Saltwaterfish.com Reviews 5,195

Just a heads up everyone. Don’t order from saltwaterfish.com. I have ordered some fish from them and I got a dead leopard wrasse due to shipping delays. I asked them to refund me the amount so I can go ahead and order a bigger wrasse and a few more additional thing. So basically I just bought MORE from them. So far I’m a little over $400 in with this company. The bigger wrasse arrived COOKED. They shipped it with to many heat packs and this thing was just cooked. I told them I don’t want them to reissue a fish due to their DOA to just give me a full refund for this $166 fish I just paid to be cooked alive.
This company gave me $90 store credit and the rest cash refund…. I asked why? And they simply said cause of the store credit I was issued from the first one cause I wanted to buy MORE from them is now against their policy to issue me a full refund. DO NOT BUY from them. Simply put. I’m just taking a loss and never using them again and I’ll talk shit about them cause this isn’t right.

Date of experience: February 07, 2025

The first shipment was delayed three days and all fish arrive dead. I got a hold of the company and they sent new fish. However. All of the fish were anorexic and had disease. Within a day two of the three fish died. They sent another fish to replace one of the two and it arrived anorexic, and in worse shape than the first. Of course that fish died too. Over $500 worth of fish. I asked them to do something to replace the damages and they called me a liar and said they wouldn’t help me anymore.

Date of experience: October 14, 2024

I placed an order for (1) fish which I then needed to cancel due to circumstance. Within 1-hour of making the order I called them. No answer on 3 calls. So I emailed a cancellation request which was the replied to & confirmed cancelled.

After a week, I still hadn't received a refund & so I initiated a credit dispute through PayPal & notified the seller.

The folks @ saltwaterfish.com actively disregarded the inquiry from PayPal & now, after nearly 3 weeks, they still have not made a credit/refund to me.

Date of experience: September 24, 2024

I ordered 4 cardinals and an elegance. They used pink peanuts and there was no cooling packs in the box. 2 of the small ones were dead and 2 of the medium ones did not survive after acclimating in a 4 year thriving 55 gallon tank. The biota group is way better! Go there! The elegance is not even the one that was in the picture!

Date of experience: August 28, 2024

i ordered fish but I could not use the promotion code to get a 3-4 Naso Tang for $10 I called, a woman told me in order to get that promotion you need to buy more so it should be $250 .
just because of that 1 fish in promotion I spend $150 more and she said all good ,
yesterday I opened the package Naso tank is not there. i called she said hahaha we don't have it.
What's this is this a jock ? she said you want it? order more we will ship it with your new order.i messaged support they said no worries we will send it ,after few days I got the fish very sick and had ick not sure it will survive

Date of experience: August 02, 2024

Free dead fish, thanks! I wish I would have seen these reviews before ordering. Place a $300 order to get a free flame angel which arrived DOA which they won't do anything about. The other fish are fine so I suspect they're just shipping dead fish as an enticement to order more. Bad business, go elsewhere!

Date of experience: July 16, 2024

They have a special buy $249 you get a free fish. I chose a blue hippo tang. I thought, these guys are usually $100 easily. So I received my package, the blue tang was dead in the bag. I did what I was supposed to and they told me I could get a free one on my next order. I told them I will not be placing a next order because I don't have $200 for another order nor the room in my fish tank for more. I told them I would like a replacement sent. They said too bad so sad we don't do that for free fish. So, I spent more than I wanted to , to get the free fish, then I don't even get to enjoy it since it was dead. I guess they didn't specify if the free fish was going to be dead or alive so there's that. It's a scam. A dead fish is a dead fish, it should be replaced. If I sent a broken item to a buyer, I would have to send out a replacement. That's how fair customer service works. Not here though. Don't spend your money here.

Date of experience: June 25, 2024

Setup a new aquarium then I ordered fish from saltwaterfish.com. Less than two days latter I cancel my order because my glass tank fell apart. They told me I can put my order on hold or I can choose getting a refund minus 20%. It was still two more days until it was due to be sent out. I wrote them and told them it was ridicules to charge me 20% since the order wasn't even packed. They wrote back and said its a restocking fee. What a lie, anybody who has placed a large order with them has had items not shipped because they were out of stock, but at the order time it was in stock therefor no items are being held, so no restocking fee should have been charged. I elect refund because in past when I had an expensive fish arrive DOA, magically when I place an order months latter no record could be found. I would avoid this place and if you get a fish DOA from them, demand a letter with your pending credit.

