# Bob's Tropical Plants



## joshvito (Apr 6, 2009)

Anyone ever order from Bobs Tropical Plants
hey seem to have a great selection.

http://www.bobstropicalplants.com/store/catalog/index.php?cPath=25_27


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi joshvito,

Here is a link on another site that discusses Bob's Tropical Plants.


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## Esteroali (Oct 1, 2007)

I placed an order about a year ago. Good product, fast shipping and great price. I would order again.


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## tstille (Mar 9, 2011)

Expedient shipping and kept me informed of the order status. Even refunded some of my shipping charges since I over paid a bit. Excellent service, would recommend and buy from again!


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## NeonFlux (May 15, 2008)

Haha, mgamer is his member name.. I wonder how that big fella's doing.. I have order some plants from him before, they were pretty nice plants.


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## spypet (Jul 27, 2007)

I just got 10 CPD from Bob's, Priority from CA to NY, Sat to Mon at only $4/fish shipped.
That was even cheaper than me taking the subway to the my local Manhattan Petco 
I have not gotten Nerites from Bob, but know he's the best source to load up on them.


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## christian_cowgirlGSR (Jun 20, 2011)

I ordered some plants from Bob's Tropical Plants last Monday evening. They arrived last Thursday. The anubias afzelii I ordered didn't arrive in very good condition. I e-mailed Bob and was given a refund. The rest of the plants looked good upon arrival. 

I ordered a marimo ball and was pleasantly surprised when it arrived. It was considerably larger than I had expected it to be. 

All the plants were fairly priced. I would definitely order from Bob's Tropical Plants again.


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## ddeneve (Jan 4, 2009)

I ordered 12 cpd (celestial pearl danios), 10 rcs (red cherry shrimp) and 10 zebra nerites. 5 of the fish and 4 of the shrimp were dead on arrival. When I opened the shipping box, not the bag, there was a rotten smell. I didn't even think that diseased fish may have been sent. I drip acclimated the livestock over about 12 hours. I placed the fish and snails into my tank left the shrimp in a 5 gallon bucket. The fish all died over night and over the next two days all of my cardinal tetras died. My denison barbs are starting to drop now too and i had 2 of them die and the others have lost a lot of color. I think 4 of the snails may be dead as they have not moved. A few of the shrimp died over the next couple days even though the water was constantly being dripped from the tank so as to keep it fresh, with new water being dumped into the tank and old water removed from the bucket.

So to sum it up. It so far has cost me 96 dollars for not only 5 rcs and 6 nerite snails, but to have most of my fish killed as well. The remaining fish are not looking so good and i have a feeling they will be dead in the morning.

This disease is evidently quite obvious as it killed most of my fish in less than 48 hours. I am thoroughly disappointed with bob's tropical plants and will be supporting my lfs as i have continued to do up until now. It seems as though the fish were shipped with the intent of unloading them onto the purchaser before their "expiration".


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

I've had mixed success ordering from Bob's. My first order of 20 nerites, 9/10 Zebras arrived alive and 2/10 red spotted were living. I wasn't incredibly happy, and the reason I suspect that most of the Red spotted had died is that they were packed directly next to the heating pack (escargot, anyone?). To his definite credit, he refunded me half my order as a credit without asking for any photos or proof except for my word, which means more to me than the dead snails.

I placed an order for driftwood about a month or six weeks ago (2 packages worth) and he shipped them promptly, and other than the wood being a little dirty, I was pretty happy with my order! He even combined the two packages to save on shipping costs.

I appreciate an honest effort, and some times bad things happen. It doesn't excuse poor quality or DOA's, but the important part to me is what happens AFTER that happens. Speaking for myself, I have been satisfied with his customer service; there is some room for improvement, but I would order from him again. He has a good level of communication as well; questions sent by email were responded to within 12 hours or so. At least he makes a sincere effort to keep his buyers happy.

ddeneve---did you get or ask for a refund or credit from him? It stinks that happened to you, for sure! I would contact him and see if there is anything that he would be willing to do. I don't his intentions were to "offload" them onto you; most people in this hobby that have an online business rely heavily on "word of mouth," and don't want the bad publicity. You have a right to be upset, but give him an opportunity to correct what he can.


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## ddeneve (Jan 4, 2009)

I have emailed him twice about the shipment and have not yet received a response. I am not sure if he is getting swamped by emails because of a disease outbreak in his shipments or whether there is some other problem.


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## xxbenjamminxx (Oct 18, 2011)

There was another post on another forum about someone who ordered plants and they came full of planeria. He Emailed him and was told to treat them with potas. perm.

Here is the link. Maybe that has something to do with it....
http://www.aquaticplantenthusiasts.com/product-reviews/4662-fissidens-bobs-tropical-plants.html


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## Basic (Feb 11, 2012)

I have had great success with bobs everything was great.


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## ncdadof3 (Jul 13, 2012)

I ordered a multitude of shrimp and never received an email back and my payment was not accepted. Does anyone know if this place is still in business?


