This page is for regular visitors (or repeat offenders)
who want to find out if anything has been added or
changed on the website since their last visit.
The most recent updates will be posted here at the
top of this page for convenient viewing of new material
or website changes.
Thank you for your visit!
Vietnam Zoanthids
Customers on our mailing list receive updated availability lists created
on a spreadsheet program that includes pages from a handful of sources
that are scheduled to ship to LAX the following week. To get on our mailing
list, send us an e-mail to let us know you're interested in receiving
the weekly mailer. Also, if you do not have an Excel program to view the mailer,
you may be interested in the following page that has information about a spreadsheet program ...
FreeOffice Planmaker
Just a quick note in case any Comcast customers peek here.
Comcast seems to have our e-mails blocked, so we're unable to
e-mail you at a Comcast e-dress. You can try white listing us,
but we can't guaranty that will work. If you have an alternate
e-mail address, please send it to us if you'd like to get on our
mailing list or if you've not been receiving our e-mails.
Also, it's pertinent that we have another e-mail address for
you if you place an order with us. Thank you!
May 20, 2021
Hi friends,
Here's what's new ...
There are supposed to be new 2021 CITES permits and quotas
issued soon for the Indo quadrant, which includes Bali and
all the other islands in that area. Kupang has been the only regular
source the last few months for Indo area corals, every few weeks.
They bought all the unused quotas everyone had left over and have
been putting together shipments, which are great. Australia has
been all but dead lately. We suggest Tonga, though they are slow,
the corals are fantastic! Vietnam still wins for shrooms and zoas,
great rocks on the last few shipments.
Greatly affecting everything and anything, there continues to be
mainly chartered air service (with higher freight rates, of course!),
with little to no regular international scheduled flights.
Many sites are once a month now, for example Tonga or Vietnam.
You have to order to have your name on the list to receive in
the next shipment. Think and plan way ahead if you can, then
please be patient.
Kenya and Sri Lanka have been monthly or so, and worth the
wait. There have been some Tahiti fish and clam shipments
with Black and Achilles Tangs. Hawai'i is over and out,
and no flights from Marshalls in a year or more as well.
Bali has missed a few weeks now because China Air quit flying
their charters there due to the current Covid outbreak.
There is scuttlebutt about Tonga collecting fish again.
Cebu remains every week or so, as does Fiji.
There has been a big change in the inbound fish shipments.
Pack time has increased due to various regulations and
rules on charter flight shipments. Most fish shipments
now are packed about 40 hours, or more, in transit from
origin to LAX. The shippers have reduced salinity to
increase dissolved ox in the water. The fish are now
mostly coming in at about 1.018 for salinity. This means
you should adjust your acclimation and QT water to this
ahead of time ... best would be to acclimate them into QT and
then raise it slowly over a week. Of course, acclimation
water must also match. Test and match each shipment when
it comes in. You have to do a proper slow
drip acclimation*. Scooping water is not an acceptable method
for this. They really need to go into reduced salinity QT,
not straight into 1.026 after a quick acclimation. (If not
prepared or set up to do this we ask you not to order fish.)
When scheduled air service returns, we expect the pack times
will get back down to just a day and this will change. For
now this is the new program. Inbound tranship coral salinity
has not been altered, they remain in open systems pumping
from the sea.
There are plenty of great fish and corals to be had, you just have
to be extra patient to get them. As long as your order is in,
it will come in the next shipment from that source. Check out
the photos for Manado or Kupang corals to see what has been
coming in from there, recent links to those pages are below
in earlier updates.
~birdfish
*
Acclimating Article
April 28, 2021
There will be a Manado coral shipment arriving to LAX on May 2nd ... a .pdf link for box selections
can be found on the following page ...
Manado Corals
If you're interested, let us know as soon as possible!
Update - April 29th: This Manado shipment is now sold out
Please send us an e-mail if you wish to get on our mailing list to be notified about the next shipment.
April 27, 2021
A Kupang shipment will be arriving to LAX on May 5th.
Our order cut-off is April 29th ... new photos and pricing information can be found here ...
