Question
I'm very new to keeping fish as pets. I was surprised to find out that you can order fish online and have them shipped. Is there any way to be sure that the fish will be healthy? Should I just stick to local stores?
Answer
There's nothing inherently sketchy about ordering fish online: most legit dealers (whether individual breeders or larger fish farms) should know how to ship fish safely, and I've seen many who are confident enough to offer live-on-arrival guarantees. Most dealers will describe how they ship pretty clearly, and you should be able to get a sense of how legit they are from that: Good bags, some sort of temperature control depending on the weather (heat packs, ice packs, etc.), and fast shipping are all things to look for. If you get the sense the dealer doesn't really know how to get the animal to you, or is being cagey about how they'll do it, I'd probably say look elsewhere.
The health of an online dealer's stock can be a gamble, but the same can really be said for the ones at your LFS -- it's true you can avoid any obviously bad fish you can see in person, but a good dealer won't sell you an obviously sick/dying animal regardless of whether you're there in person; and even healthy fish can have latent diseases and parasites that are brought out by the stresses of being transported to your home.
So there's an element of trust with any new dealer that you're considering. See what kind of reputation they have on the various aquarist forums, ask anyone you might know who's done business with them, even get in touch with them and see how they answer your questions. Then, if the price is right and you're convinced enough to give them a shot, go for it. If you can, quarantine is always a good idea, since it mitigates a lot of the risk in bringing home new animals.
Personally I tend to get my fish from a little local store, because I like the owner and he usually has a interesting and healthy (though small) selection. But I'm planning on adding a few dwarf cichlids in a few months, and I'm probably going to get them from a specialty cichlid farm that I've heard good things about: they're just the next state over, but overnight shipping will probably cost less then the gas it would take to drive there. We have some of the big-name pet stores around here too, and while I've never had outright bad luck with them, I think I trust the specialists more, whether online or brick-and-mortar.
Answered By - toxotes