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## Aquat (Feb 1, 2012)

ncdadof3 said:


> I ordered a multitude of shrimp and never received an email back and my payment was not accepted. Does anyone know if this place is still in business?


Yeah, he's still in buisness. According to his Facebook update, he had to do a fair amount of shippings after the 4th. Since he doesn't work on holidays I think. And he's also expanding his fishroom. Give him some time or send him another email.


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## Shrimpboat (Jun 9, 2013)

I spent $53 ordering shrimp from him. I received all DOA. I sent him the photos and emails within 10 minutes to resolve problem but he completely stopped communicating since the payment was sent... His communication was great until he received money and now it is just so shocking...


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

And what exactly does everybody expect from a seller that is selling everything cheap? Amazing product and amazing service?

Cheap gets you questionable quality. Cheap gets you cutting corners that you don't know about. Cheap gets you inconsistency.

Cheap gets you cheap.


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## herns (Aug 28, 2007)

niko said:


> And what exactly does everybody expect from a seller that is selling everything cheap? Amazing product and amazing service?
> 
> Cheap gets you questionable quality. Cheap gets you cutting corners that you don't know about. Cheap gets you inconsistency.
> 
> Cheap gets you cheap.


There is truth in this.


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## aleph (Apr 27, 2006)

I ordered shrimp and fish from them and was very pleased. They even discounted my delivery charge after the fact, saying that it didn't cost as much as their system had estimated.

Red rili and boraras naevus are all still happy.


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## tenerlin1 (Feb 6, 2014)

ddeneve said:


> I ordered 12 cpd (celestial pearl danios), 10 rcs (red cherry shrimp) and 10 zebra nerites. 5 of the fish and 4 of the shrimp were dead on arrival. When I opened the shipping box, not the bag, there was a rotten smell. I didn't even think that diseased fish may have been sent. I drip acclimated the livestock over about 12 hours. I placed the fish and snails into my tank left the shrimp in a 5 gallon bucket. The fish all died over night and over the next two days all of my cardinal tetras died. My denison barbs are starting to drop now too and i had 2 of them die and the others have lost a lot of color. I think 4 of the snails may be dead as they have not moved. A few of the shrimp died over the next couple days even though the water was constantly being dripped from the tank so as to keep it fresh, with new water being dumped into the tank and old water removed from the bucket.
> 
> So to sum it up. It so far has cost me 96 dollars for not only 5 rcs and 6 nerite snails, but to have most of my fish killed as well. The remaining fish are not looking so good and i have a feeling they will be dead in the morning.
> 
> This disease is evidently quite obvious as it killed most of my fish in less than 48 hours. I am thoroughly disappointed with bob's tropical plants and will be supporting my lfs as i have continued to do up until now. It seems as though the fish were shipped with the intent of unloading them onto the purchaser before their "expiration".


I recently had a similar experience. I ordered shrimp, plants, and snail in December. They weren't shipped until a month later. Fine, winter, whatever. Had heat packs if needed but the seller is in southern CA and I am in southern NM...temps were in the 40's here, anyway!

They arrived in three boxes. In the first one, with the shrimp packed in non-breather bags, the smell was bad before even opening the boxes. Once opened, all three bags had dead, pink, disintegrating shrimp...even though they were in shipping only 2 days. They were identified as "blue berry" shrimp by the seller, and some of the remaining live ones were huge (1 1/2 inch) dark blue shrimp. Of the 26 I ordered, at least 10 were identifiably DOA, and 6 died within 2 hours of receiving them. I was left with 10 iffy shrimp, of which I now have only 6 alive.

The snails were also in non-breather bags, one of 4 dead and stinking, too. I have 1 left alive and doing well in a Daphnia set-up (I was afraid to put them in a tank).

The dwarf hair grass I ordered was full of duckweed, and also will not go in any of my tanks. It also had hair algae on it!

The seller refunded me $33.00 for the 10 shrimp I could prove were DOA...nothing for the ones who died within the next few hours (they never had a real chance, but I thought I would at least try since they had some breath left), no explanation for the funky plants, and to say the least...

I will never deal with that seller again! I only hope the shrimp that did survive aren't diseased. ray:


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## shrimpzoo (Jun 26, 2013)

I ended up buying from bob's tropical plants. what a nightmare  
it's been about 3 weeks now, order has yet to be shipped.
the seller has admitted several times to forgetting about me, then blames the weather ( it's almost 60f here, 72f there) 

they don't reply to emails and there is basically no way to contact them as many others have said.
I feel bad I recommended this sore to a few people before sadly now I never would.

if you place an order expect to wait 1-2 months to get it, not recieve it if at all.
they also don't give tracking numbers for live animals at least I didn't get one.

there is too many bad reports on bbs tropical plants
several complaints on ripoffreport.com , this site, and I found 3 other forums with same problems.

I hope this helps other consumers and hobbyist.