Kupang - May 5, '21
April 14, 2021
A Kupang shipment will be arriving to LAX April 21st.
Our order cut-off is April 15th ... new photos and pricing information can be found here ...
Kupang - April 7, '21
March 31, 2021
A Kupang shipment will be arriving to LAX April 7th.
Our order cut-off is April 1st!! (No fooling!!)
Here are the new photos and pricing information ...
Kupang - April 7, '21
March 17, 2021
Hi fish friends,
There is a new Kupang photo page and list for a
shipment arriving at LAX March 24.
If you hurry you could get some.
Kupang - March '21
We are waiting on the next Tonga and Vietnam shipments,
both are pending, but it could be a week or two,
or more, but we can still add orders on.
The greenhouse has some great Australia corals,
clams, fancy anemones, and fish. Ask for a new list
if you need one.
Fiji, Bali and Philippine fish are regular weekly to
LAX, Sri Lanka every couple or few weeks.
~birdfish
February 11, 2021
Some new frags are currently available ...
January 20, 2021
Hi all,
Here are some of the happenings in the fish and coral world.
Most of the scheduled air cargo service around the Pacific
remains shut down and nearly all are on charter flights,
which are, of course, more expensive. There are some recent
increases on some things reflected in the freight per box
prices.
The Philippines and Bali area fish shippers are all shipping
weekly. Fiji is weekly and great quality fish. Sri Lanka has
great fish, but is a bit irregular of schedule every few weeks.
They often have some Red Sea fish available.
Probably the biggest news so far recently is that Hawai'i
fish seems to have closed down. They are not renewing any
commercial fishing permits, effectively closing the hobby
trade. There are lots of fish that are endemic there,
which will be largely unavailable now ... Achilles, Chevron,
Yellow and Kole Tangs, Potter's Angel and Wrasse, Four-spot
and frembelli Butterfly, and, for the most part, spot Teardrops
in any numbers, they do show up elsewhere in low numbers
(as might the odd Four-spot). Black-banded (Bandit) Angel
is another Hawai'i endemic, like their Flame Wrasse. It is
a major blow if you ask me. I grew up on lots of these fish.
It was close, so cheap, all hand-caught, so hardy, the best
Moorish Idols, sad to see it go. We presume this will not
affect the Marshall Isls. fish transiting, when that becomes
a thing again. Currently, Covid has them offline now. They
were the main Flame Angel source.
In the coral world, most are waiting for their new 2021
CITES permits.
The Indo area folk, and Vietnam, do not have them yet.
It used to be allowed to ship your leftover,
unused quantities at this time of year, but not any more.
There is Kupang every couple of weeks or so and the following
link is a great guide to get a list ready for an
upcoming shipment. Most shipments are fairly similar.
Kupang
There is Tonga where you can still á la carte order.
They just had a ridiculous long period when they could
not ship mostly for flight scheduling reasons, but should
be every couple of weeks or so again now. They have A-grade
Acros, Euphys, Acans, and leathers, everything really is
outstanding.
Tonga
There are occasional Bali shipments of corals, recently
some have been 15 Acros and 5 assorted corals in a box,
premade boxes, in other words. There were Australia corals
this week into LAX, as usual with very little notice.
But the 12 colonies for $1200 Acro boxes came in. You
have to be ready to pounce fast to get the very short
supplies nowadays.
One last reminder, no telling what might show up on the
Greenhouse list, always worth keeping an eye on it.
There are lots of great corals and fish coming in now.
They often require some patience, and readiness to jump,
to get. There will usually be a hiccup in shipments
around Chinese New Year in a couple of weeks, so plan ahead
for that. It can be a week or two off for some sources.
As always, if you have any questions ...
contact us!
~birdfish
December 16, 2020
Manado corals are coming in on December 20th ... see photos on page linked below
and ordering information on the .pdf page. If you hurry, you can get some Manado corals on Monday!
December 3, 2020
Available once again ... Fiji cultured live rock, see the following for details!
November 24, 2020
Hi fish friends!
We want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!
