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Below are the answers to many of our most commonly asked questions.
Please reach out if you don't find what you're looking for.
Biota Aquariums is committed to providing the highest quality, sustainably cultured animals that have been thoroughly conditioned for their upcoming journey to you.
Even if the fish appears to be deceased, it's very important to properly acclimate and add them to your tank. The darkness of the shipping box can cause fish to be lethargic, but after acclimation they "wake up" and recover quickly.
We offer a generous 7 day guarantee on livestock shipped directly from our facility. If the animal perishes due to circumstances beyond your control within this time period we offer a credit for the value of the specimen for our store.* We need a clear photo of the remains of the fish in a container of water to complete the DOA/DAA claim. Reports must be timestamped within the 7 day guarantee window. Please fill out the guarantee form here.
If you're concerned that the fish remains will be unrecoverable, lost, or consumed by clean up crews, always use an acclimation box to introduce new fish.
If more than one fish in the same order perish, please send a single photo of all the deceased fish in the photo together.
*This is within reason and up to our discretion. We will not provide credit for mortalities involving aggression from incompatible tank mates, losses due to prophylactic treatment/medications, immature/uncycled aquariums, dangerous or swinging water parameters, improper environment, overcrowding, excessive bio-load, adding too much livestock at once, or incorrect acclimation procedure. Shipping service fees and product costs are non-refundable. Biota does not cover shipping costs on replacement items nor offer store credits for shipping service fees. When you finalize an order with The Biota Group, you are agreeing to our our Livestock Guarantee Policy, all the policies listed on our FAQ Page, and our Acclimation procedure.
If your animals arrive in poor condition from shipping or do not eat within a couple days, please email us immediately at support@thebiotagroup.com so we can offer support and have a clear record of the timeline of events. Reaching out to us right away to report the problem and taking steps to resolve the cause can often prevent the death of the animal. Be sure to keep us updated and please report changes before the guarantee period ends.
Please allow for variations in the size of fish which may deviate from the listed size. Captive bred fish often tend to be smaller, but this does not affect their survival in proper conditions, and they grow very quickly when given new territory in your home aquarium. Please use an acclimation box to introduce new fish if there is any risk of aggression, if you're concerned about the fish hiding in your tank, or being unrecoverable once added. We strongly recommend having an acclimation box on hand in case a fish has to be separated from the others for any reason.
We don't recommend scheduling delivery just before going on a vacation or business trip. Please schedule your delivery date during a time when you'll be available to care for and feed your new pets during your free time at home for at least 7 days.
*Berghia Nudibranchs are exempt from the Livestock Guarantee.
We pack all of our animals with plenty of oxygen and care so that they could survive in transit for many days if necessary. All animals are provided with fresh full-strength saltwater that includes stress reducing and ammonia detoxifying additives to reduce the amount of shipping stress in transit. Even if an animal appears to be deceased, please attempt to acclimate and revive it, as the darkness of the shipping box can induce lethargy. For the health of our animals, please use our quick, simple acclimation guide below:
1. Open box and inspect animals for immediate health.
2. Turn off lights on aquarium.
3. Float bags in aquarium for 10-15 minutes making sure to avoid clogging overflows or filtration. Do not add tank water to the bag water.
4. Open bags and using a net introduce your new aquatic life to your tank. Be sure to avoid high flow areas and for smaller specimens make sure they are not predated on before they find the rockwork.
5. Always discard the shipping water and never add shipping bag water to your aquarium.
6. Leave lighting off for at least an additional 20-30 minutes, preferably overnight.
7. If you're acclimating new coral or clams, please follow the steps above plus the Light Acclimation Procedure.
Straying away from this guide may invalidate our DOA/DAA policy. Other acclimation methods could be harmful for our live animals.
New additions may be shy for the first day or two but should accept pellet and frozen foods once adjusted to their surroundings. Do not feed them on arrival, feed them the next morning after the lights turn on in the morning. Please be sure to monitor their health and behaviors for the first week.
If a fish is shipped in a mesh tube, please do not try to remove the fish from the tube. Add the entire tube with the fish inside to the tank.
An acrylic acclimation box is a great tool for introducing new fish or invert to your existing fish in safety. It also allows you to keep a close eye on your new pet to ensure they're eating well and to allow them to recuperate after travel.
If you have any questions or concerns please send over an email to support@thebiotagroup.com
Biota fish shipped directly from our facility are housed and shipped in full strength seawater. It's normal/expected for ammonium to build up in the shipping bag overnight. As the ammonium rises, the pH naturally drops. As pH drops, toxic ammonia is converted to the safer ammonium. We also use additives in the shipping water to convert toxic ammonia to ammonium. When you introduce higher pH tank water to the shipping water, that causes the pH to rise and also dilutes our additives, which causes the ammonium to convert back into toxic ammonia. It's much less stressful for a fish to have a small osmotic change than acute ammonia poisoning which can cause damage to sensitive gill tissue, tissue atrophy, appetite loss, and death within hours or days. If you drip acclimated or added tank water to the shipping bag already, prompt treatment with methylene blue can help relieve symptoms of ammonia poisoning in an emergency.
Although we practice strict biosecurity in our facility, we do suggest all hobbyists quarantine livestock regardless of vendor as good practice (you can find more info on how to quarantine here). Quarantine and conditioning ensures you're only adding the healthiest and most ready livestock to your display aquarium. We do advise against prophylactically treating with harsh treatments as some of our livestock is sensitive to specific treatments.
