My new Ricordea floridias came in today! pics

[Lance M.]

I ordered 10 rics from Ken at SeaLifeInc.net and ended up with 13! and they all look amazing!!

I floated them for about 30 mins for temperature and then dripped them for about one hour. They were all sliming pretty bad when I pulled them out of their bags (nice packaging btw) but I swirled them around and tried to get as much off as I could. I placed them in the bottom of my ten gallon underneath my new 96 watt pc fixture (also came in today, about two hours later). The first several pics are under 32 watts pc and the very last two are under the 96 watt pc. All of the pics are from my camera so they are a little blurry but they are the best I can do.

The pics are a lot clearer if you zoom out on the webpage.

Here is when I was floating them in their little bags:

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb270/lmouser/PictureorVideo011.jpg

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb270/lmouser/PictureorVideo012.jpg

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb270/lmouser/PictureorVideo013.jpg

I shot of them after I took them out of the bags and put them in a bucket:

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb270/lmouser/PictureorVideo014.jpg

Shots of them placed in the tank (32 watt pc):

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb270/lmouser/PictureorVideo016.jpg

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb270/lmouser/PictureorVideo015.jpg

Shots of them around an hour and a half later (96 watt pc):

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb270/lmouser/PictureorVideo018.jpg

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb270/lmouser/PictureorVideo017.jpg

[sprinj76]

congrats on the new shrooms!

pics are a little blurry, but i know how that goes. They look good and once they open up a little more they you will get a really good idea how they will look. Make sure to post some update shots in about a week.

[Lance M.]

Yea I wish I had a camera but instead of buying a camera I spent $200 on my tank :) . Well worth it in my opinion. I'm actually considering buying a couple more from Ken....like right now.... but I guess I'll just wait and see how these guys do and see how much space they take up.

They shriveled up a lot during shipping. A blue one is inflated and it is pretty big. It has two mouths. There are two that have 4 mouths and pretty much the rest have two mouths except for like two of them lol.

[angelfishman145]

had to jump in, I have heard a lot of good thing about Ken at SeaLifeInc.net I just order 2 from him and should be here today!!!
I got the oddball ones. can't wait to see what they look like.
alot more that I would like to order from them.time to start saving.

[Whisperer]

I got all my rics from him. The multiple mouth blue ric has split, now I have 3 blues. The oddball he gave me is a steel blue but it has not been doing well like the others. The supposedly "pink" one is more like a pale orange. My orange ones are bright orange with green mouths, also have split since I got them.

[Lance M.]

... I ordered 10 and got 13.

Last night one of them started to dissolve so I emailed Ken about it, explaining I didn't want a refund for this one since I of course got 3 extra polyps.

This morning I turned on the light and not only had the one from last night completely dissolved but two others as well. 3 more are in the process of completely dissolving and another looks like it is going to also. I just emailed Ken about it.

... The 6 that are still alive look great though, I have to say that.

I think it may have been too cold for them during the shipping.

[Questin]

I live in colorado and have been wanting to order from him for a little bit now, but its just too cold and I dont want to have a melt down like that. It's too bad that is happening to you right now, I wish you luck with what you have left. Shipping in cold weather is just too dangerous for the rics I think.

[Lance M.]

Yea but I didn't think it would be that much of a problem since it's been warmer this whole week and the rics were going from Florida to South Carolina.

[angelfishman145]

now you have me worried.mind should be at the post office.
I just hope that they leave them there,and not sent out with the
mailman. and I live in upstate NY.the saelife web site that they add heat and cold paks as needed. I hope so.

[Lance M.]

Mine came in a small box lined with styrofoam blocks in several bags. I think it was caused by a problem with shipping where the shipment was left outside overnight and the rics got too cold. I payed for the overnight $30 and it didn't come the next day becuase the first plane it was on failed to reach the airport in time to get on the second plane due to weather (those really bad storms) so I didn't get it until yesterday. I'm pretty sure it was just too cold. When I got them the box felt like it had been left in the fridge.

[Whisperer]

I'm in the gulf coast. I got mine 2 days shipped USPS and did not lose any. No cold issue here :D
PS: I think those shoes beside the tank caused the meltdown :rollface:

[angelfishman145]

ya that's how mine came in a small box lined with styrofoam blocks in several bags. darn cold,mailman brought it.so more then likely sat in his van all day.so will have to wait and see now.