We hope you have a good one! Cranberries,
stuffing, and Pumpkin Pie are hard to beat.
We wanted to share with you a picture a fine
customer just sent us. This is a box of Tonga
Acropora from last week. The photo was only under actinic, I think,
so it's dark and hard to see them well, so we adjusted the lighting
slightly, but you can get a good idea of what to expect.
Special thanks to Rob B. for the photo!
Most importantly, this was right after nearing 60 hours in the box!
The first leg from Tonga to LAX is a day. Then the corals are 100% changed
into new bags, water and ox. Because cargo stations close early now, after shipping
to the east coast, the box wasn't available until the following morning for pickup.
This made the LAX-to-customer part about 36 hours. The photo was essentially right
out of the box. Give them a couple weeks and they will be outstanding!
Our Tonga Acros are great in size, color, and variety. It comes every 2-3 weeks or so.
Sometimes more, other times less. Place your order to be on the list for the next shipment.
Figure a dozen Acros for $1200, roughly. You can also order á la carte from the Tonga list,
and their LPS, Euphys, and softies are as good as their Acros. They rarely update their list,
so if you have one, it's still good.
Our best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving!
Be well and play it safe!
birdfish
November 12, 2020
Hi all,
Check out the new Kupang coral pics for the next shipment
currently scheduled for Nov. 18 to LAX. You can download
(or ask us for) a list with the size and price of each piece,
from the link below the photos here ...
Kupang - Nov. '20
To explain a bit about the Kupang ... we know in many cases
the prices border on ridiculous. There are also some things
that are reasonable, all things considered. It is a new deal
since the Indo area re-opened after the couple-year shutdown.
This is how it has been since they re-opened. They watch what
is paid online for things and price accordingly. One can put
together a box of the less costly items and get 20 A-grade colonies
for about $1500, everything included.
Acropora when available, which is most shipments, run $50-100
for each colony. They are often 18 to a box. So a box will be
roughly $1600 for the low end, $2500 for the high. All included.
Some folks get boxes of 18 assorted A. tenuis or millepora, these
often run about $1800-2000. There are also Acro pics on the
Kupang '20 page.
In other news, due to the lack of international scheduled
air service, it is very difficult to get freight space on
the very limited charter flights. Often it is taking a
week or two extra beyond the usual 'next week' to
get shipments. It is a hurry up and wait deal. You have to
order to be on the list, then wait seemingly forever, and
all of a sudden, voila!, there is the shipment. Patience
is the key item you need.
Tonga and Vietnam are both still shipping great corals, both
are fairly regular, and A-grade corals. There are fish from
the Philippines and Fiji weekly, almost, and when flights
from the Marshall Isls., that and Hawai'i come in to the
greenhouse. Sri Lanka is great, but again, we have to order
and wait for them to get freight space.
As always, if you have any questions ... just
contact us!
~birdfish
September 8, 2020
Hi fish fans!
Well there went summer, and here comes fall!
There are lots of fish and corals coming in weekly,
or every other for some corals. There is tons of
great stuff to be had. Ask for a new
list for the most recent update. Still free.
The .pdf pages with lists are usually updated monthly.
There is still very little scheduled international
air freight service and almost all is on charter flights,
which about doubled the freight rates from some places.
Fish boxes are now more like $400 and corals $600
for the inbound per box landing and handling charges.
For domestic shipping it is easy if you are somewhere
Southwest flies. Or a direct Delta location, but Delta
is still not doing connections for perishables. We are
using FedEx a fair bit, and have only had one issue.
In general it has worked great, for not much more dough.
There have been semi-regular shipments (every couple
or few weeks) of cultured corals from Kupang and Bali.
They are much more expensive than they were prior to
the two year shutdown. They are watching the prices
for frags on the U.S. intertubes and jacking colonies
accordingly. These are very high quality, of great health
and color, a box of Acros is running $1600-2400. They
are big 3-4" A+ grade whole colonies.
There are some photos of recent Kupang colonies here ...
Kupang-20
A new page on the cultured Bali corals is here ...
