Current Updates

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!

---

   
Tahitian maxima clams from Greenhouse List (not always available)



September 6, 2018

Hi all!

Hope you had a great summer as it winds down to a close...

A couple of updates on happenings out there in the big ol' sea. Tonga remains the only consistent (almost weekly) reasonable coral source open that has hard corals, besides Australia, which is neither consistent or reasonable. Tonga has very nice to excellent corals, they are not cheap, but they are not low-end small ugly pieces either. That is the other Tonga place that we don't carry or offer. Viet Nam is open for softies, if you like zoas and shrooms, they are outstanding, and almost weekly.

The Indonesia CITES enforcement quadrant (includes all adjacent islands like Bali, Kupang, Manado, etc.) remains closed for export of corals and live rock. Fiji remains closed for corals and live rock as well. Many usual sources are not available now. Hopefully something will change. There is word of the possibility of something on the horizon in fall, maybe, from Indo quadrant.

While a permit was obtained to bring some high-end live rock in, things have since gone sideways and now it does not look to be happening. There is no air freight fresh real deal live rock available from the Pacific right now. Did you hear the whoopin' and hollering of cheers from Florida?  

There are things being worked on, but nothing currently is a go. A different coral source is being tested this week that is not in the Indo CITES enforcement quadrant, so there might be another coral source soon if it works out well. We'll see.

Meanwhile fish are unaffected by all the coral CITES issues. There are, in general, good supplies due to the 'summer slow season' and there are lots of juvenile, young, and smalls of stuff available from many sources. There are some rarities too, Gem and Purple Tangs, Tiger (kingi) and joculator Angels, and lots of neat stuff if you scan the lists carefully. Great clams in the greenhouse too.

To get a weekly excel file update via e-mail, just send us one asking for it. The .pdf lists on that page (link below) are updated monthly at least and can always be used to make an order. Several of the suppliers do not update their lists, like Tonga, Sri Lanka, and Fiji. They have many of the same items as they did 30 years ago.

A big hat tip and thanks to Alan Z. from north Jersey for this great photo of a Vila Fairy Wrasse he got from the greenhouse. Beautiful photo of a beautiful fish!



~birdfish

Marine Livestock .pdf Lists

Contact Us



July 24, 2018

Hi all!

We have a some new photos up on our Customer Photos page thanks to a couple of real nice people that sent us some pix of their corals.
Customer Photos 2018

The Tonga corals are outstanding, and for hard corals are the only option now. There are a few new photos here ...
Tonga Coral Photos

There will be some fresh real deal live rock very soon, it is being worked on, we are anxiously waiting, permits are in hand, and it could be any week.

For corals and live rock, Fiji and Indonesia areas remain closed. This also includes Bali and Kupang, any Indo area sources. Viet Nam is not affected, so great shrooms, zoas, and softies are still available there.
Viet Nam Soft Corals

Fish are not affected by the coral closures. All the usual places have fair to good stocks in general now, since it is the summer slow season here. Now is the season when young fish 'fallout' onto the reefs. So there are tiny, small, and juvenile of some fish available on some lists now that are seasonal. We have seen tiny Clown Triggers, Blue Tangs, juv. Regal Angels, etc., that are a once-a-year thing.

Send an e-mail to get on the weekly mailing list and receive a regularly updated excel file of source lists.

~birdfish

Contact Us



May 17, 2018

Hi all!

Tonga corals are on! Do ya wanna Tonga? Now is the time!

In case you have not heard, there has been a ban placed on Indonesia coral exports. This includes live rock. It is believed to be temporary, and is expected to get fixed, but no one can say when. So far it is like Fiji redux.

This does not affect fish, and is only for areas within the Indonesia CITES enforcement quadrant. So, for instance, it does not affect soft corals from Viet Nam. But it does close all the Bali Acro places, Kupang, anything Indo or Java, or any of the adjacent islands. In many ways this is very similar to what just happened in Fiji, and again without advance notice whatsoever to the industry.

