Is it a good idea to buy a fish online?

Is it a good idea to buy a fish online?

Marc Grover (Professional Aquarist) gives expert video advice on: Is it a good idea to buy a fish online?; Should I get a fish from a show or auction? and more...

In my professional opinion, it is not. The main reasons are these. You don't get to see what you are buying. You could see a picture of it, but you don't get to see it. Half of the fun of buying a fish is coming into the fish store and looking at the myriad possibilities of specimens for your particular aquarium. Secondly, you are rarely going to find any kind of expertise when you buy a fish online. You're going to find someone who is selling you something over the phone, just like buying a book, or anything else. They're not going to know anything about that specimen. When you come into an aquarium store, or a professional aquarist, they're going to know everything that you need to know to pick the right fish, everything about that fish, what it eats, and how you keep it healthy. If you have any problems with that fish, it's tough online to get hold of them when something has gone wrong. It's a lot easier to walk into your fish store and say, "Hey, I'm having problems. These are the symptoms. What do I do?" In my opinion, it's much better to come into an actual professional fish store to buy fish, as opposed to doing it online.