Howie
Members
Let me preface that this review is for the purpose of informing my fellow hobbyists of my experience, and to share a cautionary tale or "tail". LOL. Of course, your experiences may differ--hopefully they have in the past and will in the future.
After considerable research and inquiries among my fellow Club members regarding on-line fish sellers (since I'd never before bought fish sight unseen from an internet retailer), I placed an order with Daytona Aquarium, d/b/a "Cichlid Express" on their internet website. I ordered 6 fish in all -- a male 4" red fin borleyi, a 3" male azureus, an unsexed 2" tangerine tiger, a male 3" benga, as well as a 3" male red textillis, and a 3" cherry red zebra (for my Mbuna tank). When ordering via telephone with the store's manager, I was informed of the estimated shipping charges for UPS next day overnight shipping (a quote of $35-40.) and a packing charge of $8 for a styrofoam box.
When I received my shipment, I opened the box and immediately discovered that the azureus was not included. The borleyi was barely 3", the tangerine tiger and benga undersized, and the two mbunas looking nothing like the pics on the website (which many of you will probably opine should come as no surprise). All the fish were double bagged reasonably well and housed in 4 separate flimsy,thin pieces of styrofoam (not a solid actual box). The actual shipping charges to my credit card were slightly more--$43.
Upon calling to report the missing azureus, the manager repeatedly assured me that he had packed it in the shipment, and I stated that it simply was not in the box upon receipt (must have been the fish magician who caused its disappearance). I asked if they can send me the azureus and was told that I'd have to pay for the shipping costs. I declined that option, and asked to speak to the proprietor--to whom I left a VM. The next day I received a VM from him stating that they would fully refund my credit card for the azureus. Upon calling my credit card company, I learned that they only refunded 50% of the azureus. I subsequently registered a dispute, which was resolved in my favor.
The moral of the story is to be cautiously optimistic when ordering fish on-line, unless you either personally know the seller/breeder or know others who are satisfied customers of them in the past. The takeaway for me is this: as club members we are extremely fortunate to have exceptional local breeders in our club hobby who provide us with beautiful specimens, that are accurately represented as to type of fish, size and sex, and readily available at fair and reasonable prices that are well below retail prices at HOT and other LFS's. In the future I will stick to patronizing our local breeders--you get to see the fish you want to buy in really cool fish rooms and learn alot about the breeding process and get inspired by awesome aquascaped tanks.
After considerable research and inquiries among my fellow Club members regarding on-line fish sellers (since I'd never before bought fish sight unseen from an internet retailer), I placed an order with Daytona Aquarium, d/b/a "Cichlid Express" on their internet website. I ordered 6 fish in all -- a male 4" red fin borleyi, a 3" male azureus, an unsexed 2" tangerine tiger, a male 3" benga, as well as a 3" male red textillis, and a 3" cherry red zebra (for my Mbuna tank). When ordering via telephone with the store's manager, I was informed of the estimated shipping charges for UPS next day overnight shipping (a quote of $35-40.) and a packing charge of $8 for a styrofoam box.
When I received my shipment, I opened the box and immediately discovered that the azureus was not included. The borleyi was barely 3", the tangerine tiger and benga undersized, and the two mbunas looking nothing like the pics on the website (which many of you will probably opine should come as no surprise). All the fish were double bagged reasonably well and housed in 4 separate flimsy,thin pieces of styrofoam (not a solid actual box). The actual shipping charges to my credit card were slightly more--$43.
Upon calling to report the missing azureus, the manager repeatedly assured me that he had packed it in the shipment, and I stated that it simply was not in the box upon receipt (must have been the fish magician who caused its disappearance). I asked if they can send me the azureus and was told that I'd have to pay for the shipping costs. I declined that option, and asked to speak to the proprietor--to whom I left a VM. The next day I received a VM from him stating that they would fully refund my credit card for the azureus. Upon calling my credit card company, I learned that they only refunded 50% of the azureus. I subsequently registered a dispute, which was resolved in my favor.
The moral of the story is to be cautiously optimistic when ordering fish on-line, unless you either personally know the seller/breeder or know others who are satisfied customers of them in the past. The takeaway for me is this: as club members we are extremely fortunate to have exceptional local breeders in our club hobby who provide us with beautiful specimens, that are accurately represented as to type of fish, size and sex, and readily available at fair and reasonable prices that are well below retail prices at HOT and other LFS's. In the future I will stick to patronizing our local breeders--you get to see the fish you want to buy in really cool fish rooms and learn alot about the breeding process and get inspired by awesome aquascaped tanks.
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