Aquatic Arts — Local services in Indianapolis

Ehh, pretty much every guppy I bought died despite being in a well cycled tank and me checking water params daily they started dying the first night and 4 died by the 2nd day, the other two are still alive but I'm anticipating not for long since its been less than a week. They also left the plants out of my order, they did end up creating a new order to send the plants but I'm more-so bummed about the fish it was a waste of money considering I paid about $20 for them and another $40 or so for shipping. I guess the guppies had some sort of disease or parasite which I read is common for live bearers but their policy doesn't cover that. I have attached photos of most the dead fish and a diseased fish that had some sort of growth or injury on its head before it died.

Edit to add that my gourami and one of the last two guppies also died. The one remaining guppy is still holding on... I will never order from this place again, what a waste of money just to get sick fish. I paid about $130 to end up with 2 plants and 1 guppy. Money aside this was stressful and traumatizing to me. I've been checking my water parameters daily to make sure its not anything I'm doing wrong and everything is perfect, even the ph is exactly what they state theirs is and I followed their acclimation instructions. I'm opening a dispute with my credit card company, probably wont get anything back but I'm gonna at least try.

Final edit: After I initiated the chargeback I received a very passive aggressive string of emails from "Kendra", the emails went in circles with them highlighting my "wrongdoings" by initiating the chargeback and completely ignoring the fact that they failed me many times through-out my order from forgetting part of my order originally, to sending sick fish, to not responding to my emails about the sick fish. There was no purpose to these emails other than to let me know they were displeased with my chargeback and that I am no longer welcome to place an order with them unless I release it. No accountability was ever taken on their part and the whole exchange was overall very unprofessional and should've never happened. I don't know why my experience was so bad with them I did thorough research on this company before I placed an order but at least it doesnt seem to be a common occurrence I just cant in good faith recommend a company with such terrible customer service and a subpar product in...

I have now ordered neocaridina davidii three times from Aquatic Arts, as well as numerous plants on various occasions, over the past year. I live in Missouri, so my experience is exclusively through ordering online and receiving items by mail, but here's what I have learned during this time:

They always take exceptional care in packaging shrimp and plants alike. If there is a need for a heat or cold pack, they will research weather condition and provide those accordingly. I have never received a plant that was brown or decaying when it arrived. I have had virtually no plant loss after placing them in any of my aquariums. I have not yet received a single shrimp that was not alive and well --- Aquatic Arts is the only online shop that I can say this about (among probably 5-6 others). They are generous with plant portions. In my experience, I always receive a bit more than what I paid for. I have always received extra shrimp when I order them, and more recently, it's almost comical how many more they have included for me. I suspect this may have something to do with repeat business, but maybe it is consistently like this across the board. The two previous shrimp species that came in quickly colonized and are now pushing their tank's capacity. Genetically, the shrimp I have from previous orders are handing down the right stuff. I have seen no color loss or alteration. One of these is the blue velvet shrimp (sky blue variant) which are particularly challenging when it comes to genetics. In my case, they have become a more vivid blue over time, and I could not be happier with that colony in particular. I was able to take a handful of red root clusters and turn them into enough to cover a 12x12 surface in six different tanks within 5 months (and I am sure it could've been way faster if I were better with plant management).

Ordering shrimp or even plants online can certainly be cause for hesitation, but be assured that Aquatic Arts has always provided top-shelf products with exceptional customer service. They've taken the stress out of shrimp-keeping, and you really can't put a price...

Fantastic company!!! Incredible customer service and impressively committed to the welfare of the fish/inverts they sell. This was my first time ordering fish online. I have been checking out the Aquatic Arts website and getting their email newsletter for a while and decided this was the best company to go with. SO happy with my experience. I now have 18 gorgeous kuhli loaches. They arrived exactly on time via UPS, in fantastic condition, very active and with excellent coloration - clearly not too stressed by the experience. They continue to be extremely active, eating voraciously and they are out pretty much all day which is extraordinary because they are known for being a very timid, virtually nocturnal species. You can see from my photos how plump and colored-up they are. Nothing at all like the poor loaches I sometimes see at pet stores. I'll put this down partly to their being in such great condition pre-ship, partly due to speedy overnight shipping (worth every cent) and partly due to being in a large group, since they are shoaling fish.

That last point is really important to me, personally. I love that Aquatic Arts strongly discourages people from buying shoaling fish in ones, twos, threes or other small numbers. They try to educate buyers that for the health and happiness of certain creatures, it's imperative they be in large groups. For example, they will not sell a group of less than three kuhlis. The minimum you can buy is a group of three, and they ask that you only buy such a small number if you're adding them to an existing group. I also really love that Aquatic Arts is working towards selling more and more US tank-bred fish/inverts. This is so much better for the critters and the...