[tangafish]

lance i hate to hear you lost some of your rics! I have ordered from ken several times and have never had any problems. It is a shame the delivery got delayed. I just got my order in couple days ago too, i actually went with the priority mail option this time and it was still warm from the heat pack. so far so good, i haven't lost any of mine.

angelfishman i always order 5 or 6 of the oddballs when i order and i got to say some of them are actually my favorites so you will be pleasantly surprised when you get them. :rollface:

[angelfishman145]

well they all look fine this morning. order 2 and got a free 1.
all 3 have 2 mouths,and I think the small one is spliting.
did e-mail ken,and told him about no heat pak. shipping to upstate NY is time of the year with no heat pak is ?

[Racing1]

Lance, if you paid for overnight and did not receive them overnight you can go the the shipper and get a refund. I shipped an anenome overnight and the purchaser did not receive it for 3 days. The post office refunded me the $42 overnight shipping and the anenome even survived the trip...

[Lance M.]

Can I get the refund or do I have to get Ken to get a hold of fedex and the get refund because he shipped them?

I'm sure if I had gotten them overnight they would of been fine but I didn't get a heat pack, I guess because it was just going to sc?

Ken is out of town now but I informed him before he left and he said he would look into it when he got back. I hate to lose those rics. They were so colorful.

[SAPseven]

i got alot of rics from ken .. he always hooks it up ... i've gotten a few nice rainbows from him as well.

[Lance M.]

Update:

Well when Ken got back last week, he told me he may be able to get a shipping refund since I payed $30 for the overnight shipping and I didn't get it overnight, but we both agreed I probably wouldn't get the refund becuase the delay was due to weather. Still we tried.

He offered me a refund for all the rics that died or for him to re-ship replacements and I would have to pay for shipping (if the refund didn't come, which as far as I know I didn't get), so I took option one and he gave me a paypal refund for all of the rics that died. I then waited a couple days to see if the shipping refund would come but didn't so on Saturday, I ordered some different rics- 6 oddballs and 2 of the lime green warty mushrooms and I payed for the overnight shipping again.

He said he was going to pack it with a heat pack this time and throw in some extra rics to make up for me having to pay for the shipping again. It was shipped today and I should have it tomorrow morning. I'll post pics of the new ones either tomorrow afternoon or on Thursday.

[stan zemanek]

I just received an order from sealife inc. 3 rics in abag in abox without a heat pack!!!! when i opened the bags the water was freezing:mad2: I eneded up acclimating the rics for 2 hours to get them up to my tanks temperature. Yesterday they seemed to be doing ok until around 5 o'clock when they started to shrivel up. This morning whe the actinics came on the rics where completly shriveled up and slimed over. I don't think the will make it. and I don't think I will order from sealife inc. again.

[angelfishman145]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11802347#post11802347 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by angelfishman145
well they all look fine this morning. order 2 and got a free 1.
all 3 have 2 mouths,and I think the small one is spliting.
did e-mail ken,and told him about no heat pak. shipping to upstate NY is time of the year with no heat pak is ?

well mind are doing great. hope yours make it Stan.
I wrote to Ken at sealife,and he said it was his fault for no heat pak. always heard good things about Ken,but now I have to wounder what's going on with them.

[Lance M.]

Don't worry about it Stan. If they don't make it just email Ken and he will send you replacements.

For this second shipment I asked him to add a heat pack and he did and everything made it. Everything is doing great. I've already fragged a 3 mouth ric into 3 seperate rics and they are all healed (in two days) and doing great. About an hour ago I cut a large steel blue in half and it is already working the sides together to close the wound.

I will definitely order from Ken again. Just make sure you request a heat pack.

Next time I order some rics I think I'm going to order the 10 for $100 rics from GatewayAquatics.com and see how they compare. Has anyone ordered from them before?

I'm trying to post some pics of my rics and sanctithomaes that I got from him but my phone isn't transfering the pics so I'll try later.

