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)

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!

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

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 are 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



December 16, 2019

Hi friends and animals,

We wish you all a very Happy Holiday season!

Here is a big end-of-year news happenings roundup ...

There are some considerations regards shipping and supplies this time of year we want to remind you about, and, give some updates on current coral news.

First though most have probably heard, there has been some news from the Indonesia CITES enforcement quadrant. That means the whole Indo/Bali/Jakarta/etc. area. They will resume shipping corals at some time in the future — aquacultured only, no anemones or live rock. There is no timetable set for the opening though, estimates run six days, weeks, or months.

Vietnam is seeming to be under lots of pressure to close. It is not known if or how long it will last, just so you know how some insiders feel about it. Get it while you can. Fiji is trying hard to get corals going to the U.S. again, if nothing in a week, it will be months again before another chance. Fiji will probably not ship (fish) the next two weeks as, like Tonga, the middle-of-the-week arrivals won't work due to the Christmas holiday.

Tonga is awesome to stellar, amazing, and incredible, outstanding A-1, 5-star stuff, and a regular thing. But they will not ship the next two weeks due to the holidays falling mid-week. It doesn't hurt to place your order to be at front of the line for when they resume in January, maybe the 8th to LAX.

Shipping can be a bit dicey to secondary locations, especially the week prior to Christmas, so it depends where you are, but often big hub destinations are doable. Generally everything is open and easy by the day after Christmas, until the weekend after New Year's, which can be busy when everyone goes home, seemingly from LAX (Rose Bowl traffic, etc.). Check with us pending where you are so we can check the cargo situation.

In addition, a number of the suppliers close for at least a week or two over the holidays. So some things might not be happening for a brief period. Please always feel free to ask whaddup.

So now you are all caught up on the latest.  

Again, we wish you very Happy Holidays!

~ birdfish & company





November 19, 2019

Hi friends,



Take Ten Special

For a limited time only, take ten off!

Take TEN percent (10%) off of anything on the Greenhouse list, with the exception of crabs, snails, shrimp and clams.    Greenhouse List

Take TEN percent (10%) off of the following frag boxes!
Australia Frags & Corals      Fancy Frags (Australia)

There are some new Ultra Viet Nam zoa frags available which are awesome.
Check out the pics here ... Vietnam Frags

Take TEN percent (10%) off of the contents of tranship fish and invert boxes.
Fish List Central

To order with the special pricing, send us an e-mail so we can send you a payment link button to click and follow which will include the special discount, or you can simply use the birdfish e-dress to make a Paypal payment.
birdfish@livestockusa.org

There has been some talk of Fiji possibly opening back up but nothing has happened, they are still fish only and the cultured live rock to the U.S.   Indo/Bali remains off the table. Tonga is great, especially Acros and brains, but softies too. The various Australia available is stellar (see the Greenhouse list). Vietnam is the place for soft stuff like shrooms and zoas, but has been getting far more intermittent of shipments lately. More CITES problems. There are people in a couple of places outside the Indo area trying to get stations going, as well as a live rock place being worked on elsewhere. Hopefully in the not too distant future there will be some additional coral and live rock options on the table. All the fish shippers have seemingly almost everything you could want and remain easy to get.

Wishing you & yours a Happy Thanksgiving!
~ birdfish



September 24, 2019

Hi fishy friends,

Hope you had a good summer! It is supposed to be over, but seems to not want to let go yet in some areas.

Some great news is a big price reduction on the Fiji cultured live rock. $1.00 per pound. So it is $6.25 per pound now! Which is what the last real deal stuff was. The ordering buttons should be fixed by time you read this.     Fiji Cultured Live Rock

There are lots of choices for Australian corals, all tanked at a few places in L.A., but any of it can be put together to make an order. It is A-Grade to stellar stuff. There is a new Queensland source, as well as a new western Oz source, so lots of neat corals are available. Be sure to check out the Greenhouse List, some are only listed there on the .pdf link.

There is no news on coral exports from the Indo CITES enforcement quadrant, or Fiji. Don't hold your breath. Yes people are trying to get them back open, but nothing yet, and now for over a year. Easy to close, hard to open. One says maybe something soon. People are working on opening in other places as well, but none are up and running yet.

Besides Oz, the Tonga corals are great, especially the Acropora. The Tonga LPS and softies are both good as well. For shrooms and zoas, Viet Nam is very good to outstanding.

~ birdfish

Australia Corals

Greenhouse List
(See .pdf for current list)



August 14, 2019

There are some recently-shared photos of Fiji live rock on the following page you might wish to check out ...

Fiji Cultured Live Rock

There is also a new Hawaii fish .pdf page linked on the following page in the "Fish" section here ...

Marine Livestock .pdf Lists



July 3, 2019

Happy Independence Day!

Just a couple of quick things...
There is a bunch of great Australia, mostly tanked in L.A., easily had. Save the prices - LOL. Those  Aussie Box Lot Specials  are great, both the frags, and the wild pieces.

There are some new Australia coral photos on this page:    Customer Photos 2019

Tonga has some great corals and a bit of selection for old fashioned 'a la carte' coral ordering, hard and soft, and good Acros.

Nothing happening on Fiji or Indo area coral shipping, they remain closed. There are three different places in the Indo-Pacific where folks are working on getting coral shipping facilities going again, all outside of the Indo CITES enforcement quadrant. So with or without Indo or Fiji reopening, there will be some more coral options in the future. Can't say when, likely a few months, maybe more, but one might get going sooner.


Not to brag, but I think our pink Flaming Carnation is the best anywhere ...




Our Electric Urchin can't be beat either ...