Date of experience: May 05, 2024

Bought a Diamond Goby from them. Died in 9 days, 1 day after 8 day window. They would not budge.

Date of experience: May 04, 2024

Don't buy from them, you order one thing and they send another or incorrect size as a replacement. Just go and support your local store.

Date of experience: April 25, 2024

Ordered fish. Then the fish got shipped with FedEx and they lost my shipment and now I'm playing games between the shipper and FedEx. This is .crazy

Date of experience: February 21, 2024

I received a ridiculously Sexy Shrimp, so small you can barely see it. I received a Derasa Clam that was about an inch in size and looked cut in two. The other inverts I ordered were small and looked terrible. DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY.

Date of experience: November 03, 2023

The packaging fee is kind of overrated. The shipping is a little rough as it had me pay an extra $6 for it to be shipped to my personal address. Instead I picked it up at a holding facility. Although my fish did come in healthy and looked good. I also do think that they are a little overpriced. I would rate this place probably around average. Better stores if you're looking to go cheaper. The shipping came fast though.

Date of experience: September 14, 2023

I am an experienced reefer ( over 6 years) and I placed three orders with Saltwaterfish. The first was back in 2017 when I was just getting into saltwater. Everything in that order was fine with no issues. The order I placed in January of this year had 2 rock flower anemones, a pistol shrimp and red starfish and 3 fish. The one anemone and the and shrimp did not survive for even 2 days. I receive store credit for them. The other anemone and startfish lasted a bit over a week, no credit. All of the fish survived quarantine but one died within a month of being place in the main tank. So for my $278 order I got 2 fish both worth less that $50. This order had a 29% survival rate. I tried again for a rock flower nem on July 6th, using my store credit and that order also had a scolly. The scolly is doing fine but the nem never made it (50% survival rate). It would not attach to anything and just faded away. It is not my tank or husbandry since a rock flower nem purchase at LFS and placed in the tank at the same time is doing great. Also Saltwaterfish's return/credit policy is such that I am not eligible for store credit on the third, dead nem. The long and short of this is I will not be buying from them again and I can not honestly recommend that anyone else do so.

Date of experience: July 21, 2023

When it comes to getting the size as described on their website, DO NOT trust them.

Date of experience: February 15, 2023

We placed an order after hearing great things about the service. The fish arrived all dead with almost no water in them. The invertebrates were all dead, none moving even after we put them in our tank. It is amazing that a service like this couldn't provide water for their fish. I reached out to them and was told to take pictures and file an RMA.
We sent in a few pictures, and rather then work with us to resolve or give us credit, said sorry no refund because we didn't take photos according to their specifications. They never mentioned this when i reached out originally. How am i supposed to dig dead fish 3 days later out of the trash to take pictures according to their parameters; just not realistic.
Avoid this service like the plague, they have no care for the creatures they send and even less for the customers!

Date of experience: February 01, 2023

Changed my review, just recieved my second order from them 2 Lionfish one was DOA. Water temps were only 63. So figured I would just order another one, but they were out of stock. Gave me store credit immediately for the DOA, but will not just give me my money back.
Also if they would have had the fish in stock I would of had to repay for shipping which I don't agree with.
They have a nice selection, customer service was prompt. Ijust don't agree with some of their policies. I will always try my LFS before ordering online, and will try a different company next time. The place is just a middle man. They don't see or ship their fish.

Date of experience: January 04, 2023

Was my first and last experience with saltwater fish they mass up with size and quality all what I advise anyone buying online believe me if you go to your local store or if you drive to the next store will better and cheaper for you and you will pick what you like better than someone just want to finish his inventory pick it for you I thought I’m taking advantage on cyber Monday
But really disappointed
Be smart and go pick what you would like from your local store better than you blame yourself after you get some thing you don’t like and you pay a lot of money on it
When they send them message about my experience, their customer service didn’t do anything they contact me one time to review my case and never contact me back. Thank you saltwater fish, for this experience never buy from you again.

Date of experience: December 02, 2022

They really care for their fish and customers. Fair prices with great giveaways.

Date of experience: October 22, 2022

Saltwaterfish is the best------Mary & her crew are nothing short of GREAT----will continue to order because they so great----Thanx, Andy

Date of experience: October 22, 2022