So at the present, Viet Nam soft corals are the main source for zoas, shrooms, and assorted softies. Hard corals supplies are virtually non-existent. Unless you wanna Tonga. There will be a Tonga shipment, currently scheduled for May 27th to LAX, the 28th to you.

Tonga is what we called 'almost Australia', or, 'poor man's Australia' for years. It has a limited diversity, but, the types are all different from the Indonesia area stuff. Big fancy colonies of great colors and health, and lots of unusual stuff not generally available from the Indo area sources anyway. Big thick branched Torches, big fancy Acro colonies, amazing colored encrusting Montiporas, great zoas and shrooms. Besides Acros, it is an area of somewhat low diversity within the groups, only single or a few types of each, but all different and unique types of pieces compared to what you are used to seeing elsewhere. Generally Acro boxes are all different, they do have a good variety of species of them.

Call or e-mail for a list, you have a few days to get an order together, done and placed. Acro boxes are estimated at a dozen large colonies and $850 total including everything except the domestic shipping LAX to you, which you pay the airline when you pickup.

~birdfish

Contact Us



May 1, 2018

There's a revision regarding the live rock mentioned below ... arrival is now scheduled to be May 13th.

April 26, 2018

Hi all!
There will be some Indo-Bali live rock coming in next week. You can place your order by using the Java-Bali payment buttons on the "Ordering Live Rock" page link below. It is very limited so act fast if you want some! Sunday, May 6th to LAX, Monday to you. It is mixed pink and purple coralline on old coral pieces.   ~birdfish

Ordering Live Rock

Indonesia Live Rock Photos


Here's a beauty for you. Look at that Cleaner Wrasse, isn't that spectacular? Oh yeah, well that Gem Tang isn't too bad either! That Cleaner Wrasse thought it hit the ich jackpot when it saw the Tang go in the tank. Probably thought "I can live a month off this fish," then it got over there and had its mind blown when it saw it was a Gem Tang. There are some few available right now from the greenhouse at $1200 each, 3-4".   Fancy fish!







April 2, 2018

Currently, there are no corals available from the Indonesia area CITES enforcement quadrant, which means Java, Bali, Kupang, Flores, Manado, everything in that area is offline right now. This is an annual thing when the new CITES quotas and permits are worked out. It can take a week or two, sometimes more, for everything to be settled and for it to all come back online. There may be some cultured stuff (Acros from Kupang) allowed out in the meanwhile, so stay tuned. The weekly mailing list is the best way to know what is happening any given week. If you'd like to get on the mailing list, please send us an e-mail.

This does not affect Viet Nam, so if shrooms and zoas were what you were looking for, no worries. Currently that is scheduled to go on April 8th and 22nd. There is talk of Australia shipping again soon, so if high end is what you want, be ready to jump when they announce, probably in two weeks. Word is Fiji is going to come back online, and is not affected by the Indo quadrant deal so when it comes back up, there will be more options. Hopefully soon, we will keep you posted!

If you are not familiar with how tranship pricing works on the lists, please read this new page that we hope will answer all of your pricing questions ... About Marine Livestock Lists

One last note, there will be some small Gem Tangs available with next weekend's shipments. They are 2.5-3" and $1200 everything included (F.O.B. LAX).

~birdfish

Our E-mail
birdfish@livestockusa.org



March 29, 2018

Hi all,

Live Rock Alert!

There will be some limited bit of Indo (Java) live rock coming in to LAX this weekend. There is only a little bit.

There are some photos here ...
Indonesia Live Rock Photos



It is $6.25/lb., about 50-lb. boxes. Let's call it $300/box. You can Paypal that amount or we can send a link button to click and follow for that amount. Monday to you.

I can't overstate: act fast!

birdfish



February 8, 2018

We have some recent photos from an order of Kupang corals you may want to see!

They are at the top of the page linked below ... here's a sample ...



