Livefish.com.au – Buying Aquarium Plants online review
A few weeks ago I decided to disconnect my canister filter and attempt to run my goldfish tank relying solely on plants to filter the tank.
In coming to this decision I decided to add some extra plants to cover myself in case there wasn’t enough in there to pick up the bioload the filter had been processing.
Running a goldfish aquarium and adding new plants is always a risky business. You never know what new plants they will eat and also what will or won’t grow in a Walstad soil based tank.
In purchasing my aquarium plants I had two options:
- buying from local aquariums and relying on what they had in stock with varying prices or
- buying online with a huge range to select from at lower prices and hoping that postage costs still made it worthwhile.
My company of choice was Livefish.com.au (not that we have many choices here in Australia) and I found them to be very responsive in processing the order. Payment was processed in within 24 hours of making the order and I was then advised that
Orders are shipped as soon as possible after your order is placed, which is generally within 2-3 weeks.
7 days from initially placing the order I was advised it had been shipped. Livefish use overnight courier Australian Air Express and provide you with a tracking number. Shipping is a blanket $15.95 no matter how much you order (this includes shipping live fish too).
The package arrived 8:30am the following morning I received the shipping letter. The plants were sealed inside an airtight bag, wrapped in a few sheets of plastic packed inside a sealed styrofoam box.
Upon delivery the plants looked healthy and vibrant and the bunches were large. I have no complaints about the quality of plants from Livefish.
There is a dark green plant in the top left inside the box (I think that’s the Hydrilla) that looks a bit out of shape but that’s just the color of the plant.
All up I ordered:
2 x Hornwort Bunch
2 x Dwarf Green Rush Bunch
3 x Gold Pennywort Bunch
2 x Cardamine lyrata Bunch
3 x Hydrilla Bunch
This came to $64.91 including shipping which is $5.40 each plant. Most local aquariums around me seem to sell a limited variety of plants at around the $5-$10 mark, given the range I had to choose from I was more then happy with Livefish’s prices.
Highly recommended if you’re looking at buying plants in bulk or looking to stock a new aquarium with fresh plants. The more you buy the more the fixed postage price beats out buying plants locally.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:38 pm Martin(Quote)
Thanks for that Oz.
We have a 5 ft. tropical tank and find the quality of plants available locally pretty poor. We’re always replacing plants so it will be worth giving this mob a go. Will let you know how it works out.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:45 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Oooh post photos! What kind of fish you got in there?
August 16th, 2009 at 11:16 pm Martin(Quote)
Thats a bit too technical for me!!
August 23rd, 2009 at 8:04 pm davepoole(Quote)
Ive bought shrimp from livefish.com, they turned into very expensive live fish food. I have found Coburg aquarium to be good for plants, i have been dissapointed in the past with online purchases. Get pressurised co2, T5 lights and plenty of ferts. My plants are growing like crazy now and no algae so far.
August 23rd, 2009 at 9:07 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Yeah I had a friend buy some cherry shrimp ‘because they looked cool’ which just wound up being expensive goldfish scooby snacks. I wouldn’t mind some shrimps to help with the algae control in the tank, it’s not out of control but it’s annoying.
I try to avoid the hi-tech option, co2/ferts etc. is too much effort for me so I’m trying my best to make the walstad method work with my goldfish. So far so good, I’ll save the proper writeup for the end of the month.
If in six months the plants haven’t established enough to compete with the algae succesfully I might start looking at co2, although I’ll probably try barebottom and go back to weekly waterchanges before that.
Coburg aquarium are good for plants they have a consistently large range. Unfortunately for me I’m on the other side of town so it’s kinda not practical, although I do enjoy the bike ride down there.
August 26th, 2010 at 1:25 am Kenneth(Quote)
This is the second time I bought Ranchus from livefish.com.au.
The first time, they sent me 2 Orandas. After a few email exchanges and a week later, I managed to get a coupon which credit to my second purchase.
This time, I bought 2 Red & White Ranchu (8cm).
They are nothing like those from their posted photographs (i.e. little to no head wen, thin body, pretty flat back curvature, sharpen-head/mouth). Worse still, it measured at 6cm, nothing like the 8cm they claim they are.
If you are a true-blue Ranchu lover, stay away from this site.
August 26th, 2010 at 2:48 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
I can’t comment on their fish as I’m a bit wary of purchasing fish unseen, online or otherwise, but the plants I bought from Livefish were top notch, arrived healthy and were exactly what I ordered.
I think you’re always taking a bit of a risk buying fish unseen. Especially goldfish where there’s a big variety in the individual fish themselves. One man’s ranchu is another man’s lionhead etc.
October 11th, 2010 at 2:51 am Fish Tank Tips(Quote)
I gave up on trying to buy fish online. Unless they are guaranteeing you will receive the exact fish shown in the photos.
Most of the time what I received looked nothing like the photos or descriptions.
March 7th, 2011 at 4:31 pm daniel(Quote)
hi, i was starting a brackish 85 gal tank and was wondering what plants would look nice. i will be having mudskippers in there aswell as some puffers
March 8th, 2011 at 3:36 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Brackish I’ve got no idea, only done freshwater here I’m afraid!
Might want to start here and do some further reading into the topic. I’m not much help as when it comes to salt water + plants I’ve got no idea
.
May 25th, 2011 at 8:11 pm tom(Quote)
I have used livefish.com.au several times and they are BY FAR the best place to purchase live stock and plants in Australia. Their service and product is world class and quality of stock is amaing.
Well done guys, your brilliant!