Who would you recommend buying livestock from

[Guest vatbrew]

I want to start buying some livestock online, starting with a cleanup crew. Please post your favorite vendors and where the deals are.

[Gatortailale]

There is always risk buying online since most of time you don't get to see what you buy - unless you do the what you see what you get fish or corals - most if not all e-tailers of snails don't show you the actual snails. There are some good local stores that interact with the club and some offer discounts to members.

 

See post in group buy today for sample of someone wanting to buy snails online and not knowing what they are/were doing - which variety to buy. Again, most local stores stock the good kinds and can give you advice.

 

If you can't find a price your looking for from locals (remember the local store takes most if not all risk of loss of DOA snails since they only sell you the live ones where online, some my die in shipping & risk of loss is on you). Here are a few e-tailers - reeftopia.com and bluezooaquatics.

 

my .02

[SDBDRZ]

As Craig said supporting a good LFS is always a good idea, having said that I have had good luck ordering from etropicals.com, liveaquaria.com (both owned by Drs Fosters and Smith) and pacificeastaquaculture.com (Dr. Mac)

[dzekunoi]

I always had good luck with saltwaterfish.com, fragglereef.com and reefermadness.com

[rrubberbandman]

BLUEzoo.com was simply awesome............im waiting on HOWARD to do another GB.........

OH HOWARD?????

Bryan

[inedukated]

Make the drive from fredicksburg to BRK.... Great cleaning crews there, and those nasarius snails are huge. If you call John ahead of time, he can let you know if he's got enough snails and hermits for you.

 

 

Think globally, support locally

 

 

JMO

 

--Ben

[Caribbean Jake]

before you buy on line check out F&F and BRK in NoVA... if for som reason you are not satisfy then I recommend saltwaterfish.com have ha grea quality and good delivery from them in the last two & 1/2 years.

[VicSkimmr]

Make the drive from fredicksburg to BRK.... Great cleaning crews there, and those nasarius snails are huge. If you call John ahead of time, he can let you know if he's got enough snails and hermits for you.

Think globally, support locally

JMO

 

--Ben

 

I'll second this. The online vendors want to sell you a cleanup crew that is vastly too large and over-reaching. If you go to BRK you can buy just what you want and need.

 

Plus John can probably help you set up a much more effective cleanup crew, a lot of the online vendor's packages include things like the blue legged hermits which are not really good reef citizens.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Depending on where you are in F'burg, it should only tank you about 30-40 minutes to get to Blue Ribbon Koi. I believe John is hosting a CMAS social there this Saturday, so he'll have a ton of stock in.

[Rascal]

I was there yesterday and he does have a ton of stock. Lots of nassarius, astrea and margarita snails, also hermits and other herbivorous/detrivorous crabs, if I remember right. The fish selection is very good right now too. For those who haven't been out there in a while, he has significantly expanded his operation and there are a lot more fish & corals to choose from. Definitely worth the trip.

 

Personally I would be wary of ordering anything online right now just b/c of the weather.

[YBeNormal]

For those who haven't been out there in a while, he has significantly expanded his operation and there are a lot more fish & corals to choose from. Definitely worth the trip.

 

You're not kidding! Johnny has invested thousands of dollars and who knows how much sweat expanding and improving the livestock area of his store. He also keeps adding more and more high end products and doing everything possible to give us reasons to shop at BRK. If you haven't been by BRK in a while, you're missing out!

[Guest vatbrew]

Wow, alot of hype for this place. I might have to visit today!

[Sugar Magnolia]

So.....did you?

[Guest vatbrew]

No, went to steveoutlaw's house today and picked up a nice frogspawn frag though!

Edited February 5, 2007 by vatbrew

[davelin315]

One warning about saltwaterfish.com, whom I have not had problems with, the size of what you buy may really shock you. First order I got from them I was shocked that it came in a styro that was about the size of a kid's shoebox... until I opened the box up and saw how tiny the fish and inverts were. This didn't really affect anything except for the peppermint shrimp. They were smaller than I was prepared for and didn't do so hot in my tank - never saw them after acclimating them and releasing them, could have been sucked down into the sump, eaten, who knows, I only know they disappeared and were never seen again.

[Guest tgallo]

for snails/clean up crews, buy local and support your favorite store.

[TROLL]

One warning about saltwaterfish.com, whom I have not had problems with, the size of what you buy may really shock you. First order I got from them I was shocked that it came in a styro that was about the size of a kid's shoebox... until I opened the box up and saw how tiny the fish and inverts were. This didn't really affect anything except for the peppermint shrimp. They were smaller than I was prepared for and didn't do so hot in my tank - never saw them after acclimating them and releasing them, could have been sucked down into the sump, eaten, who knows, I only know they disappeared and were never seen again.

 

Arrrgh! I just ordered from saltwaterfish.com for first time. Hopefully my fishes aren't that small, tho.

 

Anyway, I've ordered from reeftopia in 2000, pretty good customer service and price. However, the price has doubled over last 7 years.

 

Fragglereef.com was awesome and I would recommend buying corals from them- Miguel tossed in extra frags Their clam selection is pretty good and better price than most on-line store... The one I got is doing well and pretty- purple with blue mottles and neon aqua/teal edge.

 

As for all clean-up crews, I just go to Today Pet at Columbia Mall- they're very cheap!!!! Margarita, cerith, nassarius, blue-leg hermits- they're all under a dollar each. I think I got my margarita for $.79 each, great snail and hardy, too. Not sure if this store is chain or local business...

Edited February 5, 2007 by TROLL