Have any of you ever ordered from liveaquaria
 

hey guys i am looking to place a big order from live aquaria soon and was wondering if any of you have ever ordered from there
i spoke to them by phone they do ship to canada but i need a fellow reefers opinion on them
and if anyone can point me to some other good websites i would really appreciate that

Do they ship to Canada?

well i spoke to them on the phone and even emailed them and in both responses they confirmed that they ship to canada but to order you will have to call and give them the item number didnt say anything about shipping or duties but i will update this page with more info if you are interested

check out the sponsor of this forum

Don't think so. In red letters on the shipping info page....

Please Note: We cannot ship any aquarium life to Hawaii, APO addresses, Post Office Boxes, Puerto Rico, other U.S. Territories, or other countries.
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well heres a copy of the email i recieved from them


Thank you for your interest in Drs. Foster & Smith. We ship our products internationally by utilizing UPS Worldwide Express Air Service, which is a 2-3 business day delivery and FedEx International Economy delivery is a 4-7 business day delivery.

To submit an order, or receive a shipping quote, we need the exact list of items desired, quantity, and the complete bill-to and ship-to addresses. Also, please provide us with either a phone number or an e-mail address to allow us to contact you with the shipping charges. We also strongly recommend checking with your local customs regulations to ensure the items you are interested in can be shipped to you. We are not responsible for the cost of items that may be held due to these regulations.

If you decide to proceed with the order, you may provide payment information either by phone (011-715-369-3305,) fax (011-715-361-9432,) or e-mail at customerservice@drsfostersmith.com.

If we can be of additional assistance, please contact our Internet Customer Service Department at 011-715-369-3305, via email or on our Live Help link. Live Help is available 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. CST Monday through Friday and8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. CST weekends.

Sincerely,
Customer Support
Drs. Foster & Smith
pxp


this from liveaquaria which seems to be a subsidary of drs foster and bitch

Thats not livestock though

+1 they will ship dry goods

are you certain about that
well anyways can someone link me to some good websites

if it takes 2-3 days to ship, I'd be worried about dead livestock.

No disrespect to online livestock stores, but I have seen peronalities, and much other things about fish that it is better to see the actual specimen you want.

Most local stores, ours included will special order for you if you have large or certain requirements.

after shippng costs, do you really save much?

food for thought

i havent been able to find a single good store with some really nice variety in vancouver
i have been to jl, been to islandpets and 6 others
online seems a much better option for me i am willing to hit the 3 to 400 mark for ordering but its really hard to find one that ships to canada

what are you looking for? anything in particular?

you know the usual a mix of sps and lps some softies
looking for stuff that is big (4inches or more) and is brightly colored (neon green,oranges reds)
local stores have a small selection and ordering takes too long with them

If JL can't help you, I don't know what you cold be looking for.

$400 mark could be just 1 fish :)

well in any case are there some other stores anyone would be willing to recommend

When you said big order, I was thinking 10 times that....$400 is 2 wild aussie SPS pieces...

well thats just me my friends are ordering with me so total is about 3850 dollars between like 7 of us
i am not looking to get like something aussie i just wanna populate my tank and i have limited my self to 400 for the first time and i will see how everything is and then i might end up getting more

Frag a lot does sell some nice sized colonies in the wysiwyg part of their site. Prices are good and ships anywhere in Canada. They may not be 4" plus but they are fair sizes. And isn't watching them grow half the fun.

I'd say JL looks pretty good from what I can see online. Is oceanic corals still around? Although, I think they do mostly frags.

In terms of online retailers, for what you're looking for, you'll be hard pressed to find anyone offering large colonies of SPS and LPS. Local shops are probably your best bet.

Also, if this is your first purchase of live goods, start small until you're sure of what you're doing. More likely than not a big purchase is just going to end up as an expensive learning experience.

yes thats why i budgeted my self to around 400 dollars

Good luck with the cites permits to bring in coral. It's not a simple process and it takes time. Dealing with customs and cites permits isn't fun even when you have experience in the trade. You really need to know what you are doing. If one thing isn't done right you will have the whole order seized and even be charged for illegally importing endangered species. You will need to get a re-export cites and copies of all the original cites permits from when the coral were imported into the US and more. You will need to deal with customs yourself, your courier won't be able to do it for you. I wouldn't risk 2-3 day shipping myself but hey thats me. I would only do pre-booked airport to airport direct flight.

Basically the way I see it if you have to ask here for advice you don't have near enough knowledge to give this a try anytime soon.

Sizes are never a problem, avalibility is.

All stores have schedulled shipments, and we don't usually stock large corals as most people don't have the tanks to handle then

Any store will be happy to order in corals

that is why i came here. get a good idea on everything about ordering online and one day or the other i will place an order if not today maybe next month or 3 months from now but the point is that advice is what i am gonna base my decision on

Why not have local fish store order in what your looking for sure they would have great success and if your gonna get a lot of stuff they would give u a deal.

judging from the responses i am highly considering that

I've ordered dry good from them befOre and all went well
Anything alive+ border= no thanks

If you have the time to figure out when the stores get there order in. Those are the days you should show up. A lot of the good pieces go quickly. Other then that if you know what your looking for ,some pieces get over looked because they color down durring shipping . Then your looking for potential in that coral. I find stores stay away from the big pieces because most people don't want to spend those prices. As many people have said any store will order anything you want in but they can't always control the prices. Every vendor they go to will have different corals at different times and different prices.

Chris

Ocean Aquatics is another good store you could try.

When it's corals (aka plants), don't you need to deal with cites permits for getting the stuff across the border?
I'd be scared that my corals would all die because of some hold up at the border.

Check out Bayside Corals in Saskatoon, SK. I know it sounds funny to have a great coral store in the middle of the prairies, but it is true! I have been to a lot of LFS across western Canada over the years and Bayside consistently has the highest quality LPS around. SPS orders are a little less frequent, and sell really fast, but are also prime quality. He posts pics of new coral orders on his Facebook and Reefbook pages fairly regularly. "Like" Bayside on Facebook to get notifications.

You should check my LFS facebook page (Raging Reef). He's in Montreal and I think he's willing to ship accross Canada if you contact him. He posts photos of most of his arrivals. He gets alot of rare stuff.

You could also consider W2C Customs Brokers as a viable alternative for any Liveaguaria shipments.