xine
New Member
Wish every seller was like this! Excellent communication and customer service, great packaging, and incredible quality. Beyond impressed, especially considering that everything was very compeitively priced.
To begin with, the owner Holly contacted me to check if shipping 1-2 days later would work. Her emails initially went to my junk folder but she reached out several times, and after not receiving a response she also texted me to make sure I was aware of, and okay with, the change. Very refreshing when it's difficult to even get a response to an email within a few days at most online stores.
The packaging was also excellent. This is the first time I've received a package that was legitimately warm (water around 75F) despite it being freezing here, and it was clear that this was because the box was carefully packaged so the heat and insulation from the heat packs and newspaper was distributed effectively.
I received:
- macroalgae: red dragons breath, grape caulerpa, blue hypnea
- corals: metallic green star polyp, blue star polyps, cali tort
- black widow bubble tip anemone
I was actually blown away by how healthy and happy everything was even in the shipping containers. I've NEVER seen corals with their polyps fully extended while still inside their shipping bags before, and the bta had fully inflated and very sticky tentacles (a sign of good health), mouth closed, and had attached inside the bag. The bta is a solid 3 inches fully extended which is larger than I expected, and the colors are INCREDIBLE. The photos with the carpet in the background were taken on an iPhone 13 in ambient room lighting during drip acclimation in a tupperware, so there's no fancy lighting or photography. It's actually that vibrant. I'm absolutely thrilled considering this is a high-end anemone and Cultivated Reef sells it for half the price ($150) that it typically goes for! It also attached and reinflated within minutes of being placed in my dt, where it quickly lured one of my clowns away from its typical host, a rainbow bta, which it has now completely abandoned in favor of the black widow. Excuse the faded photos of the bta in the dt--I really need to make a coral viewer.
The macroalgaes are all generous portions and have great color under simple full-spectrum grow lights. The polyps on the corals are retracted in the photos because they were taken right after an iodine dip, but all three frags were in great shape and are a good size (on large frag plugs).
I also got a few beneficial hitchhikers as a bonus: a stomatella snail, an asterina star (of the non-coral eating variety), and 5 amphipods. There were a couple of bristle worms as well, which are beneficial but I don't like being stung by them so they got the boot.
Overall thrilled with Cultivated Reef and will definitely be shopping with them again, especially when I do purchase higher-end items and need to trust that my money isn't being wasted.
To begin with, the owner Holly contacted me to check if shipping 1-2 days later would work. Her emails initially went to my junk folder but she reached out several times, and after not receiving a response she also texted me to make sure I was aware of, and okay with, the change. Very refreshing when it's difficult to even get a response to an email within a few days at most online stores.
The packaging was also excellent. This is the first time I've received a package that was legitimately warm (water around 75F) despite it being freezing here, and it was clear that this was because the box was carefully packaged so the heat and insulation from the heat packs and newspaper was distributed effectively.
I received:
- macroalgae: red dragons breath, grape caulerpa, blue hypnea
- corals: metallic green star polyp, blue star polyps, cali tort
- black widow bubble tip anemone
I was actually blown away by how healthy and happy everything was even in the shipping containers. I've NEVER seen corals with their polyps fully extended while still inside their shipping bags before, and the bta had fully inflated and very sticky tentacles (a sign of good health), mouth closed, and had attached inside the bag. The bta is a solid 3 inches fully extended which is larger than I expected, and the colors are INCREDIBLE. The photos with the carpet in the background were taken on an iPhone 13 in ambient room lighting during drip acclimation in a tupperware, so there's no fancy lighting or photography. It's actually that vibrant. I'm absolutely thrilled considering this is a high-end anemone and Cultivated Reef sells it for half the price ($150) that it typically goes for! It also attached and reinflated within minutes of being placed in my dt, where it quickly lured one of my clowns away from its typical host, a rainbow bta, which it has now completely abandoned in favor of the black widow. Excuse the faded photos of the bta in the dt--I really need to make a coral viewer.
The macroalgaes are all generous portions and have great color under simple full-spectrum grow lights. The polyps on the corals are retracted in the photos because they were taken right after an iodine dip, but all three frags were in great shape and are a good size (on large frag plugs).
I also got a few beneficial hitchhikers as a bonus: a stomatella snail, an asterina star (of the non-coral eating variety), and 5 amphipods. There were a couple of bristle worms as well, which are beneficial but I don't like being stung by them so they got the boot.
