Live Aquaria

[dacaptain78]

Tampa Bay Saltwater sells rock that you are describing. Comes out of Florida water so I dont know if it is exactly the same as what you received in the past but probably the closest to it.

 

[Geraud]

Regarding hitchhikers, some companies "cure their rock" suspended on egg crate so that the hitchhikers fall down and can be gathered. After that they remove the undesirable and sell the rest. I forgot where I had read that, might have been PA actually.

 

[LBC]

Ive never fancied Caribbean rock since I spend most of my summers island hopping in the caribbean, probably half of that time snorkeling, cutting my feets on the rock a gazillian time, and have gotten accustomed to Caribbean rock & aquaticlife so much that when I come home and relax I want to see something from the otherside- Pacidc.

But now that I live on the west coast, the opposite is growing on me. Evenmoreso that fact that theres this unsustainable skyrocketing demand for life rock (10 yrs ago woulda never thought Petco would be sellin it) and that by far the most of that demand is for the popular "Premium" Fiji as the holy grail of good rock, and the stigma of atlantic/caribbean rock being denser and less gnarled/branchy unless its aquacultured or manufactured rock.

After this disappointment with LiveAquaria, I do want my rock to have lots of life on it - namely - some darn coraline for starters.

A rock with some orange coralline is definitely on the top of my reef wish list. I've already looked for that elusive orange coralline encrusted rock locally- now its time to keep looking for orange coralline to someday come up for sale on ebay, aquabid, or even on one of these forums' marketplaces. And yea doesnt matter if its pacific, atlantic, or aquacultured as long as its actually premium if its premium priced! *cough*

 

[albano]

Jeff's Exotic Fish, in Gardena closed about 7 yrs ago!
But there are plenty of LFSs in LA & Orange cty. area that you should be able to find live rock at...have you been to Vivid Aquariums in LA?

 

[Sharkbait420]

The 'Premium Select' Fiji (45lb box) I received last week, arrived barren of any coralline nor life whatsover. It's 'curing in a 50gal tub, except, theres no smell, nothing dying off. To me, its dry/shelf rock that was kept in water locally here in Cali, then shipped to me overnight. It was on 'sale' for $70, but they charged me another $70 for shipping 5 mile away (I'm in LBC, they shipped out of Gardena!)

I called to arrange return and they said instead to wait 30 days until it 'colors up'.

Yeah right. I won't hold my breath. Luckily, I have contacted my credit card and they will chargeback, except I do have to ship the rock back which is such a burden and unneccesary cost to me.. which means in retribution I'll also file a complaint with BBB regardingly them lying - the Live Aquaria description of their Premium Select states 70-90% coralline encrustment on each rock on at least one side. This rock has no coralline whatsoever. Don't even see any dehydrated/bleached coralline on it.

You should just drive the 5 miles and drop it off instead of mailing it.

 

[LBC]

Thats the thing, the return address on the box reads and 2253 Air Park Road WISCONSIN but the fedex tracking clearly reads shipment origination Gardena, CA (where Jeffs Exotic Fish happens to used to be, also).

As for Vivid Aquariums in LAC, while the staff are nice, the rock isnt anything different from the usual LFS rock stuff that looks like its been sitting in a dark overcrowded tank for months, even though they do seem to do alot of bulk shipping and sales at the same time like any large warehouse-like retailer.

Haven't checked out any fish stores in OC yet..

 

[albano]

I think that Vivid goes to the wholesalers by LAX almost daily, ask them to check on other types/colors of LR for you!

Here is a thread of So Cal LFSs
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1905129

 

[prattreef]

The truth is I have not seen really nice live rock like the old days in many years. It seems like they just don't collect it or import it anymore with any regularity. The other truth is that it doesn't really seem to matter much in terms of building a beautiful and healthy reef as evidenced by the plethora of amazing systems built on this "substandard" or even dead rock like Marco Rock. It is just the way the hobby has evolved. You might still be able to find what you are looking for, but I'm not sure it is worth the effort or (likely)the expense.

 

[LBC]

Yeah, the thing is, the product has changed, as the live rock demand is increasing literally as much as 30% each year.. so vendors realize they can ship practically any rock as 'Premium Fiji Ultra Select' or whatever and get that premium price, and even blatantly lie about coraline coverage, without even having to pay for anything more than but for the most cheap rock that arrives in us bone dry on boats.

But you're right, people getting a base-rock like product instead of the premium stuff they're paying for (that we actually used to get when the hobby was new and rare among people), still end up with amazing reefs.

I would suggest part of that reason in the more modern setups, the rock surface is covered with corals upon corals that not so much rock even shows as it used to back in the days when we didnt have so many corals and frags at our disposal and many tanks were mostly LRSWF than coral reefs. Theres just not much life on this stuff now being sold as premium fiji with diverse life on it.. what diverse life?

 

[Pharoahsim]

I've used them countless times. Only once did I think a frag wasn't that great. I rate them higher than any other supplier I've ever ordered from, (for fish). Very unusual for fish doa. Maybe the handlers were rough with the box.

 

[Zig]

i find LA to be a+++ never had any issue that they ddnt fully resolve and make me feel like i was coming out ahead of the game.
they should keep up their great customer service and diverse live stock offerings.

 

[Aquageek]

I have placed several liveaquaria orders over the past 10 years ( fresh and saltwater). Rarely have had an issue. Divers Dennis awesome! I recently purchased a bellus angel, copper band butterfly- Amazing specimens! A flagfin angelfish that ate pellets out of my hand within 2 days of acclimation ( non divers den).

 

[salajander]

I just got a CUC and a tail spot blenny from LA. Good experience so far. The coral banded shrimp that came with the CUC package had lost an arm and has since completely disappeared (been 4 days now...). I contacted them about it and they've already extended the warranty a week and seem like they'll be pretty willing to credit for anything.

 

[shauns220]

live aquaria a++++++
diver den way better aaa ++++++++++++++++++++

 

[drej424]

I know they have a great reputation. I've ordered from them before and gotten healthy livestock. But I received an order on Friday and one of the fish was really sick. It had some white stuff on its eye and it was swimming upside down. I called customer service immediately and they told me to medicate the fish in a hospital tank. It died within a few hours. So far, two more fish have died from this order. It's really upsetting!

 

[LBC]

Are they also on 104th st in LA? (so is sea dwellin critters)