Ever Receive An Order Of Fish That You... Didn't Order?

Hello! Today, I was woken up by a knock at my door. It was the mail man, with a package marked with "live fish". I DID order some stuff, but it wasn't supposed to be in until January - I was confused, and a bit annoyed. Once I opened the package, the first thing I pulled out was a firefish goby - I didn't order a firefish.

Here's what came in the box:

A firefish goby
A bubbletip anemone
A torch/frogspawn frag
A peppermint Shrimp
A ton of Caulerpa Sp.

None of the stuff in this box is mine. I wasn't prepared for anything yet, so I filled up a food-safe rubbermaid tote with saltwater, a heater, and a cycled sponge filter. I put the firefish into the tote, along with the shrimp and some of the Caulerpa. The rest of the stuff got acclimated into my tank.

I sent an E-mail to the store, explaining the situation, but what would you guys do? I do have the right tanks and lights to keep this stuff, but if this is a common occurence, it could be terrible. Imagine if I had just ordered some live freshwater plants, and had no saltwater tanks - that's a ton of livestock that would probably end up dead. This is a good store, too - I'd rather not state their name publicly, but I've had good experience with them in the past, and they get great reviews. Just wondering what others would have done.

 

Wow, I myself don't have anything that I could have done with them. I would've called the company first and asked them what to do because I would've literally had no idea. And hopefully they'd be able to get ahold of the original order so we could meet up if it was in the same area. But I don't have salt or anything, they would've just had to stay in the bags

 

I don't think they're open today (they're a small business based out of Florida), so I can't call. I'm definitely not driving to Florida, either!

I've just never experienced anything like this. Everyone seems happy, as far I can tell, so I think shipping went okay. It was just a huge surprise, and it's sorta annoying that something like that would fall through the cracks - mistakes do happen, so I'm not upset or angry at the company, but still. What if the anemone they sent was 1' across, instead 2"? I would have had to put it into a tote with a desk lamp and hoped for the best.

I'm also worried about my order - the only way I can think of that this could happen is if they sent everything out in a rush, and maybe the shipping labels were mixed up. So, the fish, coral, and macroalgae I ordered might end up with someone who has no idea what they have. Which, judging by what I received, it's likely that they'll have some sort of experience with saltwater, but still.

 

From what your describing it seems like orders got mixed up, and you received someone else’s package, especially if none of the stuff you received is what you ordered. I’d try to contact them ASAP and explain the situation.

 

When they reopen contact them. They will probably resend your order and tell you to keep what you were sent. Extra Christmas present for you. It happened to me once. That's what the company did. Hard for people to send fish back if not knowledgeable in doing so.

 

Not of fish stuff but I did get the same order twice a few days apart.

 

From what your describing it seems like orders got mixed up, and you received someone else’s package, especially if none of the stuff you received is what you ordered. I’d try to contact them ASAP and explain the situation.

That's probably pretty much it. As long as everything works out, it's not too big of a deal - it was just surprising, to say the least.

When they reopen contact them. They will probably resend your order and tell you to keep what you were sent. Extra Christmas present for you. It happened to me once. That's what the company did. Hard for people to send fish back if not knowledgeable in doing so.

Hopefully! I definitely can't ship this kind of stuff back, especially with it as cold as it is. I don't think what I received cost as much as I ordered, but I think it was pretty close.

 

Poor anemone isn't doing so well - that extra day in the bag really, really isn't good. He refused to attach anywhere (anemones can't be glued down like corals - they have a foot that they can stick themselves onto things with), even after 4 hours of no flow. So, I put him into a container that gets some pretty decent light and very light flow with some rock rubble to see if he attaches.




As far the rest of this stuff, everyone's doing well. The coral frag has opened up, and accepted some food. I still get a kick out of watching a coral eat - it's such an interesting process, out of something that you wouldn't even think was alive at first glance.




The shrimp is still alive, and if he isn't showing any signs of illness tomorrow, I'll move him into the main tank so I can start meds on the firefish. The jury's still out on whether or not it'd be a good idea to keep him long term, but I can definitely get him back to health before I decide.