Bali Cultured Corals
Tonga ships every few weeks and they have great wild Acro
colonies, awesome LPS and SPS, outstanding softies, and
even á la carte ordering. A dozen Acros is about $1100
from there, all included up to LAX drop-off for your flight.
Vietnam is also shipping monthly or so, but has been
slightly irregular of schedule lately. The zoas and
shrooms remain fantastic though. You have to be ready
and wait for the word that shipment is on.
There are often Hawai'i and Marshall Isls. fish in the
greenhouse, besides a bunch of other odds and ends, like
Blue-dot Jaws lately, Black Tangs, some Kenya fish,
and so on. Lots of Tonga and other corals too, often
A-grade clams. Plus you can cherry-pick the list á la
carte. Crabs and snails too.
There are frags of various types available, many for
$25 from Tonga and Vietnam, the super fancy Taiwan
Zoas are $30 each for 3cm square tile covered. They
are awesome.
Please don't hesitate to shoot us an email and ask any question
you might have.
~birdfish
Taiwan Zoanthids
Some recent updates may be seen here ...
Marine Livestock .pdf Lists
Contact Us
June 23, 2020
Hi friends,
Here are some updates on what is coming in now.
Of course, the situation is rather fluid and dynamic.
Things can change alot, quickly. We hope some good
old regularly scheduled air service begins soon.
There is more happening than I am at liberty to
say in the way of future coral availability.
Here is what I can tell you ...
Delta is not accepting perishable bookings for
connecting flights. So your nearest Southwest
airport is your best bet. FedEx is an option for
some things to some places, sometimes, not for
Sunday or Friday arrivals to LAX though. Not
always possible because they close at 6 p.m. at
LAX (!) and often shipments (like Tonga) are not even
cleared for pickup yet. A FedEx coral box coast to
coast is about $250 (double air-freight). It's
about $100 for a small box of a couple dozen frags,
for instance.
All international freight is on charter flights only.
There is no regularly scheduled service. So there are
surcharges from various sources, depending on flight
lengths and such. For most of the fish sources it is about
$50 per box over the old regular prices. For coral
boxes it can be $50-200 more than the old $400/box
standard. There are new higher per coral CITES permit
fees, and a new export inspection fee at all Indo areas.
There have been Bali and Kupang shipments (with Acros).
The Kupang is $600 per box to get it here. There are
new permit and inspection fees, and the charter cargo
is $14 per kilo! Bali will be at least $500 per box.
That is just the inbound landing and handling charges.
Add the contents and your domestic shipping from LAX.
Neither is a regular scheduled thing yet, but they are
happening, you have to order to reserve a box, and wait.
Demand far exceeds supply.
For easy to get A-grade corals, you can't beat Tonga.
This guy's stuff is awesome. Acros, Acans, the best
Pink Stylo, great leathers; and, every couple of weeks
usually, sometimes every week. About $1100 for a
box of a dozen full whole wild Acro colonies. The only
problem is he keeps raising prices.
There are occasional shipments of Hawai'i fish which
show up on the Greenhouse List monthly or so. Lots
of neat rarer stuff there! Great clams there too,
and some Blue-dot Jawfish now as well.
There are Australia corals on the Greenhouse List, and
on a seperate 'Oz house' tanked Oz list. No
Acros lately though. Viet Nam has had trouble getting
space on the charter flights out lately, been a month
now.
The Bali area tranship fish sources all join together
and ship for Wednesday arrival to LAX. Thursday to you.
Lombok, Irian Jaya, Bali Nusa and Tanjung, all four,
come in on the same charter flight. So you can get
a box from each all together.
Cebu has just begun shipping again, it remains Sunday
to LAX. Fiji ships fish weekly, recently they have
been Wednesday arrival to LAX. Sri Lanka is shipping
every few weeks or so, and are great hand or net caught
I.O. fish. Tuesday June 30 is next scheduled arrival.
There are fish and corals coming in regularly, but
you have to plan ahead, and have patience. Let us
know what you want and we'll tell you the best place
to get it.
Good fishin'!
birdfish
Some recent updates may be seen here ...