And when our Starwarz Spaghetti Leather goes off, it's a sight to behold ...




Our exclusive Exploding Acropora will make your friends green in the gills with envy ...




Have a HAPPY FOURTH!!

~ birdfish



April 18, 2019

Hi all,

A few news items. First, We have a new Tonga thing happening, so hard and soft corals are available 'a la carte' from there now. They have great Acros!

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, it sounds like Viet Nam is not going to stay open. So if you had thoughts of getting it, do so sooner rather than later. It does not look good, it may close in the near future. There are no more large combo rocks available from there already. Indo and Fiji are both still offline for coral exports to the U.S., there is talk something might happen in Fiji. There is cultured live rock now from Fiji, a bit expensive, but good encrusting coverage from being under water two years, and so something that will work in a pinch.

All the various tanked Australia corals are A-grade fantastic. You will not be disappointed. Use the Fish or Coral List Central pages (links at top of any page) to easily see recent updates, or e-mail and ask for one, we can send an Excel file with a dozen or so tabs.

~ birdfish


Tonga Corals

Box-lot Specials - Viet Nam

Live Rock Photos & Pricing -  Fiji Cultured Live Rock

Contact Us

A reminder ... we cannot e-mail to Comcast accounts, you'll need to give us another e-mail address to receive e-mails from us or you can try white listing us.



March 27, 2019

Here are some customer photos from a recent order of Viet Nam ("Regular") corals ...

2019 Customer Photos


There are also a few nice fish photos shared with us by customers on the following page ...

Philippines Fish


Pinecone Fish


Pintail Fairy Wrasse



March 8, 2019

A new page of customer-shared coral photos ...

Australia Corals Photos



February 18, 2019

Hi all,

There is Fiji live rock! They found it! The lost rock. It is cultured and made from a combination of cement, oyster shell, and coral sand and bits. It has been under water two years now and looks great. It is not real old eroded coral pieces, but the overall effect is pretty close to what regular Fiji live rock looked like.

Here are a couple of photos of it. Additional photos can be seen on our Live Rock Photos & Pricing page. The boxes will be 48 pounds, $7.25 per pound. A box then is $348. Current schedule has it arriving Thursdays with Fiji fish shipments, so Friday to you. Send us an e-mail if you want to place an order for the next shipment, or use the link for ordering live rock on the page below!

~ birdfish

Live Rock Photos & Pricing -  Fiji Cultured Live Rock

Contact Us










February 5, 2019

Check out the recent photos of Australia Acros!

Australia Acropora Photos



January 21, 2019

Hi all,

Here is some news about some of what's happening out there in the fish and coral land of the Indo-Pacific.

Indonesia and its neigbors like Bali, Kupang, Manado, etc., remain closed for coral exports. Still people are working on it, still nothing. Eventually, there will probably be cultured corals again, but no live rock or anemones. Fish and inverts are generally unaffected and available.

In Fiji, the closure there is being worked on as well, da man is there working on it, and probably something will happen to allow corals out again, but like Indo, no more live rock. And they will be more expensive when they reopen.

Viet Nam remains unaffected, so good shrooms, zoas, and some leathers can still be had there with good pricing.

Tonga which has been a key fill-in for the last year, has an issue. We are going dark on it for the time being. No Tonga coral orders will be accepted for now. Sorry! There is a bacterial problem in their water.

From Australia, there are shipments every month or so of a dozen assorted Acropora or Euphyllia boxes, and as often tranship a la carte ordering. Oz is the only current source for Acroporas and other hard corals now. At least they are still shipping, but of course at the high-end of prices.

The great news is that there are a couple of new box-lot specials, tanked in L.A., of Australian corals, with both frag and wild options. These are an outstanding deal for the prices. The $20 frags are huge, and the bigger overgrown frags are the size of medium to large corals. The wild mixed box are mostly medium sized.
Here is the link with some photos:
Tanked Australia Frags & Corals

For live rock, there is a guy on an island in the Pacific right now setting up to ship live rock. We are hoping to hear in the next couple or few weeks if it is ready to go. So there is light at the end of that tunnel, it is getting closer, and soon there will again be 5-star, AAA-grade, real deal, air freight fresh live rock from the Pacific. I am guessing it will be higher too. They are working on the freight rate negotiations, which is most of the cost of it.

So, for Acros or hard corals it is Aussie or the tanked specials. For softies, it is Viet Nam. For live rock, hang in there baby!

~ birdfish



January 7, 2019

Happy New Year all!

We hope you had a great holiday season and Santa found your tanks!

There are good hard corals available from Tonga and Australia. There are good soft corals available from Viet Nam. Tonga has some few softies. All the usual fish sources are open.

Just to update a little bit on the hard coral export ban from Fiji and the Indonesia areas, those remain in place. People are working on things and we will have something up here as soon as anything breaks. The Indo area closure includes Bali, Kupang, Manado, Java, any of the Indonesia area sources.

Currently there is no fresh air freight Pacific live rock available. People are working on things, we'll have news here when it breaks. Tonga and Australia both have great Acropora if that is your heart's desire.

There are some new Australian coral frags we have available, a page will soon have some info & pix up of them, and for Aussie LPS they are a great deal.

The .pdf lists page has recent copies of all the lists. E-mail us and ask to be put on the weekly mailing list which gets you a weekly updated excel file with most current offerings.
birdfish@livestockusa.org

Wishing you a happy & healthy 2019!
~ birdfish


Marine Livestock .pdf Lists

Contact Us







We want to wish all of you HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Thank you very much for your kind support.
We wish the very best for you and yours!





November 21, 2018
Wishing all of our visitors a Happy Thanksgiving!

Updates Archive Page



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