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Since living in alaska, we have bought some fish from a nice Pet store, though now they have closed down and relocated. The LFS nearby is very expensive and the quality of the plants and animals is terrible. Does anyone know of any good online stores where i can buy my fish and plants fairly inexpensive?

Hi,
For plants, I would try using:
Arizona Gardens
Drsfostersmith
Big Al's

There are lots of others who's names escape me right now
but as folks read this and respond, I'm sure you will
soon have more than you could believe.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I got plants from Aquarium Garden http://www.aquariumgarden.com/index.php in late December (I just checked and they do ship to Alaska) and was incredibly happy with everything.
I usually get my fish online from That Fish Place. They have a great selection of nice healthy fish. I also have started using Aquabid for harder to find fish. If you check out the sellers, many of them have websites and you can buy fish directly from them.

---

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

I hate to disagree with FRANK, but I'd be very cautious ordering from arizona aquatic gardens, especially their fish and shrimp, They also don't pack their plants very well for cold climates, IMO.
I would however highly recommend www.aquariumplants.com for their low prices, reasonable shipping, excellent packing and customer service, and the sheer variety of plants available.

For online supply stores, I shop almost exclusively at www.thatfishplace.com, but Big Al's, and Drs. Foster & Smith are good too.

If you're into that kind of thing, I've also had terriffic luck on Aquabid.com for plants, fish, and even a few supplies. Just be sure to carefully read feedback and make sure to ask the seller any questions before you bid. Most people on there are wonderful to work with and can provide things that aren't often found in any stores.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

I wonder about orders shipped to alaska, hopefully all the online sites will work fine.... Maybe bigalsonline.com will give you canadian shipping even though you should get american pricing . Although they don't do fish and plants they do everything else.

I've never ordered from thatfishplace, but if you're ever in the area their store sure is worth the trip . Huge fishroom, and the touch tank is excellent!

You might try looking around for private sellers and breeders...I could try sending you some java fern if you're interested, I'm not sure how well it'd ship in these temperatures, and it'd have to go in a few days as I'm leaving in less than a week .

^_^

I've done a lot of online shopping for fish, plants, and supplies

For supplies I always use Big Al's. Even with shipping costs I save money over shopping at local stores.

I wasn't overly thrilled with Arizona Aquatic Gardens. I think they're shipping charges are way out of line and I had a terrible time getting them to reply to my emails. I like Aquatic Plant Depot a lot, ordered from them quite a few times and never had a problem.

There are bunches of online retailers for fish; it depends on if you're looking for something specific or just shopping around. I honestly have at least 2 dozen links for sites

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

petsolutions.com Have used forlivestock
Big Al's
Doc Foster
oddballfish.com
Fish2U.com

All charge about same shipping, $29.99 Standard Overnight

I would suggest get all you fish at one time because of the shipping. Any fish I have ordered have been cause local store or wholesaler doesn't stock it. The fish arrive are smaller than in the stores generally

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

I bought my fish and plants from arizona gardens, and ill see how it goes. In the future ill try out some of the other sites you guys linked me. Thanks a bunch for the advice!

@Babelfish: I would love some Java Fern

oh yeah, petsolutions.com has supplies, fish plants, but the best thing is they will price match

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

Bigalsonline sounds like the best to me, they claim the lowest available price online. If you can find something for a cheaper price I belive they claim they will beat it by 5 percent. They also have what they call there free VIP program, when you make purchases you earn points. For so many points you earn a discount off your next purchase. The higher the points you save up, the more you get for a discount. They also seem to have a larger stock of things than other online stores and also from what I hear have great customer service.

17 years experience with freshwater.

I'm liking arizona gardens less and less the more I deal with them. They wouldn't be the first place I'd recommend. For cheap plants I'd actually go check out aquabid.com. The aquarists version of ebay. Make sure the seller will ship to you and you'll probably get plants for far cheaper than arizona gardens(over $50 shipping for my small order of plants to Iowa). Especially plants that people tend to have alot of like java fern.

There are also sellers who use both ebay and aquabid. When I was purchasing plants I ran into this situation and his prices were actually better on ebay. Pays to check around and compare

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Treasea right you have to shop around but WATCH the shipping. Customer service is a plus as will

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams