I decided to write this article to help people learn a couple things that I wish I would have known when I started purchasing live fish online. Some people hear about buying live fish online and think it is crazy and ridiculous, but it isn’t either of those things. Buying fish online is sometimes the only way to find a specific fish that you might be looking for. Online aquarium livestock sellers are professional, and they take pride in providing you with assurance that your animals will arrive alive and healthy. Most of these websites also provide live arrival guarantees that encourage you to at least try buying fish online.
The first thing that I wish I would have known when I started buying aquarium livestock online is that shipping is sometimes more expensive than the fish you’re actually buying. This is because the online stores have to ship overnight so that your fish will arrive alive. They have methods of sedating the fish so that they wont get stressed in the shipping process. The trick to get around this extra expense is to find websites that charge a flat rate. Some websites will charge a flat rate of around $40 no matter how many fish you buy or how big the fish. Unfortunately, these types of websites are hard to come by. Luckily there are other methods to avoid spending so much money on shipping. Another way to save money is to look for websites that will give you free shipping if you spend a certain amount. Usually this method is only saving you money if you’re looking to buy a lot of fish or expensive fish. They usually make you spend around $150-200. So even though it is an expense that you have to deal with when buying fish online, it isn’t something that has to be the decision maker on whether you get a fish you love or not. Just look around on other websites and see if they have any of these types of shipping.
The next thing that I think all aquarium enthusiasts should know is that things in mirror are smaller than they appear. The reason I say this is, because a lot of websites bend the truth a little bit when it comes to the size of the fish. So when you see a fish that they say is 6-7 inches, well, that probably means that your fish is anywhere from 4 inches to 7 inches. This can be discouraging to people because you never actually see the fish that you are getting, but don’t despair because if your at a legitimate website then they are probably providing “good” business to still be “in” business. Also another thing you can do on most of these websites is to provide them with a comment upon purchasing your livestock. So if you tell them that you need the largest fish available in the species that you are ordering, then they will probably send you a larger fish.
Last, but certainly not least, always do your research before purchasing a fish that you don’t have experience with. I am a freshwater, aggressive fish enthusiast and I have had my fair share of problems when I didn’t do my research. This is especially important if you are buying aggressive or territorial fish. Even if you are only buying one fish for one aquarium, you should research what the aquarium requirements for that fish is and what their diet might include. For example, I once bought a Saber Tooth Tetra (sounds pretty crazy right?). I had done my research on this fish before purchasing it, but I didn’t do enough research. I decided I would get one and see how it fared (by the way this was an $80 fish with $50 shipping so it wasn’t just a cheap purchase). For the first couple days my fish did fine. He wasn’t eating and I wasn’t really concerned because this is normal for fish who are getting acclimated. After about a week of not eating anything; I started to get worried. So I started to do more thorough research to see if I could solve the problem. That’s when I realized my mistake. I read on a website that the Saber Tooth Tetra will usually only accept live fish for food. I was aggravated to say the least. At least I went and bought a whole new aquarium just to keep feeder fish in; so that my Tetra would always have food. Unfortunately that tetra ended up killing itself because it jumped into the hood of my aquarium and knocked out its teeth. The reason I tell that story is to put emphasis on researching the fish you want to buy.