We highly advise against immediately treating our animals when they arrive. Please give them plenty of time to allow them to acclimate to their new surroundings before prophylactically treating if you do decide to treat.
Regularly scheduled maintenance, water testing, proper life support equipment, and regular feedings of appropriate foods are absolutely essential to keeping fish healthy whether in the quarantine or display aquarium. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
If you have questions about quarantining our livestock please do not hesitate to reach out to our support email at support@thebiotagroup.com
You can find the preferred diet of each fish in the product description. It's recommended to feed very young or new fish 3 - 5 x a day. This can be accomplished with pellets in an automatic feeder when you're away from home.
We ship our livestock via UPS Next Day Air. Each animal is individually packaged with adequate water and oxygen. We also include additives that prevent shipping stress and water toxicity to ensure your livestock arrives in the best condition.
Yes! Find the UPS customer center most convenient to you, and ensure they offer customer pickup services. Enter your name as it appears on your photo identification and that address into the shipping address on your order. Also enter "UPS customer pickup" on the "company" line of the shipping address.
Yes, please email us at support@thebiotagroup.com for instructions on how to make a local pickup order. Please note, we don't allow visitors into our biosecure facility, but we can schedule a pickup appointment and bring your order out to you.
Due to International Agriculture Laws we are only able to ship Biota and our living organisms to retail customers in the contiguous US (48 contiguous states & Washington DC only). We are working with International wholesalers in order to provide livestock around the world. If you are a wholesale customer with a brick & mortar business, please see our wholesale tab in the left menu. This is increasing as we grow, please let your local fish store know you're interested in our livestock so we know which countries to ship to next!
When you place your order, please choose a delivery date on the calendar in the shopping cart screen. The calendar automatically shows available delivery dates, allowing us 1 business day to prepare shipments and also allowing for UPS holidays.
If you need to make changes to your livestock order after it's finalized, please reach out to us at support@thebiotagroup.com at least one business day before the order is scheduled to ship. Once a tracking number is created, the order may not be canceled or changed. Please note, a 10% cancellation fee will apply to all canceled orders.
Please note, T-shirt and merch orders can not be cancelled once processed by the printer and are non-refundable.
You may choose a delivery date up to 7 days in the future. Please note, orders with the soonest delivery dates will be fulfilled before orders with later delivery dates, so choosing a future delivery date may not guarantee in-stock items.
We do our best to accurately represent the coloration of our animals. Each animal is unique and may exhibit color variation. Many animals change color naturally over time and in varying conditions. It's normal/expected for fish to be pale in the darkness of the shipping box, at night, and during the acclimation period, but they regain their normal coloration within a few days.
Please note, coloration in our photographs is affected by many factors including your computer's monitor, where the animal is in relation to the lighting, the color spectrum of the lighting, and variations in white balancing. You can read more about variations in coral coloration here. For these reasons, we're not able to guarantee a particular color or pattern.
We make sure to pack each shipment with extreme care to ensure they reach their destination safely. For orders in extreme temperatures we always make sure to increase the water volume, utilize 1.5" thick Styrofoam coolers, and include the proper heat or ice packs needed for them to make the transit safely.
IMPORTANT QUARANTINE INFO HERE
Though we practice strict biosecurity protocols designed and implemented by our marine biologists, we do suggest all hobbyists quarantine livestock regardless of vendor as good practice. Quarantine and conditioning (a rest period in a safe place after shipping) ensures you're only adding the healthiest and most ready livestock to your display aquarium. We do advise against prophylactically treating with harsh treatments as some of our livestock is sensitive to specific treatments.
We highly advise against immediately treating our animals when they arrive. Please give them plenty of time to allow them to acclimate to their new surroundings before prophylactically treating if you do decide to treat.
Regularly scheduled maintenance, water testing, proper life support equipment, and regular feedings of appropriate foods are absolutely essential to keeping fish healthy whether in the quarantine or display aquarium. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
We should all do our best to provide the best conditions for our pets, but it’s not possible to have complete control over all the lifeforms in our aquariums, including the ones we don’t want. However, proper quarantine and conditioning gives the aquarist a clear advantage over those unwanted lifeforms. There’s a scene in Jurassic Park in which Jeff Goldblum’s character Dr. Ian Malcolm warns the scientists that they can’t expect to control the dinosaurs, and we think it’s a great metaphor for our captive aquarium environments. -
"The kind of control you're attempting simply is, it's not possible. If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, it expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously...life, uh, finds a way."
If you have questions about quarantining our livestock please do not hesitate to reach out to our support email at support@thebiotagroup.com
We only sell captive-raised or tank-raised fish. Most other companies sell wild-caught animals. This is not to say that all wild-caught animals are not sustainably harvested, but it’s almost impossible to know which ones are and which ones are not. The future of the marine hobby is in aquaculture and Biota Aquariums is proud to offer the first-ever commercially available aquarium that includes only cultured animals.
At our Biota Marine Life Nursery in Palau, we release Rabbitfish into the protected waters to help restock the ocean. They are hardy fish whose stocks are depleted because they are popular fish to eat.
Biota customer service email: support@thebiotagroup.com
