# buying cichlids online?



## cichlidkeeper

ive found a website with some very rare and interesting breeds of cichlids. Cichlid Station Store - Buy Cichlids Buy Live Fish Buy African Cichlids Buy New World Cichlids. is buying online safe? i mean what are the chances that the fish with arive alive? the fish i have my eye on is an electric blue jack dempsey. beautiful!


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## Cichlidman

I have never had a problem. 
I have ordered fish several times and only had a problem once. 
I can warn you against a guy name Cichlidstorm.
I ordered fish they shipped 6 weeks later. They were not shipped properly or not packaged with proper heat packs.
I also did not recieve what I ordered and most were dead.

Other than that I have never lost a fish due to shipping. 
Reputable breeders and sellers do not have these kinds of problems.

I would not hesitate to order fish today. 

I have 80 tanks with 25 up and running. I have ordered fish from all over the country.

Hope this helps.

Cichlidman.


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## toddnbecka

You may find a better deal on aquabid.com


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## Guest

Jeff Rapps is where I buy all my cichlids. Wherever you choose to order from, make sure they have a guarantee on the live arrival of your fish. And in the winter always be sure to get fish with a heat pack.


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## Cichlidman

I know Jeff he is a very nice guy. 
He has quality fish. I had a Male F0 Festae from Jeff. Gone now but was a great fish.


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## susankat

Jeff and Daves rare fish are the only two that I would order from, Healthy fish and you can be sure they are the right fish you are wanting.


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## Datnoid Man

Try aquascape there very good


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## Cichlidman

I have had fish from Daves as well. Good quality and knows his fish. 
Bluegrass in Louisville is a good source..


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## JIM

*Ive had mixed reviews on this subject, Its always best to come on a Good Forum such as this one  and ask for recommendations. And by the way, Ive heard mixed reviews on the Blue jack Dempseys as well They must be kinda Fragile as ive heard that, and also, My LFS will not put any guarantee on these even tho they do on all other freshwater fish. I have no personal experience along that line but id get some more opinions on that one also, Money is too hard to come by and those guys usually arent cheap.*


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## uganationaltitle

i have never had a problem with buying online most places have a very good gurantee the only thing is the shipping can be kind of expensive if you go to a mom and pop fish store the can order you one less expensive than the online price and shipping. but thats just an option.


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## cichlidkeeper

Thanks for the advice everyone!


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## susankat

I have purchased EBJD's from tampafishman on aquabid. He ships from Florida and prefers to ship overnight ups. They have been pretty healthy. Besides being a personal friend. I had ordered them for several people and one of the lfs. So I had gotten 22 of them at one time.


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## Blue Lagoon Pets

Having been in the pet business for over twenty years, I have made some great friends and supplier connections, both online as well as locally. I have ordered from LiveFishDirect, and mistakes have been made, but were corrected. I have purchased from Atlantis Hatchery, BlueChips, Bluegrass Aquatics, Dave's Rare Aquarium Fish, CichlidStorm and many more. I have had fantastic experiences with all of them. I can not fathom cichlidmans experience with CichlidStorm. I have been ordering fish from them for over 15 years and despite an occasional heat pack failure during extreme cold months, or carrier fault, they are great. Customer service is excellent and fish quality is excellent, not to mention the prices. Upon a fault of a carrier in '95 from an order with them, they refunded all of my purchase price, including shipping, and sent the store a full replacement shipment free of charge. Doesn't sound like a bad company to me. Dave's Fish is very highly recommended also.
The trick to online purchasing, is experience, reputation, knowledge, price, and length of time in business. I wouldn't purchase online from someone who has been doing it only 2-3 years, in my field, that is considered inexperienced and would need far more experience in both successful shipping and keeping prior to our store even thinking twice about them.