Just thought I'd give a quick little update! I also wanted to clarify that I have no ill will towards the vendor that shipped me this stuff. I've ordered multiple fish, inverts, and coral from them in the past, and have had great success with their shipping and stock. I seriously doubt that this is a common occurrence from them - but I do hope that this is the one and only time it happens. Mistakes do happen, but ones like this could be disastrous. I'll probably hear back from them in the morning, and I'll post their response here.

 

Would you mind pming me with the name of the store? I want to get some BTA

 

Poor anemone isn't doing so well - that extra day in the bag really, really isn't good. He refused to attach anywhere (anemones can't be glued down like corals - they have a foot that they can stick themselves onto things with), even after 4 hours of no flow. So, I put him into a container that gets some pretty decent light and very light flow with some rock rubble to see if he attaches.

View attachment 513382

As far the rest of this stuff, everyone's doing well. The coral frag has opened up, and accepted some food. I still get a kick out of watching a coral eat - it's such an interesting process, out of something that you wouldn't even think was alive at first glance.

View attachment 513383

The shrimp is still alive, and if he isn't showing any signs of illness tomorrow, I'll move him into the main tank so I can start meds on the firefish. The jury's still out on whether or not it'd be a good idea to keep him long term, but I can definitely get him back to health before I decide.

Just thought I'd give a quick little update! I also wanted to clarify that I have no ill will towards the vendor that shipped me this stuff. I've ordered multiple fish, inverts, and coral from them in the past, and have had great success with their shipping and stock. I seriously doubt that this is a common occurrence from them - but I do hope that this is the one and only time it happens. Mistakes do happen, but ones like this could be disastrous. I'll probably hear back from them in the morning, and I'll post their response here.

I do hope the anemone starts to look better for you. Seems like you know what you're doing though. Any word from the vendor?

 

Just got an e-mail from the store.

The guy was pretty apologetic, and explained that they printed out all of their shipping labels the day before Christmas Eve - so that they'd have an easy time catching back up after Christmas. Somehow, my shipping label got placed on this box instead of the original owner's. I guess it happens - but still, it's pretty inexcusable.

I get to keep everything I received, free of charge, and I got $50 off on my next purchase. I'll take it! I did go ahead and cancel my next order, just because I'm not sure I want to take a risk on adding SO MUCH new stuff to such a small tank in such a small span of time, but I will be buying from them again.

Also - the anemone is doing better. Not great, but I feel like he's going to make it. Last night, I was pretty sure I was gonna have to throw him out pretty soon to keep him from nuking my tank.

He escaped his container, and fell to the sandbed this morning. I turned off all the flow in the tank, and he eventually righted himself, and since then, he's been on a journey... he started in the front right corner of the tank, and he's made his way around the sandbed. He's finally starting to settle down in a little cranny now, I think.

I apologize for the barrage of pics that I'm about to post... I just find it fascinating!

Top-down view of the little guy from this morning. He was looking all sad and droopy, but he was finally upright. Progress from last night.



Here's a side-view of the same picture.



He started climbing the glass. I wasn't about to mess with him, but I really, really didn't want him on my front glass!



Phew. Guess he decided that wasn't the spot for him.



Uh oh... he's getting awfully close to that Caulerpa and the new Hammer frag. I didn't get a picture, but he actually climbed up on top of that clump of Caulerpa. I didn't want to move him, but I was pretty nervous!



Back almost to where we started, now. But maybe he's gonna climb up that rock?



Guess not.



... and that's where he remains. He hasn't moved too much more, although he's still inflated and spinning around a bit. I did move a couple of rocks around his foot, to try and get him to settle into a crevice. BTA's are (apparently) most comfortable in areas where two or more rocks meet. They'll usually like to be a bit higher up on the rockwork than this guy is now, but I'm hoping he finds somewhere he likes soon. I've been moving coral frags and snails out of his way since 7 AM - I'm starting to get tired of getting my hand wet.

 

That's insane. I never knew those moved around like that. I thought they were like plants. Were you put it is were it stays.

 

That's insane. I never knew those moved around like that. I thought they were like plants. Were you put it is were it stays.

I knew that they moved, but I'd never seen one move in person. It's pretty interesting - they kinda deflate and deform their bodies so that they slide around the sand and rock. They're sticky, too, so anything they pick up gets carried with them until they get knocked off. It's been a fun morning!

 

I don't think they're open today (they're a small business based out of Florida), so I can't call. I'm definitely not driving to Florida, either!

