A Note on the LiveAquaria Bankruptcy

Dear Customers,

We heard the rumors over the weekend, and after doing our own due diligence, it does appear that the company that owns LiveAquaria, CIS International Holdings, has filed for bankruptcy.

Given that LiveAquaria is the biggest online fish store, their closure marks a major shift in our industry.

Several of our team members used to work for LiveAquaria in different capacities during its glory days. There were a lot of great things that we learned from how they used to operate, and as much as it may benefit us, we are all, in some way, saddened by this news.

Those of us who left LiveAquaria, left when those good practices were set aside solely in the interest of profit under new ownership. We all pursued careers in the saltwater fish industry, because we love this hobby.

As hobbyists first and foremost, it was difficult to watch some bad practices begin to be introduced, at the expense of living creatures, people’s trust in ordering online, and the joy of this hobby.

In fact, while the decline in quality of our competitors has brought us new customers, it has also caused people to lose faith in ordering online, entirely…an opportunity that is still a double-edged sword.

We know many of you will now be searching for a new source for your livestock. If you’re new to Reef Beauties, welcome to the family! This is a huge opportunity for us, so trust that we’re going to try extra hard to win you over.

Here’s what you can expect from Reef Beauties:

-Quality livestock at a reasonable price. We’ve been shipping saltwater for 30 years.

-Unmatched customer service from a small, knowledgable team that CARES.

-Fast shipping, and consistent inventory updates 2x per week.

If you’re trying us for the first time, we offer a new customer satisfaction guarantee to try us out risk-free, and a 10% discount for new customers if you sign up to our email list at reefbeauties.com.

For those who’ve shopped with us before — thank you again. Humbly, your word of mouth means more now than ever. If you’ve had a great experience, please consider sharing it on Reef2Reef, Humblefish, Reddit, or Facebook discussions about this news. Hearing from real customers helps others know where they can safely order from next.

There is no doubt that the hobby is getting smaller, that it’s harder and more expensive to bring in livestock from overseas, and that many formerly beloved companies are struggling. This is NOT an easy industry to be in.

But we are going to continue to do our absolute best to focus on delivering quality livestock at reasonable prices, and with customer service that is a pleasure to deal with.

We do anticipate a sudden uptick in business in the coming weeks, so please order early to secure your livestock, and stay tuned to our “max capacity reached” popups as this will likely happen more frequently.

Thank you for trusting Reef Beauties. We’re proud to continue serving this incredible hobby, and to set a new benchmark for what an online saltwater fish store should be. We won’t let sudden growth affect our tried-and-true practices that keep our quality of livestock and service at a high level.

Sincerely,

-The Reef Beauties Team