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## Scipio (Feb 18, 2008)

The guy is a bit shady. He sold me what he claimed to be Malaya shrimps back in 2008. When I picked up the shrimp from him at a school parking lot near his residence, I asked him several questions regard the life stage of the young. He convinced me that indeed he was selling me Malaya shrimps. At the time of purchase the shrimps where juvies to very young adults and looked a bit plain. I introduced them into my yellow shrimp (neocaridina). Back in early 2008 yellows were not cheap. By the time I realized that the so called Malaya shrimps were actually wild type neocaridina, it was to late. 

Before the purchase I was able to communicate with him constatly on another forum. But when I tried to contact him to inform him of what he had actually sold, he not only was slow to respond but he actually got very rude and snappy with me. I just let it go and took it as a lesson learned.


THE END!


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## TankAaron (Aug 8, 2014)

I had just found this site, and was totally excited that they offer Amano shrimp, and are not too far away, and shipping rates quoted are cheap.

Thankfully, my first reaction was to come here and search for reviews. I don't generally believe what I read online, but I also can't ignore so many bad reviews.


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## countryboy12484 (Jul 22, 2014)

Ive dealt with bobs tropical plant a few times.. I always received healthy stock in a timely manner.


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## bytemuncher (Jan 16, 2015)

I ordered 5 orange rabbit snails and only received 3 orange snails. 2 are yellow rabbit snails (much less valuable). Obviously a calculated move by this shyster. You can call it a mistake, but come on, let's call a spade a spade.

I agree with the review above, this outfit is uber shady. Order at your own risk.


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## AEWHistory (Jul 6, 2008)

bytemuncher said:


> I ordered 5 orange rabbit snails and only received 3 orange snails. 2 are yellow rabbit snails (much less valuable). Obviously a calculated move by this shyster. You can call it a mistake, but come on, let's call a spade a spade.
> 
> I agree with the review above, this outfit is uber shady. Order at your own risk.


You registered to this site just to post this? Agenda much? This just seems way over-the-top. I somehow doubt he has "calculated" to defraud you of the $6 difference between what you ordered and what he gave. More likely he made a mistake--granted a silly one, but it happens. You make it sound like sending you two cheaper snails has been the score of a lifetime for Bob's. No doubt he has absconded to some nation with which the USA doesn't have an extradition treaty so he can live the high life on the 24 quarters that he's defrauded you in this well planned scam.....

As for me, I have never ordered from Bob's, but I did do business with Mgamer some years ago (perhaps before he started Bob's?) and I was thoroughly happy. It seems to me he has taken on way too much and hasn't taken the proper business accommodations to cope with his increased orders.

I don't blame the people who've gotten dead stuff to be upset, but I don't get when they've made no attempt to contact him. And if livestock arrives dead and/or dying do NOT put it in your aquarium (that's for you DDneve (name?). We all know better than to put new fish in our aquariums without at least some attempt at a quarantine, and this applies even more so for sick fish. If we ignore those signs and place sick fish in our aquariums then taken responsibility for your actions: the person who sold you the fish didn't tell you to ignore proper fish keeping technique, even if the seller is an irresponsible shyster who sent you bad fish. In fact, if you get animals from someone who you've come to doubt--say they arrive dead and dying--isn't that MORE reason to treat said animals as a risk?

Sorry, but I think that was a silly thing to do...... end rant.


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## AEWHistory (Jul 6, 2008)

TankAaron said:


> I had just found this site, and was totally excited that they offer Amano shrimp, and are not too far away, and shipping rates quoted are cheap.
> 
> Thankfully, my first reaction was to come here and search for reviews. I don't generally believe what I read online, but I also can't ignore so many bad reviews.


I've been planning a large order to Bob's myself and was equally excited. The negative reviews concern me and, as with you, have probably turned me to other sources. Most represent a genuine problem. Although I think they are the sign of a hobby biz that has outgrown itself as a hobby, that doesn't mean that I would want to get a bunch of dead livestock for my money; nor would anyone else want or deserve that. OTOH, some of the complaints stick in my craw. The one above my previous post just sounds.... wrong. I think I may contact him about my concerns before ordering.

I do have a question for people who've had a problem: Did you pay thru paypal? If so, weren't you covered in the complaint process? If not, why? More importantly, if you didn't file with paypal why didn't you? I don't recall reading anyone in this thread who went to PayPal with an issue. But if you're that unhappy then why not? I know he accepted paypal from me half a decade ago and I'm almost certain he does now, so I don't see why he wouldn't have in the intervening time period.

This is perhaps the main reason why I am skeptical. Bad sellers deserve a bad rep, but it is easy in the age of the internet for good sellers (and good people) to get a bad rep. That bothers me and I want more info about what the situation is here.


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## AEWHistory (Jul 6, 2008)

Okay, I was doing a search online and discovered that there is another place that starts with the name "Bob's Tropical". The one under discussion here is Bob's Tropical plants run by Mgamer and the other is a store in Florida called bob's Tropical fish. I think we are all talking about the same places, but if not it would be good to know--good or bad review--if it is the other place you've dealt with.

As an aside, I'd like to cast a vote for Pet stores to select more distinctive names!


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