I've just never experienced anything like this. Everyone seems happy, as far I can tell, so I think shipping went okay. It was just a huge surprise, and it's sorta annoying that something like that would fall through the cracks - mistakes do happen, so I'm not upset or angry at the company, but still. What if the anemone they sent was 1' across, instead 2"? I would have had to put it into a tote with a desk lamp and hoped for the best.

I'm also worried about my order - the only way I can think of that this could happen is if they sent everything out in a rush, and maybe the shipping labels were mixed up. So, the fish, coral, and macroalgae I ordered might end up with someone who has no idea what they have. Which, judging by what I received, it's likely that they'll have some sort of experience with saltwater, but still.

Yes, I bought snails on eBay. A few days later he sent me an email saying USPS returned the package saying the package was destroyed but he was sending it out again. He did, got new tracking #, order came, opened it and it was an expensive camera. Umm, did not order that. I was nice about it and emailed the guy. He paid for shipping to return it to him, and he sent me my snails.

 

I ordered a betta from Aquabid. Got a bunch of fry. Thankfully they all grew up to be guppy fry-- I had gups anyway, so it worked.
The person was nice, I apologized since I could not send them back, it was far too cold in VA to send back to CA in such a short time span. The person sent my betta a few weeks later and I ordered from them again.

I used to handmake custom parasols, It was holiday season and I had 5 orders to send out. I got everything boxed up, but somehow, I switched 2 of the labels.
The ladies exchanged addresses and sent them to one another, at my expense. They remain, good friends, last I heard!
Stuff happens. That's life.
With parasols, it's not life or death, but with fish-- I can see your concern.
I always try to remember that we are all just humans at the end of the day.
All we can do is try to be the best version of ourselves we can be. & Don't sweat the small stuff. <3

 

stella1979 thought you might like the pictures of the moving BTA

 

That's insane. I never knew those moved around like that. I thought they were like plants. Were you put it is were it stays.

Welcome to the world of Anemones my friend. It's a very, very common mistake to take them for plants. I too, thought they where plants at one point. They happen to be carnivorous, and they are very cool to watch, especially if you have clownfish in the same tank,

It's too bad. Firefish are some of my favorite saltwater fish. Their so expensive though.

 

Yes, I bought snails on eBay. A few days later he sent me an email saying USPS returned the package saying the package was destroyed but he was sending it out again. He did, got new tracking #, order came, opened it and it was an expensive camera. Umm, did not order that. I was nice about it and emailed the guy. He paid for shipping to return it to him, and he sent me my snails.

Wow! He's lucky he made that mistake with you. A lot of people would have kept the camera!

I ordered a betta from Aquabid. Got a bunch of fry. Thankfully they all grew up to be guppy fry-- I had gups anyway, so it worked.
The person was nice, I apologized since I could not send them back, it was far too cold in VA to send back to CA in such a short time span. The person sent my betta a few weeks later and I ordered from them again.

I used to handmake custom parasols, It was holiday season and I had 5 orders to send out. I got everything boxed up, but somehow, I switched 2 of the labels.
The ladies exchanged addresses and sent them to one another, at my expense. They remain, good friends, last I heard!
Stuff happens. That's life.
With parasols, it's not life or death, but with fish-- I can see your concern.
I always try to remember that we are all just humans at the end of the day.
All we can do is try to be the best version of ourselves we can be. & Don't sweat the small stuff. <3

You're right, it does happen! While I maintain that it's not an okay mistake, I'm in no way angry. The vendor corrected their mistake, and nothing got hurt too bad in shipping. Such as life!

Welcome to the world of Anemones my friend. It's a very, very common mistake to take them for plants. I too, thought they where plants at one point. They happen to be carnivorous, and they are very cool to watch, especially if you have clownfish in the same tank,

It's too bad. Firefish are some of my favorite saltwater fish. Their so expensive though.

People often don't realize the almost alien nature of some of the things in our aquariums. It's why I love saltwater so much - there's a level of biodiversity that's hard to achieve in freshwater tanks. You can see a random arm sticking out of the sand, and have a valuable member of your CUC! Or, it could be a zoa-eating menace. Who knows?

I do have a small false perc in this tank - so far, she's left the nem alone (probably a good thing). I do hope that she decides to take interest in it once it recovers!