Marine Livestock .pdf Lists
Contact Us
(but not with a Comcast e-dress)
May 18, 2020
Hi friends,
We hope you are all doing well under the circumstances!
Here is some news from the fish and coral world ...
There are some shipments coming in from various places,
while we continue on standby for others. Our people in
Indo and Kupang have yet to get another coral shipment out.
They keep trying, we keep waiting. Vietnam has mushrooms
and zoanthids available right now, but no ultra soft corals
or anemones.
Since charter flights are being used right now,
we're having to pay extra for freight, so some pricing
is affected. Supplies are so tight you have to order to
get on the list to reserve any boxes you need. There are
three boxes of orders for every one box to be had.
Australia shipped recently again. It comes in on a semi-regular
basis, but you have to order to be on the list
to get a box since demand exceeds supply. It's a dozen
medium to large colonies of A-grade and better
(the shipper is the biggest there and calls them ultra),
$1300 for a box.
There are some new great Australia corals in the greenhouse,
and Blue-dot Jawfish! There is another 'tanked Oz'
list of stuff that is A-grade, tanked in L.A. Ask if you
are interested. There are frags available of several sorts
right now, including Tonga corals, Vietnam shrooms and zoas,
and some other fancier stuff.
Tonga is regular and dependable, as well as great quality
pieces and at least a bit of selection for 'a la carte'
coral ordering of good sized wild colonies. It is very highly
recommended. Acros, Acans, the soft corals, all is A grade and
better. It is currently expected to arrive LAX on May 21st,
so there will probably be another shipment some time soon.
If you have seen unimpressive or crummy Tonga, it was from the
other shippers we don't use, the cheap ones with the cheap stuff.
There are some fish coming in from Bali. They are on
charter flights and they cost $100 per box more, than the
regularly scheduled flight freight was, but it is a start
at least in getting the ball rolling again. Most of them are
now $350 per box inbound landing & handling charges.
There will be no discounts on the inbound per box charges while
we are having to pay charter flight freight rates. Sorry!
To make this possible, several shippers all ordered at once
and Irian Jaya, Lombok, and Bali Nusa, are all shipped together.
For the current shipment, Wednesday is the LAX arrival day,
so the scheduling has temporarily changed from the usual
Sunday LAX arrivals. We expect when regular service resumes
the freight surcharge will disappear and the regular schedule
will resume. There are still no flights out of Sri Lanka,
Kenya, Marshalls, Tahiti, etc.
It's the same situation with Fiji, yes fish are available,
but only via charter flights. No live rock until regular priced air freight
resumes. They shipped some of the cultured 2.0 via boat, you
might smell it when it gets to L.A.
Inbound Fiji fish boxes are now $300 landing & handling per box.
Fish selection and quality is great. It'll come in next week.
The pilots and crew have to QT at the airport for two weeks when
they get back. So can only do it so often, they run out of crew.
We can FedEx some things to some places. It has been on
average been $125 for a fish box, $150 and more for a heavy
coral box, under a hundred for a box of a couple dozen frags.
FedEx is not available for anything that arrives LAX on weekends, but it
works for the greenhouse, frags, tanked Oz, etc. Just send us an e-mail if you're interested!
Be well all, play it safe!
happy fishin'!
~birdfish
Some recent updates may be seen here ...
Marine Livestock .pdf Lists
Contact Us
April 13, 2020
There are a few boxes of frags available.
Both the Vietnam zoa and shroom frags, and the Tonga
assorted corals frags (including some Acros) are again
available in limited numbers! Order now if you want some
by sending us an e-mail!
Tonga Frags -
Assorted, farmed in L.A., great size & varieties, $25 each
Minimum 20-25 pieces per box; plus box & packing
Vietnam Frags -
Zoanthids - $20 each
Mushrooms - $25 each
Minimum 25 pieces per box; plus box & packing
Contact Us
March 23, 2020
Hi fish friends,
We hope you are all doing well, safe and sound.
For the most part, lots of international shipping has
been shut down presently. Australia, Sri Lanka, and
the Philippines have no international flights out now.