Kupang Photos



January 22, 2018

In regard to Fiji live rock and corals ... please inquire as to current situation as there currently is a chance of availability.



January 3, 2018

Happy New Year!

We hope you had great holidays! Congrats on making 2018.

Just in case you haven't heard, Fiji is OFFLINE presently. We don't know what is going to happen, but for the moment we unable to accept orders for Fiji liverock or corals. We'll keep you posted! Of course, we are working on other liverock supplies, but at the moment, there is no real deal stuff to be had.

Kupang is the best bet right now for good assorted corals. They have great A+ cultured Acros, and are available just about weekly like clockwork. For soft corals only, Viet Nam is outstanding in the shroom and zoa department. Anems too. They are every two weeks, next one probably on January 14th.

Keep an eye on this page, or sign up for the weekly updates to stay posted on changes.

Happy fish and coral hunting!
birdfish



November 29, 2017

Hi friends,

We want to wish you all a very happy Holiday Season! We also would like to thank all of our great customers! Without you we wouldn't be here. We really do appreciate your patronage. Our very best to you and yours, which includes your tanks and inhabitants. 

During this time of year, shipping is not usually a problem until the last few days before Christmas, but supply sometimes can be. Many of the suppliers close for a week or two just to avoid the whole thing, usually from Christmas into the first week of the New Year. Some will stay open and ship right through it though. Of course we watch the weather like a hawk this time of year so we know how much to heat pack, where.

Fiji Pukani live rock is coming in fantastic. Check out the couple of pics Terry L. from Phoenix just sent us. It is the real deal lagoon-to-you fresh live rock. Terry has had every kind they ever made (LOL) and is what I would call a expert level connoisseur of live rock.

There are fancy Acro shipments, monthly or so, from Bali usually either the Premium or the 'X' folks ship, one or the other. Kupang has been good and consistent for mixed coral boxes, and their cultured Acros are great. Fiji has been outstanding as always for wild Acros and mixed boxes of corals or fish. The Bali and Philippines tranship fish are coming in great too. These are the highest quality suppliers.

Just send an e-mail and let us know what you want or are interested in, or call, and we will direct you to the best place to get it. The .pdf pages are updated monthly or more and you can always get a good idea of what is to be had with whatever is up. Note that the .pdf pages are often updated and changed, so if you wish to bookmark, please make sure it's the main .pdf index list (link below) and not the individual .pdf pages.

Meanwhile, have safe and happy holidays!
~ birdfish



Marine Livestock .pdf Lists

Contact Us



October 13, 2017

Hi all!

Check out the new photos of some of the current Fiji Pukani live rock coming in. There are some large pieces that look great. The regular is awesome too. Fiji corals and fish are always world class A grade.

Fiji Pukani Large Pieces Live Rock

Short video on youtube

We will soon have cured live rock available in smaller quantities than the 44 lbs. box. The system is nearing ready and should be "rocking" in a month. That floor was way more uneven than it looked. So for those with smaller tanks, or if looking for just a piece or two or few, we will soon be able to help you with small quantities of cured live rock.

For beautiful assorted wild Acro colonies, Fiji is the place. For zoas and shroom rocks, the Viet Nam boxes are best. For mixed boxes of corals, Fiji and Kupang are both great, check to see which what you are looking for. When Bali-C does (cultured) Acros, they are worth getting too.

For fish, it is mostly a matter of which place has what you want. All of our sources are of the highest quality available. There are cheaper guys at every source. We think these are the best. Remember the lists barely change and you can order off a two or six month old list and get a 98% fill rate. Some don't update their stock numbers, they are just an average of what to expect or not, to give an idea of what there is a lot of and little of. Just so you know if you just want a box of items they have one each of, it probably will not happen.  