 

Quite intriguing anemones are. I swore for the longest time they were plants, like Venus fly traps, did not know they were actually a living/breathing/moving thing. Can you touch them? Do they sting or something?

 

Quite intriguing anemones are. I swore for the longest time they were plants, like Venus fly traps, did not know they were actually a living/breathing/moving thing. Can you touch them? Do they sting or something?

They can definitely sting/attack corals, inverts and fish. But yeah, you can touch them. Some of them can sting humans, but I've had to touch this one several times to get it into the tank and such. I'd wash my hands afterwards, and it's stressful to them to handle them, but it's not harmful to you.

 

Just got an e-mail from the store.

The guy was pretty apologetic, and explained that they printed out all of their shipping labels the day before Christmas Eve - so that they'd have an easy time catching back up after Christmas. Somehow, my shipping label got placed on this box instead of the original owner's. I guess it happens - but still, it's pretty inexcusable.

I get to keep everything I received, free of charge, and I got $50 off on my next purchase. I'll take it! I did go ahead and cancel my next order, just because I'm not sure I want to take a risk on adding SO MUCH new stuff to such a small tank in such a small span of time, but I will be buying from them again.

Also - the anemone is doing better. Not great, but I feel like he's going to make it. Last night, I was pretty sure I was gonna have to throw him out pretty soon to keep him from nuking my tank.

He escaped his container, and fell to the sandbed this morning. I turned off all the flow in the tank, and he eventually righted himself, and since then, he's been on a journey... he started in the front right corner of the tank, and he's made his way around the sandbed. He's finally starting to settle down in a little cranny now, I think.

I apologize for the barrage of pics that I'm about to post... I just find it fascinating!

Top-down view of the little guy from this morning. He was looking all sad and droopy, but he was finally upright. Progress from last night.
View attachment 513489

Here's a side-view of the same picture.
View attachment 513490

He started climbing the glass. I wasn't about to mess with him, but I really, really didn't want him on my front glass!
View attachment 513492

Phew. Guess he decided that wasn't the spot for him.
View attachment 513493

Uh oh... he's getting awfully close to that Caulerpa and the new Hammer frag. I didn't get a picture, but he actually climbed up on top of that clump of Caulerpa. I didn't want to move him, but I was pretty nervous!
View attachment 513494

Back almost to where we started, now. But maybe he's gonna climb up that rock?
View attachment 513495

Guess not.
View attachment 513496

... and that's where he remains. He hasn't moved too much more, although he's still inflated and spinning around a bit. I did move a couple of rocks around his foot, to try and get him to settle into a crevice. BTA's are (apparently) most comfortable in areas where two or more rocks meet. They'll usually like to be a bit higher up on the rockwork than this guy is now, but I'm hoping he finds somewhere he likes soon. I've been moving coral frags and snails out of his way since 7 AM - I'm starting to get tired of getting my hand wet.

Great photos! I love this update! I too think the nem is on the road to getting better and am a little jealous of the experience you're having with him right now.

stella1979 thought you might like the pictures of the moving BTA

Thanks Val! Indeed, I love these photos!

It's too bad. Firefish are some of my favorite saltwater fish. Their so expensive though.

I'm sorry fires are so expensive near you. One of my very favorite fish... ever was a firefish who was $14. I suppose I'm lucky in location but I really thought the standard orange firefish was pretty inexpensive everywhere in the US since they are quite common. I'm wondering if you've been seeing prices for the 'fancier' varieties like the purple or HelfrichI firefishes... who I find inferior, lol. Those fancy guys are pretty, there's no denying that, but they are missing the very tall topfin that I just love on the standard fires. Hmm, if they are very overpriced near you, perhaps you should keep an eye out for shipping sales and look online.

Wait, what's too bad?? Did something happen to the firefish? I quickly backtracked this thread and didn't see anything.

 

No, the firefish is fine! Just ate up some yummy mysis.

 

Wow I also had no idea they moved. It’s great that your able to keep them. How big is your tank. Pictures of the others would be nice . What’s a frag? Have no idea about salt water but your moving anemone has got me interested.

 

Wow I also had no idea they moved. It’s great that your able to keep them. How big is your tank. Pictures of the others would be nice . What’s a frag? Have no idea about salt water but your moving anemone has got me interested.