Many airlines are not flying international routes, such as
Quantas, on which much freight moves from the Indo-Pacific.
Further, in California there is an order for 'essential'
travel and biz only, which means shipments cannot be processed
at LAX in order to ship. So it seems lots of sources are on
hiatus momentarily. Many shipments were stopped this weekend,
as well as those due in this week. They are trying to get
in whatever they can of course. It will take a few days
to see what's up, but I suspect at least this coming
weekend (the 29th), as well as the following week, many things
will not be available. We will just have to wait and see what
happens now.
There will be another Indo coral shipment as soon as they
can make it happen. Boxes are Acros only or mixed corals
only, and order asap if you want one as soon as it goes.
Fiji (fish) and Tonga (corals) remain open so far. Viet Nam
is also trying to ship as soon as they can. Some places
remain open, but part depends on the situation in CA
for the handling at LAX.
In the mean time, we suggest watching your fish and
corals!
Consider what a great stroke of brilliance it was for you to
have something of such interest, beauty, and entertainment for
these rainy days.
We will keep you posted here as anything changes.
stay safe, and be well!
birdfish
March 9, 2020
We'll keep you posted on this!
Word has it that there may be some live rock available
from Indonesia some time very soon! It will be an Indo or Bali
type coral rock with purple coralline on it. It will be
more expensive than the old stuff was, but it will be
real deal Indo-Pacific fresh air freight live rock. There
might be a few boxes coming in soon.
Here are two new photo pages for your viewing pleasure ...
Tahiti Clams
Tonga Acropora
February 19, 2020
A new Indonesia corals list ...
Indonesia Corals
February 13, 2020
A new Kupang corals list ...
Kupang Corals
February 10, 2020
Hi all,
We will have a new Indo corals list available shortly.
It will all be cultured on cement disks. No anemones or
live rock. We will have more info soon!
~birdfish
January 21, 2020
Hello fellow fish feeders,
We hope you are having a great winter!
To keep you up on the latest news ...
Yes! the area within the Indonesia CITES enforcement
quadrant will resume coral exports to the U.S.
This includes places such as Bali and Kupang, among others.
We will announce here when we have them available.
At the present time, the following is the situation to
the best of my knowledge. Maybe others have different
people and experiences ...
My 'big fish' talks to a 'big fish' on the CITES board.
He told me that there are currently no valid export permits
for corals. There are no valid health certificates for them
either. And there are no quotas yet set for them. They do
not know what they can and cannot ship. It is said
live rock and anemones are off the table, done, all
corals will be on cement or other, cultured. So
many things have to happen before anything can be
shipped out. It will likely be a couple of weeks at best,
maybe a fair bit more. No one knows including a 'big fish'
that sits on the CITES board. It will happen, but
this will take some time.
That said, friends, I have seen many places open, close,
open, rinse and repeat over the decades. After a long
shutdown, upon reopening, you usually wish you would have
waited a couple of shipments until they got the wrinkles
ironed back out. I would love to see it happen some other
way, but am still waiting. That is the history of this sort
of thing, just so you know, while you wait with bated
breath and credit card in hand.
Our people do it right, and when it is ready and right,
we will have it and announce it here.
On the various frags that we often have available ...
they are out. The Aussie frags, Tonga mixed frags, and
the Tonga Acropora frags all sold out, we are waiting
for the next batch. They go quickly, think ahead when
you want to order to be in line in time. We expect
them again in a couple of weeks or so. They are growing.
Meanwhile Tonga continues to dazzle with a good selection
of hard LPS and SPS corals, as well as soft stuff. Vietnam
also remains great for shrooms and zoas in particular.
Both are every couple of weeks or so, and again, think ahead
when you want some. And there are lots of great fish in
the sea on all the various lists!
~birdfish
January 13, 2020
Now available ... Tonga acropora frags!
Tonga Acropora Frags
Our Toll-free Phone:
(866) 874-7639
(855) 225-8086
Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Central Time)
(If you have trouble with the first number, please use the second one.)
The .pdf pages with lists are usually updated monthly.
