
- Global Aquarium Supply
- Monolith
Marine Monsters, Inc. (m3)
- Aquatic-Store.com
- CustomAquatic
They have a good selection and very good prices, but seem to have a
problem with lots of items on backorder. They offer a 5% discount
for ReefCentral members. They don't seem
to have a cap on
shipping charges and (according to their website) will add additional
charges for oversize or heavy items after the order is placed and
notify you by email. They say they also charge extra shipping if
an item is backordered and you want in-stock items shipped without
waiting. Placed an order with oversize item and with two
backordered items and specifically asked on the order to notify me
before filling the order if there would be an additional charge.
No contact. However, I did get charged extra ($10) for the second
shipment. Wiped out the savings from ordering from them rather
than my usual suppliers. Not planning to go back (and if I do,
I'll avoid any backordered items!)
- Transfish
Supplies
- AquaticHouse.com
- CaptiveReefs.com
- InReef.com Claim to
be lighting specialists. Seemed to have a limited supply of PC
lights. Lots of other stuff, though. Found good price on
canopy fans (bare wire for $15)
- WhaleSale.com
- AquaDirect
- The Aquarium Online
Another general purpose retailer. Research to be
done...eventually... At first glance, they have the lowest price
on a moonlight that I've been considering. But then their site
uses wonderful Microsoft .Net "framework" and breaks rather easily
(exotic things like clicking on 'search').
Freshwater Plants, CO2
specialty
Salt,
Marine and
Reef
specialty
- MarineDepot
These guys have my
vote as the most reliable online vendor specializing in marine and reef
equipment. Great service, good communication (notiication of
shipment tracking info, etc.) and very fast delivery. I haven't
had any reason to check out how they are on problem resolution because
I haven't had any problems. They aren't the absolute cheapest
(but they are very close) but they get the nod for good service.
My first choice! Their website allows for customers to review
items (ala Amazon, etc.). Unfortunately, the feature seems to
have been broken for months preventing the addition of a comment...gee,
maybe that's why everything is "Not rated yet"... Their service
remains among the best and shipping is free for orders over $175 (is
there anything else?)
- Marine and Reef
General aquarium supplies with emphasis on reef. Good
selection (though not the best) including lighting and test/monitoring
equipment.
- Automated Aquarium
Systems If you want to make your reef entirely
self-maintaining, this is the site to visit. Every electronic
monitoring/metering/controlling contraption known to man...as well as
software, programmable modules, etc. The site isn't very well
organized for finding a pre-built "system" but you can sure find the
components (and easily drop a couple of grand!!!) I bought my
electronic pH meter from them--they had several models not available
elsewhere. Their site says they take
credit cards, checks, etc. But at online checkout I only found
Paypal and then only with a checking
account debit... But, they did ship quickly!
- Northcoast
Marines Only one experience with them, but that was
enough. Ordered $12 worth of bio-balls (pretty
lightweight). They don't show you shipping at checkout. I
selected cheapest option (UPS ground). They took my $12 (via
PayPal) and then billed me another $8.45 for UPS shipping.
(Incidently, the UPS shipping calculator says I can send 12 pounds in a
2 cubic foot box for less than that.) Hiding shipping charges and
then inflating them is just one [small] step above "miracle natural
male enhancement pills" on the mail order scam list, as far as I'm
concerned. On the brighter side, they did issue me a credit back
to the PayPal account pretty quickly when asked. Perhaps I'll try
again someday...
- Reef Splendor
- Sea Quest Marine
Dry goods for the marine/reef tank.
- ReefFanatic.com
Mostly lighting, some monitoring/controlling devices.
- Champion Lighting &
Supply More than just lighting... I bought a high
quality
Milwaukee refractometer from them for only about $10 more than the
cheapies
elsewhere. Biggest complaint is that there is no search feature
on their website. You have to know how they classified the item
you're looking for. That generally works...but if you want a
refractomer, you have to look under "Controllers" and then know to open
Milwaukee Instruments. Who knows, they might have five other
brands stuck under "Wavemakers" for all I know.
- HelloLights.com Not
sure where the name came from, but they have a great selection of
lights (fixtues, bulbs) and accessories (fans). ReefCentral
consensus is that they are great.
- Aquatic
WareHouse
- CAPTIVEREEFS
Dry goods of all sorts. Usually several specials on home page.
- Blue Reef Aquatics
Mostly corals, inverts, etc. but also equipment, cabinets.
- Coral Reef Supply
- eReefTank
I had one problem with my one order from this retailer.
Eventually everything worked out and I received everything
ordered. I don't know if it was just bad luck or an ongoing
problem.
My one big complaint was that the site had no search function, but that
has recently been added. The new site is much easier to
negotiate. I placed another order for a single sale item and it
was on my doorstep 3 days later. (I placed orders at two other
suppliers at the same time and delivery was twice as long.)
- ReefRock.com
(reefrock.com--not sure why the link isn't displaying properly on all
browsers) I
thought they would be a supplier of live rock. Nope, try
again. They apparently are new and carry dry goods...
- Reeftank Lighting
Finally, a site whose name tells you exactly what they sell.
- Acropora.net Marine
specialty equipment (lighting, chillers, etc.) also coral frags.
Reasonable prices and shipping.
- Ocean Encounter Dry
goods (somewhat limited selection) and live rock/sand.
- FishSupply.com Dry
goods, fish, inverts.