Our goal with every shipment is for our fish to arrive healthy and our customers be happy with their new animals. And thanks to our rigorous process and our experience, this happens 97% of the time. While most of this is on us, you do have a few important responsibilities.

Have their new home ready

Be sure your tank is ready with the required water temperature, acidity and compatible space and tank mates.

Be there to receive the shipment

It is very important that you are home to receive your shipment so that your new animals can get out of their transport bags and into their new home as quickly as possible. The box should be taken in and opened within an hour of the carrier registering the delivery. We make this easier for you with shipping status notifications, premium air service and live tracking links.

Inspect each fish BEFORE taking it out of the bag

Inspect each fish upon arrival, prior to opening the bags. This is important—opening the bags ends the "arrival" period and we cannot provide claims for fish without documentation prior to opening the bags. 

The major concern is health and vitality. But you also want to inspect for issues like deformities, incorrect species, or size discrepancies. While we have a 3-person quality control team to spot these and other issues, If you believe something slipped through our systems, please document as below.

Document any problems and email us within 2 hours

If one or more of the animals looks dead or sick, or otherwise not right, take photos and/or video, being sure to clearly show the fish in their unopened bag!

Email us your photos and/or video along with a brief explanation of the issue. This email needs to be received within 2 hours of delivery according to the shipper's tracking information.

If you can't or don't want to have your order delivered to your address you can instead have your order delivered to a UPS Access Point. To have your order sent to a UPS Access Point, you must first choose one by searching for a still operating location near your area. You can follow the link here to a page that is helpful with finding a location.

After clicking the link, start by entering your home address then click the "See All Options" drop down. Next, click the "Location Type" drop down and then check the box next to "UPS Access Point™". Finally, click "Find" and a list of UPS Access Points near your address should come up. Choose which UPS Access Point you would like your order shipped to and input that address at checkout for the shipping address.

When selecting a UPS Access Point, make sure to check that it is still in operation, accepts deliveries on your desired delivery day (some do not allow for Saturday delivery), and that you can pick up your order during their operating hours. Not checking on these aspects can result in delays or the package even getting sent back to our facility which can result in DOAs that do not fall under our policy.

We will award store credits for all legitimate issues, as decided by our expert team. Store credit will be issued in the amount paid for the fish. Shipping cannot be credited. 

If you experience issues after arrival, such as difficulty swimming, signs of disease, or other problematic symptoms, please document them with photos and/or video and contact us immediately. Credit for deaths after arrival are issued at our discretion.

The majority of fish on our website will not look like their photos upon their unboxing. Fish change in appearance depending on many factors, including mood, age, gender, and social status. Fish will naturally lose color during shipping and may appear faded upon arrival. Pictures are used as examples only. Pictures may be of mature fish with full color or juvenile fish without color. We encourage you to research the species as much as possible prior to ordering in order to familiarize yourself with the various appearances they may take on. Many species have females that look drastically different to their male counterparts, and many juveniles will not have as much color (or different colors) as their adult forms. If you have questions about how the fish will look, please review their information and email us if you have any questions.

We ship hundreds of packages a week, and most are delivered without any issues thanks to our experienced team and premium air courier service. Our high-tech packaging is designed to sustain the animals a minimum of 2-3 days in the box, and in some cases longer, depending on the breed.

However, sometimes delays do occur. If this happens to your order, please document and contact us promptly following our inspection and documentation policies above in order to receive credit.

We offer local pick-up for any order. Please place your order using the Local Pick-Up shipping option during checkout, then we will send an email asking about your preferred pick-up date. We will finalize the details with you and have them ready for contact-less pick-up. Please give us 1-2 business days to process and schedule your order.

The minimum order for any shipping location in mainland US is $50. This value is taken after discounts and credits have been applied.

The minimum order for Canada, Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico is $100 USD. This value is taken after discounts and credits have been applied.

The majority of fish on our website will not look like their photos upon their unboxing.

Fish change in appearance depending on many factors, including mood, age, gender, and social status. Fish will naturally lose color during shipping and may appear faded upon arrival. Pictures are used as examples only. Pictures may be of mature fish with full color or juvenile fish without color.

We encourage you to research the species as much as possible prior to ordering in order to familiarize yourself with the various appearances they may take on. Many species have females that look drastically different to their male counterparts, and many juveniles will not have as much color (or different colors) as their adult forms.

If you have questions about how the fish will look, please review their information and email us if you have any questions.

We are also often asked for certain sexes with unsexed fish. Yes, you can request certain sexes in the "NOTES" section at checkout, or via email after ordering. We will do our best to fulfill these requests, HOWEVER, we do not guarantee that these requests will be honored. Due to the overhwhelming number of special requests that we receive, we also cannot guarantee that we will contact you regarding your request if it cannot be granted. We can only promise that we will send you the items matching what was listed on the website.

We realize life events, tank issues, and other scenarios may arise that necessitate an order change or cancellation. Unnecessary movement of fish can cause significant stress on them however. Orders canceled within 24 hours of shipping will be subject to a 10% restocking fee, calculated based on the order total. Removal of item(s) from an order within 24 hours of the shipping date will be subject to a 10% restocking fee, calculated based on the item(s) removed. Addition of items is accepted but not guaranteed, as the order may be packed already and we are unable to re-open the box before the carrier arrives.

Yes, we charge 10% of the total amount of the order as a cancellation fee. All orders placed are automatically processed by our secure merchant processor and sent to the shipping department as they are placed. During this process we incur irreversible fees from the payment providers and additional work by our staff.