Thursdays at about 6 p.m. is order cut-off, as it is already Friday over the date line and the orders have to be there when they get to work that morning, our Thursday evening. Our Friday is their Saturday, too late to order anything. The only thing you can still order on Friday is Fiji, if done early in the day. You can always Paypal our e-mail address. You don't even have to order anything ... LOL 

Keep an eye out on weekly list updates: There are occasional Vanuatu fish shipments coming in, the LAX Greenhouse List will have them for a week or two until gone. They have a bunch of great stuff you don't see from other sources. See the recent Vanuatu list on our .pdf lists page for an idea of what they have now.

Marine Livestock .pdf Lists

~birdfish



June 29, 2017

We apologize to our customers with e-mail accounts at live, hotmail, and msn. We cannot currently (for the last week) send you an e-mail without it being returned to us undelivered. We can receive from you, but are unable to send to you. So please call, or send us a message from another e-mail account, if possible, until this issue is resolved. The MS e-mail system apparently has our ISP's server blocked for some unexplained reason (it wasn't us) ... no problems with yahoo or gmail, it's only a MS e-mail system based issue.



June 27, 2017

Hi fish friends!

We hope summer fun is finding you! Remember if you are near water to look for fish.       Guess I didn't need to say that to y'all.

There is a new page of photos that our wonderful customers have sent us in the last few months. There are some amazing looking reefs, and some outstanding corals. Check it out! A bit heavy on the Acropora, that's how those goes.  

2017 Customer Photos


Lots of corals are coming in great, Fiji and Kupang are the two most consistent, regular, dependable nowadays. Viet Nam is fantastic for soft corals, if you like shrooms and zoas. Between those three you can get most of what you need. See our Corals List Central page or the .pdf pages to see where has what.

Coral List Central

Marine Livestock .pdf Lists


The super rare high dollar stuff is more irregular and you just have to be ready waiting to throw money at them when they announce. They are all very limited and are nearly sold out when they announce. This is how it is with Taiwan Zoas, Australia, Premium or X Acros, etc., all the specialty sources.

Lots of great fish are available from Philippines (some Gem Tangs recently!) and Bali, and the I.O. fish from Kenya and Sri Lanka are outstanding. Keep an eye on the .pdf pages as those are updated monthly; although if you have a list from a few years ago you'll see 95%+ of it is identical. The LAX Greenhouse List usually has a little bit of Sri Lanka, Kenya, and often some Vanuatu fish on it, with tanked pricing in LA.

Greenhouse List


If you want a weekly Excel file updated set of lists, just send an e-mail, we'll put you on the list. If you ever have trouble calling, try the 855 toll free #, some callers have trouble getting through at the 866 #.

Contact Us

Happy fishin'!
birdfish



April 6, 2017

Hi friends,

There is a hiccup with Indonesia coral availabilities, as last years' quotas, used or not, expired on March 31st. Currently, there aren't any CITES permits for coral export from Bali, Kupang, Indonesia (Jakarta), and all the assorted smaller places in that area. There is no word so far on when the new quotas and permits will be issued and we can only wait to hear something and it's all off-line for now.

Until something breaks, some are trying to get permits for the fancy cultured Acropora. We had expected a list of choices from one of the sources this week, but nothing yet, so we're not sure if that will happen. Don't get me started on how we can't get permits for aquacultured products under the current system, which is utterly ridiculous!

Fortunately, this affects the Indo quadrant only. This means that Viet Nam, Australia, Fiji, and Tonga are all fine. Speaking of Tonga, we will have a new Tonga list out again shortly, which should help fill the void. They have a limited list, but their corals are great. There are some Vanuatu fish coming into the greenhouse again now, as well as some Kenya, so you might want to see what is in the greenhouse!

Here is a note we received today (Apr. 6) about the Fiji Pukani live rock that went through yesterday.
"Everything went without a hitch. Finished up rinsing and placing rock in the tank and all I can say is 'WOW' and thank you. That is the 'GOOD STUFF' for sure. I could hear the life soaking back into the rock not to mention what I saw. Keep up the good work. ;)  Thank you David M. in Mass.!"

