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I have yet to find pandas at any LFS in my area. A small LFS can order them, but at $11.99 each. Wow. I know they are expensive, but didn't know they were that expensive. I want 7-8 so that would break me if I ordered them.
I am thinking about ordering them online, from www.azgardens.com. They pandas are only $2.59 and shipping would only cost me around $25 or so for a 2 day delivery. I would only be saving aroung $15.
I know pandas are a more sensitive cory, so would they be safe to ship? They would only have to acclimate to one aquarium...instead of going to a LFS and then to my house, so I am thinking that may be less stressful.
I have never ordered fish online, so I don't know if they get really stressed or not. Any thoughts on this? I would definitely wait until after the holidays to order any. Would the cold weather here have any affect on them being shipped?

*Kristin*

Ideally, this wouldn't be the best time to ship ANY fish 2nd day, so you'll have to go for next day delivery. If they know what they're doing (dash of s-zyme and stress coat, no feedings for a day prior to shipping, double heat packed, etc), the pandas should come through just fine.

Don't do 2 day. You'll be wasting your money. I believe petsolutions.com and thatpetplace.com has them pretty cheap and 25$ for overnight shipping.

Go for same day shipping. Better safe than sorry with something as prized as Pandas.

However, note that Pandas will survive temperatures down to 16°C for considerable periods of time - juveniles in particular seem to be capable of living quite happily at 18°C for months at a stretch (I've had three generations of them from my breeding, so I've got a bit of experience under my belt ). So even if the day is fairly cold, they'll withstand cooler temperatures better than many other tropical fish species. However, they should be properly packed to conserve heat so that their bag doesn't cool rapidly, and the bag should have oxygen in it instead of plain air.

When they arrive, spend a good long time acclimatising them to the aquarium. It is't overdoing it to spend three hours trickle changing the water in the bag after the temperature has equalised.

The sam day delivery route will probably prove expensive, but likewise, comes with a decent chance of the Pandas surviving, and you may also have a guarantee written into the shipping docket vis-a-vis survival, which is worth the extra cash in itself - some outfits refund your money on losses.

Before your Pandas arrive, I'd also try and get some live food for them. If they're big enough to take live Bloodworm on arrival, that should help their constitutions enormously!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I am so happy. I found a local place that sells pandas. And it is a LFS, not Walmart. They sell them for $4.99 which is a great price. They don't have any this week, so I will have to check back after Christmas, but I have ich now so I wouldn't be able to get them anyways. I am so glad they sell them though and they said they stock them regularly. So now I don't have to worry about shipping them. Except for 2 more of my rummies dying, it has been a great day. I am going to get 6 or 7 after the ich is gone. 10 pandas will be so fun to watch!:%)

*Kristin*