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## Cichlidman

Well, I don't know you. I could post stories about many other problems with Cichlidstorm. Including dead fish that had not recieved a refund a year later. My heat pack was a 8 hr. heat pack shipped from Illinois in Dec. which is poor practice. He also said that he had a 30 inch snowstorm and lost all of his stock. Which was proven not true. The National Weather Service said Freeport Illinois had less than that for the entire month of Dec. That is deception. So I don't trust him. To make it simple I ordered 11 fish and a pound of food for a price of 75.00. 5 weeks later I was shipped 27 fish. of the 27 fish 3 were what I ordered. 2 of those fish as well as 15 others were dead. All the fish that were shipped except the ones I ordered according to cichlidstorm, were a gift to my wife. This was due to her exceptional job taking care of all my tanks and fish during my knee replacement surgery. I got 1 live fish I ordered and not food. If I order 2 Fryeri's from you and you send me 100 of something else. You have not filled my order. The fish he shipped for the most part were to small to ship anyway. The fish I was to get were to be bigger than that. He said you got fish so I filled your order and you got a refund. I wish people would order from me and let me give them what I want to send. He dropped the order at the shipping store after the UPS truck had ran. So they did not ship until the next day. Where I live we do not have next day Saturday delivery. I had to go to another town and beg the warehouse to give me the box. It was after 4 on Saturday evening. Almost 45 hours after the fish were dropped off at the shipping store. Of course he takes no blame for any of this. He then created the Snowstorm. Needless to say we are no longer friends. It took 3 weeks and a threat from my attorney to get a refund. I can post a copy of the email agreement pics of the dead fish and a copy of the National Weather Service Report if needed. I am as honest as the day is long. Email me I will give you my attorney's phone number he has 37 pages of info on cichlidstorm.


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## Blue Lagoon Pets

well this sounds like a personal conflict between you. It also appears, in neutral zone here, that you were refunded after receiving partial D.O.A. Out of curiosity, what does a snowstorm have to do with a fish order, which it appears you received? I am also gathering this was in winter? I also would like to place my two sense in on something else. You state they sent using an 8 hour heat pack, but fish were still alive after 45 hours? Sounds like they did an impeccable job shipping if some were alive after almost 2 days in a box with only an 8 hour heat pack.
So, you are giving a negative review about a company that refunded you, either partially, or completely, from an order you placed, evidently during the winter time, and because the shipping store? held the box for extra days? I am not sure I fully understand your argument here. You bought fish, the shipper held them too long, shipped them, you received them after your shipper held them again, you received most dead, and were refunded? that sounds like honest business practice to me aside from the negligent shipping companies. So why are you leaving a negative comment about cichlidstorm? If anything, you should be leaving a negative one about the place that ships, seems they are at fault here.

my email: [email protected]


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## Cichlidman

Wayne you asked.. 
Don't start that here.


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## Blue Lagoon Pets

excuse me? I think you may have me confused here. You have a very hole filled slandering type review, over which it seems, by your terms and words above, falsely directed at a business, not where it should be. Further more, my name is Eric, as it has always been. I was just deciphering what you were saying above. Reading it in black and white is all. I was not saying you were wrong or are wrong, just that the way you describe things, you seem to be blaming the wrong company. Have you ever ordered since and been faulted?


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## susankat

Lets calm down everyone. Each person is going to have their own opinions on mail order from different companies. People may have different opinions of one company, that is not saying that it is wrong.

I can understand waiting to send a shipment out due to weather, be it hot or cold but there should be some communication between both parties. My last order I had to wait a month for due to holiday then weather. But we kept in contact the entire time. My first order with this company went south fast, but decided to try them one more time and got excellant service from them. I would recommend them to others.

I would like to say though you should be careful on how you word things when your not happy with an order. You don't know if that person might be a member of this forum or has friends on this forum which can lead to liable lawsuits. Keep complaints civil and worded to where it is not stating anything inflammitory to protect yourself and this forum.


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## Blue Lagoon Pets

Susan, well said. Having dealt with this particular company before, for a good length of time, I am well aware of how well they construct business. The way I read what this cichlidman had said seemed biased and incomplete, albeit single sided argument. His story just doesn't add up to me to be blaming this company when he clearly stated the shipper held it, and he was refunded. Where is the negative business ethics in this?


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## Barb Okla

Dang, Thanks Blue Lagoon pets!! I could not have said better about cichildman's posts. WELL DONE!! 

This is not the only site he as posted this at.. Most of His posts have been deleted and he has been banned from other sites for his posts..

Saving them all cichlidman!! saving them all!! Barb


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## Cichlidman

Oh the whole gang is coming just please delete my account.


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## susankat

Please no pm's on either side of this. I'm not taking sides with anyone. I just want a calm discussion with no slandering so keep this civil or I will lock the thread.


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