Nice post Sam!
I would in fact buy fish from a
trusted LFS without seeing anything on paper.
The underlined word above says it all for me. I have been reefing now for 6 years. When I first started out in the hobby I did loose a few fish, some of those loses were my fault and some were not. Over the past 6 years I have come to trust certain LFS's for there livestock, with that said I won't buy fish from other LFS if I believe I can't trust them.
Finally, if I was a reefer just starting out in this hobby, instead of asking for an invoice to put my mind at ease, I would instead ask local reefers at meetings or on boards like this one through private messages where they purchase there fish from and how there survival rates are. After my first year in the hobby, I can honestly say that I have not lost a fish in a short time after purchasing it.
And just for the record, no I'm not calling you a rookie Sam, that was just for the beginners
