Jump to content

Buying Fish Online: A Lesson Learned


CalmedByFish
 Share

Recommended Posts

I recently bought fish online twice, and the two experiences were drastically different. For the sake of you and your potential fish, I want to give you a heads-up. I do know we don't talk about companies by name on this forum. That's fair. I'll call the companies A and B.

On March 4, I received 3 male/female pairs of endlers from Company A. It's a company I'd rarely heard of, and had a website full of typos. But with each pair of fish, they added an extra fry, and all the fish were healthy. I paid for 6 and got 9. Came with a heat pack. Great experience. 

On May 5, I received 10 male endlers from Company B. It's a company that's very frequently talked about, spoken highly of, and often recommended. But they neglected to add a necessary heat pack. Of the 10 endlers I received, 7 were rotting, 1 died soon after, and 2 were weak but have recovered. Awful experience. I assumed that like ACO, Company B would try to make it right. Instead, they wouldn't acknowledge my telling them that the fish had needed a heat pack, and just claimed that they expect fish to "arrive stressed." Stressed and rotting are different. I was eager to be a repeat customer, but certainly won't be.

Lesson: Do your own research, and try to find reviews from customers who had a variety of experiences with the company you're looking at. And when you do decide on a company to try, let your first order be small. Only risk the lives of a few animals until you've seen with your own eyes that the company will treat them (and you) ethically.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, CalmedByFish said:

I recently bought fish online twice, and the two experiences were drastically different. For the sake of you and your potential fish, I want to give you a heads-up. I do know we don't talk about companies by name on this forum. That's fair. I'll call the companies A and B.

On March 4, I received 3 male/female pairs of endlers from Company A. It's a company I'd rarely heard of, and had a website full of typos. But with each pair of fish, they added an extra fry, and all the fish were healthy. I paid for 6 and got 9. Came with a heat pack. Great experience. 

On May 5, I received 10 male endlers from Company B. It's a company that's very frequently talked about, spoken highly of, and often recommended. But they neglected to add a necessary heat pack. Of the 10 endlers I received, 7 were rotting, 1 died soon after, and 2 were weak but have recovered. Awful experience. I assumed that like ACO, Company B would try to make it right. Instead, they wouldn't acknowledge my telling them that the fish had needed a heat pack, and just claimed that they expect fish to "arrive stressed." Stressed and rotting are different. I was eager to be a repeat customer, but certainly won't be.

Lesson: Do your own research, and try to find reviews from customers who had a variety of experiences with the company you're looking at. And when you do decide on a company to try, let your first order be small. Only risk the lives of a few animals until you've seen with your own eyes that the company will treat them (and you) ethically.

Well put! Very good advice. 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...