If you want regular weekly updates ask to get on the mailing list. Meanwhile we hope that spring is finding you!
~birdfish

Current Greenhouse .pdf list ...
Greenhouse List



March 8, 2017

Update on Australia corals ... there is a shipment scheduled for arrival on March 28th.
To see a recent (.pdf) list, please see Australia Corals List

Updated Note: There has been a delay with Australia corals, partly due to Cyclone Debbie.



January 17, 2017

We hope you are having a happy New Year! It is off to the races, we are already over half way through the new month! Did you see that Ruby Sea Dragon at our Facebook page link or on our Links page? What an awesome animal! Semi-prehensile tail, sorta like horsies!?! In our view of sea dragons, it is a game changer.
Links Page

There are lots of different things coming in, but many of the shall we say non-standard basic places are a bit less regular than the clockwork of Philippines or Bali fish. So you have to be patient sometimes. There will be some fancy Bali Acros shortly. Australia is shipping (Wed. 18th) again, there is a wee bit of Red Sea via Sri Lanka, there will probably be some clams and Tonga again shortly.

Keep your eyes on the weekly excel file update (send an e-mail if you wish to receive it automatically) for the latest weekly shipping news.

At the risk of being redundant ... here is a note we just received about a box of Fiji liverock shipped last week: I am not kidding when I say it is the real deal old-school Fiji live rock.  

Re: Fiji Live Rock - Date: Jan. 16, 2017
"So far so good. Going through the curing process and it looks as though I may have some surviving coral. The colors are phenomenal and it's the best quality live rock I have purchased. Most of the hitchhikers were dead in the bottom of the box which was great! We had 4 or 5 brittle stars, one small mantis shrimp, 2 crabs, and a bristle worm. I spent a few hours investigating with flashlight for anything I may have missed and couldn't find anymore. For this amount of fresh live rock, I couldn't have asked for more. I will buy from you again and have already recommended livestockusa.org. I can't wait to see what becomes of these rocks." - Gianna D. - Augusta, GA

best!
birdfish






December 21, 2016

Season's Greetings!
We wish you all happy holidays! Our very best to you and yours! We thank you very much for your support, and are honored to serve you. Be safe, stay warm, have fun, get plenty of turkey, ham, and nog!

There may be some hiccups with shipping the next two weekends with the holidays falling on Sundays. Some may ship for during the week arrivals, like for Tuesday or Thursday.

One we just found out about is the fancy Bali X-Acros. They will be shipping for Thursday the 29th to LAX, Friday the 30th to you. We will be sending a list out with the contents of the two box options you get to choose between today. Ask if you want to see contents lists and you aren't on our mailing list.

Fiji just had a major rain event with flooding ( in case you don't have the "Fiji Times" bookmarked like birdfish    ), so they couldn't ship this past Monday as they usually do. We are waiting to hear when they will be able to ship.

In case we don't talk before then, have a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, Winter Solstice, Festivus, and have a healthy and Happy New Year!

Thank you all very much for everything!

Our very best regards,
birdfish



November 29, 2016

Hope you all got enough Turkeyfish!

Wanted to mention a couple of things about Acroporas ...

Bali-C cultured are up and running again, with species picks, and often even color selections. They are ON for this Sunday to LAX, but orders have to be in by Wednesday, Nov. 30th. Please ask if you want a list. You can order assorted, but picks are available and most of the places quit doing that.

Then there are two of the super fancy high-end cultured Acro sources in Bali worth doing. Both ship irregularly and with little notice, so you have to be ready to jump when they announce. We often only get a couple of days notice and there are only a few boxes available. They make assortments up for each shipment and send a list of what will be in the A or B box. You get to choose which, yes or no   ... (no cherry picking).

Here is one of the recent offerings from the "X" place at the link below so you can see what types they deal with. It is top of the line A-to-Ultra Grade and better, world class stuff. Send an email to get on the updates list so you will be notified when it is "ON".

