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Ordering fish online?! Here's my experience...I've been wanting to add anthias to my reef for the past 6 months or longer, but they are so expensive at my LFS (local fish store). While lamenting recently about their cost, a helpful member of ReefCentral sent me a private message stating that LiveAquaria.com had a sale on the very Anthias I've been wanting: Lyretail Anthias - Pseudanthias squamipinnis - and these are the ones from Fiji. I wanted to get one male and a harem of females. So the adventure began, ordering my 8 prized fish at last and having them shipped to my door overnight. Anthias are a difficult species because they need lots of oxygen during transport and really should be acclimated to their new tank quickly (in under an hour, in my opinion). Ordering a large volume of fish helps justify the overnight shipping fee, plus buying them online at a lower price tends to lessen that shipping fee's impact on the wallet. Day 1 (7/18/07): I just watched a FedEx guy carefully carry my box to the front door (2:30pm), as if he knew that he had live fish in his hands. That's a nice change to how boxes are normally handled by delivery drivers. It was carefully packed with refrigerated cool packs to maintain water temperature during shipping. Each fish was in its own bag.
The anthias are now floating in opened bags (2:40pm). They are SO pretty!!
The acclimation of the Anthias went well. Aren't they pretty? What I love about them most is the coloration of their scales. You'll see some close-ups as you scroll down further. (3:45pm) I was about to start releasing them when I saw this!
So since one was already out, I released them one by one. The water was discarded in a nearby bucket, not my tank. The anthias ducked in the rockwork quickly, and I hoped they'd get comfy over the next few days.  And I just kept taking pictures.
Day 3 (7/20/07): The male it out! The male is out! I love these fish!
Day 6 (7/24/07): Still feeding them at least once a day and trying to resist overfeeding and risk polluting the tank. I have been able to count all 8 fish in the reef. One has pop-eye, but I think it will heal on its own. The advice given to me by Live Aquaria was "You may want to try soaking the frozen foods you are offering in a vitamin supplement and a broad-spectrum antibiotic during the healing time. Using Selcon and Tetracycline will help to boost the immune system of the fish and ensure the Anthias has the best health for the healing process."
Day 15 (8/3/07): All 8 are still accounted for, and the one with pop eye is cured. I'm very happy with how this order went and how the livestock did. It looks like Live Aquaria is off the hook regarding their 14 day guarantee now.
They sleep in the rockwork at night, in various spots rather than in a group. And throughout the day, I see more and more of them. By dinner time, they are swarming around the upper section of the reef, schooling with the nine blue chromis. The bright colors add so much to the tank, and that brings a smile to my face every time I see them. I had a great experience with my very first online fish purchase and wouldn't hesitate to do so again in the future with Live Aquaria. |
And bigger than expected. After this picture was taken, the Metal Halide lighting was shut off to avoid overheating the bags and to reduce stress to the new fish. 