My tank is just 10 gallons - I'll be upgrading at some point, but probably not for a few years.

A frag is like a cutting of a coral. So, you can take a coral that has 100 polyps on it, cut off a few, and the polyps you cut off will continue growing on their own, separate from the original colony. It's how the majority of coral are bought and sold - in frags.

I can't believe I never posted pics of everything! I don't have a pic of the firefish, since the tote doesn't have a light. Oh well.

 

Impressive and in a 10gal. Wow. And you being able to introduce them into your tank with no problems. Looks great and I hope they all work out for you in the tank.

 

Thanks bud!

Small tanks have really evolved over the past few years. Go check out the pico section on Nano-Reef.com sometime, if you get bored. There are some INSANE tanks under 5 gallons on there - I've seen them go as small as 0.3 gallons. They're pretty cool!

 

Welcome to the world of Anemones my friend. It's a very, very common mistake to take them for plants. I too, thought they where plants at one point. They happen to be carnivorous, and they are very cool to watch, especially if you have clownfish in the same tank,

It's too bad. Firefish are some of my favorite saltwater fish. Their so expensive though.

It's interesting that you say they're expensive. Around here (I live in Kentucky - the only saltwater here is artificial stuff), you can get the orange variety for between $15-20. The purple's will run you considerably more, and there's a certain morph (I don't remember the name) that'll run you several hundred dollars. But, IMO, the orange looks the nicest anyway.

 

I think firefish will be my next after my clown tank is up and running good!

 

Really? Up here firefish are usually $30-$50. Yellow tangs are $60-$80, and I've seen Oscars that went for $300 (they were really big though. Were talking 8 inches).

 

Really? Up here firefish are usually $30-$50. Yellow tangs are $60-$80, and I've seen Oscars that went for $300 (they were really big though. Were talking 8 inches).

Firefish are $10-20 here

 

Firefish are $10-20 here

Lucky.

 

They can definitely sting/attack corals, inverts and fish. But yeah, you can touch them. Some of them can sting humans, but I've had to touch this one several times to get it into the tank and such. I'd wash my hands afterwards, and it's stressful to them to handle them, but it's not harmful to you.

Wow! I have fresh water but those pics are fascinating! I never saw an anemone move! Thanks for sharing that!

 

Wow! I have fresh water but those pics are fascinating! I never saw an anemone move! Thanks for sharing that!

Holy moly Momgoose56! Do you like Fishlore?! I just realized I've been a member almost a month longer then you but your number of posts is quickly catching up to mine !

 

Holy moly Momgoose56! Do you like Fishlore?! I just realized I've been a member almost a month longer then you but your number of posts is quickly catching up to mine !

I'm retired....

 

Peppermint came out in the light for the first time a few minutes ago



Luckily, her overhang is right up front, so I can usually see her!

The torch (I'm not thinking it's a hammer anymore...) is have a pretty good day, too. I wouldn't say it's 100% extended yet, but it's looking better. You can see the anemone looking sad in the bottom right corner - he's actually been looking really good all day. It's just been around an hour ago that he's deflated, so he seems to be doing better.




This is a terrible picture, but it was taken after lights out. That brownish looking blob is actually the anemone, and I'm assuming that's what it looks like when it's close to fully inflated. It's probably about 40% bigger than I've seen it inflated during the day!

 

Ha which brownish looking blob .

 

How's Anemone today?

 

How's Anemone today?

At the moment, pretty angry-looking!

He's not really attached to it, but he's perched up on the rock in the center, all half-inflated. His foot is a darker color today, too - I turned off the flow for a while to see if it'll encourage him to attach, but no luck yet.

 

I'm a bit angry... I found the peppermint crawling all of the anemone, and it looked like it was picking at it. Doesn't look like there was any damage, but it makes me worry that maybe the shrimp is the reason the anemone hasn't settled any more than it has. If I catch it happening again, the shrimp is going to a store.

Here's a pic of where the nem is now - lighting came out a bit weird, but what can you do?



I may actually move the shrimp into that jar I started this tank out in... Throw in a piece of dry rock, and the rest of the media that's in my hob. I like this shrimp (a lot!), but I like the anemone more.

 

Could the shrimp be cleaning the anemone? Like in finding Nemo? Do shrimp harm anemones?