Acropora-X
(Adobe .pdf page)

~ birdfish



Hi all,

Hope fall is finding you and your tanks well! Mainly we want to offer a friendly reminder that the weekend of Thanskgiving (Sunday the 27th) can be rough for shipping out of LAX. So many travelers are going home that Sunday night that shipments can get bumped off the "red-eye" flights. Mostly it's flights to the big major cities that are affected. Often, if you are at a destination with a morning flight on Southwest, there is not an issue, although some major destinations (larger cities) can be. The first three weekends in November, however, are not a problem. Think ahead and plan early for the holidays!

There are great corals coming in from Viet Nam, Fiji, and Jakarta, weekly. With some of the high-end things like Australia or Premium Acros or Zoas, you have to be ready and waiting as we often only get a couple days notice. If you want to be notified when they are "ON", just send a note asking. Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Fiji all have World Class A-1 fish coming in too.

To help y'all understand how the custom tranship boxes work we created a new page with several samples from different sources, which you can see here ... Sample Tranship Corals

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, Turkeyfish!  
~ birdfish



September 13, 2016

Hi all,

We hope you had a great summer! The heat is fading, finally. Below is a note from a customer about the Premium Acropora that come in from time to time. These and the 'X' Acros are both great. If I said all this you would think I was seriously over-selling...LOL. They ship every month or so when they feel like it or run out of coconuts and clams. You have to be ready to jump though, we get about a day's notice to get orders in and it is sold out.

There are some more expensive Australian Acropora available from time to time as well if the X or Premium Acros aren't high enough priced for you. They are coming next Tuesday the 20th of Sept., about 10-11 to a box for $140 each piece. Some are whole colonies, some are the big broken branches. Ask for a link to see the pics of them.

You can also call or e-mail us to ask to get an Excel file with a bunch of current updated lists from many different sources.
~birdfish

Contact Us
Remember if you have trouble with the 866 toll-free (mostly Sprint users), use our other toll-free 855 (cell) number.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of notes we recently received from Mark H. of Colorado ...

"You guys do amazing things. That box was beautiful ... even the packaging was pretty ... every knot perfect ... and the pieces ... well, these guys named themselves appropriately. They're in the tank for an hour and we're already getting some polyps sneaking their little heads out. Now I wish I had gotten A AND B ... silly me for being responsible ... or something ... you tell these guys they're awesome for me next time you speak with them. You have a good evening too sir ... ya'll made my day!"

(A second note ...)
"The lights went out, so it's too dark to tell who's who at this point ... but they didn't send me box A according to the packing sticker. They appear to have sent everything I wanted from both lists, and left out the ones from list A that were less exciting to me. Almost like they could read my mind ... I mean sure ... there's no purple Caroliniana, but there's a mystery valida and abrolhosensis ... and I always fancied a valida ... on neither list, but on the sticker ... maybe it's in the tank. I can't wait to play detective in the morning.

20 of the 22 pieces were also bigger than expected ... 4 or 5 of them were at least double what I expected. The one Monti was as expected ... the other (undata) is way cooler than I thought (my brother thought it was an acro cuz of how its growing) the other "little" guy might be the valida, cuz it's awesome looking, even if dwarfed by his friends ... the only piece that broke a bit was still bigger than expected even after fragging itself twice en route.

Very satisfied customer here ... I had to tell you twice, and usually I just keep my mouth shut and smile when I'm happy. I'll be sure to tell anyone who asks where they came from. Keep doing what yer doing, it's good.

I forgot the best part of the story was my brother at the unboxing ... as we're opening it up he says to me, 'so how much did you pay for this one box?' And gets a little bit of the eyebrow raise going on like I was crazy ... then he sees the bagging job and compliments it ... something about he's been tying bags for 15 years and these guys know what they're doing ... then as he cuts open the first bag for me it immediately turned to 'holy %^#! bro' ... I think he musta said it 20 of 22 times ... the only other was 'what's this?' (Monti) and 'this one's broken, but still huge' ... by the end of it he was very impressed and he's not an easy one to win over. Big time kudos"

Premium Acropora

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