Delivery Time:
95% of orders ship via Priority Mail or UPS ground within 2 to 3 days, many ship next day. Out of stock items may be delayed. You will be contacted by email if we anticipate a delay, and advised of order status. We will NOT substitute without your permission. Medicine and bacteria orders are top priority. Knickknacks and decor items are rarely rush orders -- we will attempt to notify you if your order will be delayed with an approximate ship date. If we do NOT routinely stock your item, and it is expensive we may await a reply from you, or we may call you before bringing it in, to verify that you are the real cardholder. 9 out of 10 attempted frauds are for expensive items. Heavy items that must ship standard mail or UPS may have more delays. These can be identified by the extra shipping charged on your order ticket. If you have not received the heavy item within 18 days, or you have any questions, email or call. Our cart emails you when the item ships. We will be happy to provide a tracking number, either USPS or UPS, if one is available.

Email Link

Costs: (Extra shipping applies on a per-item basis to heavy items, domestic or international.)

Basic Shipping in the Continental US via Priority Mail starts at $6.50. Items that require special boxes, tracking and insurance charges will carry an extra handling charge, determined by their weight, fragility, etc..
Orders from $35.00 to $59.99, shipping costs are $8.50
Orders from $60.00 to $84.99 (without heavy items) have shipping costs of $10.00.

Orders from $85.00 up, (without heavy items) have shipping costs of $11.25

Free shipping on large orders left when we added selected aquariums to our item list. It may come back, once we've worked the bugs out of the shopping cart. For now, shipping on the price scale tops out at $11.25, but handling charges on individual fragile or heavy items often make it higher. Any surplus freight is a handling charge. Ours is generally very small, averaging $1.00 to $5.00 per order. This is packing/packaging, tracking and insurance, to get your goods to you intact. The handling doesn't really apply to lightweight non-fragile items, so fees are now being handled on a per-item basis. If your shipping is higher than the amounts listed above, the items are heavy or fragile enough to have per item handling charges, which start at $0.25 and go up depending on item weight, difficulty of packaging, fragility, etc.

International Shipping is not quite limited to what the Post Office will carry, but larger orders, or 48 inch fluorescent bulbs that exceed postal length do ship, via UPS, after you approve the extra charges, and those aren't cheap.
International orders are only shipped complete, so if one item is out of stock, the order will be held until that item comes in, or you authorize us to cut or substitute the item. International communication is via email only: be sure the email address on your order is accurate, or email us with a correction after placing your order.

Extra shipping for international orders is $20.50 per order, plus the amounts listed above for domestic shipping. On very lightweight orders, this isn't fair, and we generally put a little something extra in the order to make up for it, or issue a partial credit. On heavier orders, this isn't enough, which is why the handling charges have moved on a per item basis. International orders generally ship Air Mail. Packages over 4 lbs are expensive to ship, they go Parcel Post Air Mail and take a lot longer to get there. Really heavy items will require an accurate email address so we can contact you regarding shipping in the event of extra charges. If we cannot reach an international customer via email for any reason pertinent to the order, the order may be cancelled without notification.

Delivery time: ORDERS UNDER 1 POUND DO NOT USUALLY GET TIED UP IN CUSTOMS. If you need a small item in a hurry, email and inquire before grouping it with heavier items to make up a larger order. Given the item names I can give you a rough idea of ship weight. Or the order should be entered in as 2 orders, a fast one, and a slow one.

Delivery time seems to vary greatly.

Several orders have been shipped to Jamaica, in the Virgin Islands, (a US territory?). Although their weight varied, it took each one, light or heavy, 4 1/2 weeks from the day we shipped until our customer received it. It went Air Mail, Small Packet. (Rumor has it that surface mail takes 6 months to get there.)

Australia, England, Ireland and Scotland seem to receive Small Packets in about 2 to 3 weeks. GPM is faster.

Hong Kong takes 2 to 3 weeks to receive Global Priority Mail, except the $23.00 guaranteed delivery which we will only use if you request and pay for the extra postage. For some reason Air Mail Small Packet can make it in less than a week.

We will pack securely and ship as promptly as the post office allows. Once the box has left the United States we have virtually no way of tracking it. Delivery is in the hands of your local postal authorities.

According to a customer in Australia, our electrical power system in the U.S. is different, which makes ordering any electrical aquarium component for use outside the U.S. a poor idea.

We do not sell fish, because the shipping would run $30.00 or more to get them to you alive and moderately healthy if you were only half a country away. Support your local pet store, but quarantine your newly purchased stock.