TBC used to be a reputable business. My first few orders were them were great. However, the quality of fish has reduced greatly. I’ve received the wrong species, fish with missing gill plates, hybrids and like you all, fish that were too small. I shouldn’t have to set up a grow out tank for fish that are advertised to be a certain siZe. However, David has always been polite and quick to replace an order. That being said, I wouldn’t recommended them. There is something to be said about the time and investment you need to make to grow out fish just to find out they are the wrong species or gender. Plus, their prices went up. Now you have to have a bigger purchase to qualify for the free shipping. From $49 to $69. I just received another shipment of hybrids, looked up reviews on this place cause I’ve had enough. They don’t seem to care about the species or preserving quality, just making a buck.
Anyone here used Tampa Bay Cichlids to order fish online?
- Thread starter lock jaw
- Start date
DiscusnAfricans
Past President
Good luck. Other vendors we can recommend depending on your experience with them. Great local hobbyists selling fish occasionally too.
I am actually looking at purchasing from them as well, I just finished cycling a 75 gallon tank and was going to purchase 16 guaranteed males all from 1.25-2inches. Now I’m having my doubts. Did you get the fish yet? How do they look?
Does anyone else have any reviews for them?
Does anyone else have any reviews for them?
lock jaw
CCA Members
Guaranteed males at that size is tricky. I have never bought from them but from my experience, it's hard to pick makes at that size.
That was my understanding as well. And when I asked David about it this was his response.
“We use a high end, video magnifier to vent them. We do very well but there is alway a potential for us to make a mistake so if that happens we will replace it”.
does that sound legitimate?
Leffler817
CCA Members
Someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but his accuracy and guarantee has come into question before and there have disappointed purchasers documented on this forum. Good luck with your purchase.
lock jaw
CCA Members
I got 12-14 guaranteed males from Daves rare fish, several years back, not all of them turned out to be males. By the time they grow out, some will die, some never color up, and you might buy other fish. Overall, I think 80% of them were male.
JLW
CCA Members
Personally, I would never guarantee the sex of fish. You're never going to get it 100%, and -- like anything in customer service -- you'll never hear from the 98 customers who you did get it right for, but you'll hear from the 2 who it got messed up for, and they'll post everywhere about it!
If they're using some sort of "high end" technique to sex the fish, you're going to wind up paying for it in higher costs.
Hello guess l just want to vent my frustrations about David Estes with Tampa Bay Cichlids. I have purchased two dozen fish from him within the past year. I'm having an issue with the postal service delivery both times. I email him and ask him what can be done if my fish are not found. His answer is that he never had any problems with the post office so he doesn't know what to tell me and then asked me did l piss the post office off! I asked what does that have to do with business and why should l be blamed for the mishap of lost fish? You know, l read a previous post someone replied to be because they were asked about dealing with TBC and the post said Not to use this guy and how condescending he is to his clients. Because l am new to keeping fish l have alot to learn and as l take a good look at my tank my local fish store Cichlids are healthier looking however l still don't feel l can comment on whether you should use him based on my skill with this new hobby but l will tell you why l will never buy from him again. He treated me like my service,my business didn't matter.and because l complained about the post offices in- humane way of treating animals and property l was wrong in doing so. My rule is if you bite the hands that feed you. Your probably not worth feeding and that's enough to tell me what worth you place on your fish. He will get no more of my money.
lock jaw
CCA Members
Sorry to hear about your experience with them. I have never bought from them and probably wont. What state are you in? If you are local there are a lot of people here (MD/VA/DC) that have all sorts of fish for sale.
There are a lot of good vendors online, just to name a few, super cichlids, imperial tropical, daves rare fish. You can try them out.
Also I would ask what their mailing policy is before making any big orders. Better to avoid mailing when its really cold, depending on where you live, unless you are doing an overnight shipping.
davidzhu777
New Member
I purchased about 7 fish from David and all of them are so small that no color is showing. I understand it's because of the fish size I ordered. But even when I ordered a 2-3 inch fish at a premium price, the fish is still not showing color as it's intended to be. Frankly, when a fish at 2-3 inch and at a higher price, you'd expect the quality and color of the fish to be better than the 1.25-2 inch fish. That's not the case. I also emailed David right after I placed the order to say I wanted 3 other fish and that I was more than willing to pay the price difference. But no replied. When I emailed him again after receiving the fish to question the size of the fish and also why he didn't respond when I asked for more fish in an email. His response was that he didn't receive the email on time and his exact words were "Trust me, I prefer your money over any fish". That statement from a seller does not make consumer feel comfortable. If you don't care about you fish more than the money you are charging, than that only means you only want to make money and not caring for the quality of fish you provide. This is not a good business sense. I will never do business with this seller again. Price paid, lesson learned. There are so many other online retailers than would care more about their reputation than the dough he makes from one deal. This is enough for me.
JLW
CCA Members
Pretty sure Shay just joined to vent, and is unlikely to join in the conversation or otherwise be active.... (Joined minutes before posting that, and it's his only post).
But, I will say in TBC's defense -- the Post Office's policy is that once something is dropped off at the post office, it's the property of the recipient, not the mailer, and their responsibility. For items lost in transit or damaged in transit etc., the recipient is the one who has to call them and deal with it. While it does not sound like TBC did a good job of communicating this to Shay, this may be the crux of what he was trying to tell him. (This is especially true as you're paying for shipping, not the shipper).
The post office, and other delivery services, are terrible right now. I just had plants shipped from Texas, and we had to work that out. Shipping in February is risky, and the past couple of years, even more so. I wouldn't ship with weather like this, and if a customer insisted, it would be their risk / responsibility (though, I personally just wouldn't).
But, I will say in TBC's defense -- the Post Office's policy is that once something is dropped off at the post office, it's the property of the recipient, not the mailer, and their responsibility. For items lost in transit or damaged in transit etc., the recipient is the one who has to call them and deal with it. While it does not sound like TBC did a good job of communicating this to Shay, this may be the crux of what he was trying to tell him. (This is especially true as you're paying for shipping, not the shipper).
The post office, and other delivery services, are terrible right now. I just had plants shipped from Texas, and we had to work that out. Shipping in February is risky, and the past couple of years, even more so. I wouldn't ship with weather like this, and if a customer insisted, it would be their risk / responsibility (though, I personally just wouldn't).
