Aquarium Fish Depot — Attraction in San Diego

I'm pretty upset with AFD. First of all, I had sent them an email BEFORE they ever created a shipping label asking for a refund. So they should have just refunded me because nothing was sent out yet. No shipping label was created yet for 5 days But what do they do instead? Literally an hour after I asked for a refund a shipping label magically got created. That really did it for me. I was already like "wow. So they're these type of sellers...." Selfish and all they care about is money. Why do I say this? Because in my email I wrote that my son ended up (unbeknownst to me) getting a Betta and I didn't want the frogs to go in there with him because Bettas can be aggressive. We didn't have money for another aquarium for the frogs. So I explained all of this to AFD BEFORE they created a shipping label - so I had every RIGHT to get a refund from them since nothing was sent out yet. No tracking number was created yet. $75 dollars for 2 frogs (I'm in Washington) Anyway, second of all, these aren't even albino African drawf frogs. These are the blonde ones. I'll show video and photos as well to prove my point. There's quite a difference. Albinos are pure white and blondes are a cream vanilla color. Like a beige. I'll also attach a photo of what they send to you when you receive your package because I thought it was quite unprofessional and snippy for a company. Like what's with attitude? Charging $100 restocking fee for wasting someone's time? I wish I could charge you guys a $100 "restocking" fee for wasting MY time, not giving a crap about the well-being of your customers OR your animals (like sending these frogs knowing that the betta could have potentially killed them and we didn't have the money to buy another aquarium which is why I asked for a refund in the FIRST place), and devilishly creating a shipping label right after I asked you guys for a refund when I was still in the right of way to get one. That's sooooo selfish and greedy if I ever seen. I should have just stuck with ordering these frogs from the other place in San Diego that sells them. Will never buy from here again and God forbid if you ever need to get a refund before they send these animals out! They don't care about your situation - all they want is your money. Look at the picture they show (which is a stolen picture from another company anyway) and compare it to the ones I got. If you Google lens the picture of their African albino frog you'll find the website that has the same exact photo. I don't have really anything good to say because the degree of selfishness and carelessness from these guys was absolutely disgusting to me. Well, now it's my job to let it go and God will take care of "karma" - we all reap...

Horrible experience with this business. Highly recommend purchasing elsewhere!!! Made a purchase and attached special instructions as site allows. No response or acknowledgment from business. Please know my purchase was almost $500. Tried to follow up again and get an idea of when to expect fulfillment and delivery. No response. Finally got notification that order was shipping. Pleco which is still showing on website not included in order and no explanation why. Again tried to reach out because not only was pleco missing but order started as overnight shipping suddenly became 2 day. Wanted confirmation that fish would be okay. Someone responded that pleco wasn't available anymore, in regards to fish... alive arrival guarantee from Route. Individual stated that if any dead fish can either get refund or replacement, no problem. Shipment finally arrived and fish were okay condition. 2 black skirt tetras deceased in bag. Ordered 6 but only five total in bag. Green Tiger barbs, only 8 of 10 arrived. Acclimated fish to tank that have had cycling for many weeks and all parameters good. Third black skirt tetra looked bad in bag and quickly declined over the next 2 hours and died. One of the four gourami's also acting weird prior to adding to tank listing continued after release and died overnight. Remaining fish all seem to be doing fine at this point. Tried to reach out to AFD MULTIPLE TIMES regard the missing and dead fish. Filed a claim through Route, but they will only cover the dead fish not the missing. In addition, they wouldn't process claim because I wanted fish replacement, they said that they would have to reach out to seller because shipping cost more than the fish. At this point I have been emailing AFD since Friday afternoon as soon as fish arrived and have gotten NO response. I've called the store directly 3 or 4 times now and NO ONE has called back. I changed to refund through Route which has been taken care of. I still am owed refund from AFD for the 3 fish they NEVER sent me but still charged me for. In addition, I have been trying to cancel my order of a replacement Pleco which also is paid for already but not processed or shipped. Absolutely no response from anyone there. This has been the WORST experience and I cannot tell you how unprofessional this establishment is. Nothing but a headache from start to finish! The lack of communication and care regarding customers is pretty SHADY...

If I could give zero stars, I would. Avoid this store at all cost!!!

I placed an order with Aquarium Fish Depot on April 8th, and it turned into one of the worst customer service and livestock experiences I’ve ever had.

Before ordering, I emailed them to ask if I could place an order but delay shipping until April 17th. They responded and said yes, and told me to include the request in the order comments, which I did.

Right after placing the order, I also replied to their confirmation email (which instructed me to reply if I wanted to add Route shipping protection) and asked them to add Route. They never responded.

I emailed again on April 15th asking for an update and again requested Route protection. Still no reply.

I called on April 15th — no answer.

I called again on April 16th and left a voicemail. No one ever called me back.

Then, the evening of April 16th, I suddenly received a shipping confirmation. They had shipped the order without responding to any of my messages, and had quietly refunded one item — the Captive-Bred Orchid Dottyback — without explanation.

Worse, the order was incomplete, and several fish arrived dead or in critical condition.

What Arrived Alive:

Coral Beauty Angelfish

Firefish Goby

Royal Gramma

Cleaner Shrimp

Pistol Shrimp

1 of 2 Fromia Starfish

What Never Arrived:

Hector’s Goby

Yellow Watchman Goby

What Was Refunded Before Shipping:

Captive-Bred Orchid Dottyback

What Arrived DOA or Died Within an Hour:

2 Lyretail Anthias – Dead on arrival

1 Lyretail Anthias – Arrived half-dead, died within the hour

Midas Blenny – Dead on arrival

1 of 2 Fromia Starfish – Dead on arrival

That’s 7 animals either dead or never sent. I followed all acclimation instructions exactly and documented everything with photos and timestamps.

The worst part is that they completely ghosted me after confirming delayed shipping would be fine. I gave them multiple opportunities to respond and resolve things — they chose not to.

Avoid Aquarium Fish Depot. They do not stand behind their orders, they do not respond to customer concerns, and they clearly do not care about...