[Azurel]

I have dealt with Ken as well seemed like a good guy....One thing I always do in winter when ordering is request a heat pack. You can't assume that they will add one based on the location of the shipment.....If you request one and don't get it then you and the supplier have problems. Sometimes I request them multiple times just to get the point across so there is no confusion on wither I need one or not...

[stan zemanek]

well I just received an e-mail back from Ken at Sealife Inc. He claims that the reason they don't put heat packs in the box is because sometimes when the packages leave his shop they may sit in florida for a day before heading to their destination, and he calims there is a chance of cooking the rics.
My biggest complaint is that he shipped them via regular mail instead of FedEx or UPS. when the mail man delivered my package he left it in the mail box. Well seeing as how the mail man comes around noon, and I had know idea they were coming this way, I did'nt go out to the mail box until around 6 P.M. So thats 6 hours sitting out in 25 degree tmperatures! Of course the rics have since died.
Ken has stated that he will either send me new rics, give me credit towards my next order, or as he suggests "take a refund a suggests not to order any rics from Florida since i live in a cold weather state":confused: :mad:

[Lance M.]

How much did you pay for shipping?

The heat pack thing doesn't make sense. They probably would of made it if it had a heat pack and if you knew they would be placed in the mailbox.

[Azurel]

Kinda sounds like he is getting tired of people coming back on him for shipping loss's. I don't see how they would sit a day if you paid overnight shipping even for USPS. I have had stuff shipped from many different locations in Florida and all have shipped within the 24hr period.......That kinda makes me a bit leery on his shipping if that is his excuse.....I would still request one anyway and those sites that don't say on them that they have them free I always offer to pay the $1-$3 extra just to make sure I get one. The few dollars is peanuts to the money shoveled out for the coral and making sure they are safe is main concern and should be for him as well......Peronally I would make him ship new ones and add a heat pack if they cook then they cook, I highly dobt they will as I am sure you do too.....

[betat]

Sorry to hear about your problem. Getting DOA livestock is a pain.

When you order from Ken at Sea Life, certain items, like rics, are hardy enough to be shipped 2-3 day USPS Priority mail. You do get a choice though when ordering of upgrading to overnight, which would seem to make sense if you live in the north and are experiencing frigid temps.

We ordered from Ken just last week and went with USPS as we knew we would be home to receive the mail. Temps here in Nashville have been in the 30-40 degree range so I wanted to make sure the mailman did not leave them on porch.

As seems to be the norm with Ken, we ordered 4 but received a total of six heads with multiple mouths. All are doing fine and we will be ordering from him again.

[Magnus6208]

I have ordered twice form Ken at sealifeinc.net and both times everything survived even though the water was in fact freezing!!!

[Azurel]

Hey Lance I will post pics that you asked for here in your thread so we don't hijack the other thread......

Here is the yellow that turned greenish on me, that was sold to me as a true yellow.....
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j141/The_real_Azurel/DSCN0139.jpg
Now it looks just like this one, kinda yellow but green too....
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j141/The_real_Azurel/DSCN0081.jpg

I think I deleted the pic of the true yellow I had or it is on my other hard drive that crashed and I haven't tried to slave it yet......But those are the ones I was tlaking about....

[Lance M.]

They look pretty cool. In the second picture is that a red w/ green edge florida ric!?!

[Azurel]

It's more like a really bright Fluorescent orange then red.....I got the orange one from Reefgardner.net.....Have you tried Gatewayaquatics.com? I had Chad hand pick me a bunch to choose from. I could have gotten the 10for $100 or something like that but instead I told him I wanted him to pick out some of his best and that is what I choose from. It cost me a bit more but I got some real sweet ones that I might not have gotten cause he would have sold them singly on the site or eBay.

[Lance M.]

I haven't tried them but I'm thinking about maybe the 50 for $450 from gatewayaquatics.com. I've already ordered from sealife-inc and they where nice and I just ordered from coralfanatics.com and those should be in on wednesday.

I just tried searching for reefgardner.net but can't find it. Did they start a new website or what?

[Azurel]

http://www.reefgardener.net/shop/index.php?cPath=3


That should get you there.....

[Lance M.]

Ah I see what happened. I copy'n'pasted what you had and it was misspelled. reefgardner instead of reefgardener.

They have some nice rics. Most of them are orange/blue.