Delivery & Live Arrival Guarantee
Here’s exactly how we’ve built delivery to be the safest way for your fish to travel.
From your basket to your tank
Five steps, one weekly rhythm. Everything is hand-packed by our team and delivered the next day by a licensed live-animal courier.
- Any time
Order online
Pick your fish, sizes, shoals — checkout in minutes.
- Before delivery
Our team prepares your pack
Hand-bagged in pure oxygen, insulated poly box, heat pack when the weather calls for it. Packed by people trained on live-fish handling.
- By email
Tracking & delivery date sent
We email you the tracking number and the confirmed Wednesday or Thursday delivery date — so you know exactly when to be in.
- Next-day tracked
Licensed courier delivers next day
24-hour tracked service with a courier legally licensed to carry live animals. Follow the parcel live, every step.
- Wed or Thu
Your fish arrive
Delivered to your door on Wednesday or Thursday. Acclimatise slowly and you're set.
We dispatch on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so your fish travel on the single shortest, gentlest route possible — never held at a depot over the weekend.
Delivery days
Wednesday or Thursday
You’ll be notified by email with your tracking number and the confirmed delivery date so you know exactly when to be in — and you can follow the parcel live every step of the way.
If those days won’t work for you, please send us a quick message before we dispatch and we’ll happily move your delivery to the next available slot. Live animals can’t be left at the door, with a neighbour, or in a “safe place” — so a moment of communication from you is what lets us keep every fish safe in our care. Thank you for looking after them with us.
£20 Flat Rate
Combined shipping for any number of fish
Licensed Courier
24-hour tracked, legally licensed to carry live animals
Specialist Packaging
Oxygen bags, poly boxes, heat packs
Live Arrival Guarantee
Covered even when things go wrong
What happens after you place an order
Once your order lands with us, our team get to work preparing your pack. Every fish is bagged individually with pure oxygen, the bag is wrapped in newspaper to stop it shifting, and the whole thing goes into an insulated polystyrene box with a heat pack when the weather calls for it. The outer cardboard box is clearly labelled “LIVE FISH — THIS WAY UP” for the courier.
You’ll then be notified by email with your tracking number and the confirmed delivery date so you can follow the parcel from collection through to your door. The courier sends live updates through the afternoon and evening — you’ll usually see “out for delivery” before mid-morning the next day.
Delivery days: Wednesday or Thursday
Live fish travel on a single, dedicated weekly rhythm. We dispatch on Tuesdays and Wednesdays via a 24-hour courier licensed to carry live animals, so your parcel arrives on Wednesday or Thursday — the very next day. We avoid Friday/weekend transit on purpose: a fish held at a depot over Saturday-Sunday is a fish we don’t want to send. The exact day for your order is confirmed in your tracking email.
Licensed couriers, trained handlers
Not every UK parcel carrier is legally permitted to transport live animals. Under the Welfare of Animals (Transport) (England) Order 2006 and its devolved equivalents, only couriers holding the correct DEFRA authorisations may move live fish commercially. We only ship with those carriers — no exceptions, no cost-cutting on weeks the courier bill is high.
Their drivers are briefed on how to handle a live-fish parcel: kept upright, never stacked, kept cool but never cold, and away from engine vents and direct sun at the depot.
- Carriers licensed to commercially transport live animals in the UK
- Drivers briefed on live-fish handling — upright, insulated, cool
- Tracked specialist live-fish service as standard
- Every box clearly labelled “LIVE FISH — THIS WAY UP”
- Direct line into the depot for anything that looks off on the tracking
How we pack your fish
- Each fish individually bagged with pure oxygen
- Water volume sized to species and shipping duration
- Insulated polystyrene boxes that hold temperature for 40+ hours
- Heat packs included October–April (and whenever the forecast drops)
- Newspaper padding to stop bags moving in transit
- Outer cardboard box clearly labelled “LIVE FISH”
The Live Arrival Guarantee, in plain English
What it covers
Every live animal in every order, every season. Fish, shrimp, snails — all of it.
What triggers it
Any fish that arrives dead, dying, or in clearly compromised condition on the day of delivery.
How to claim — video required
Contact us the same day your fish arrive via WhatsApp (fastest) and attach a short unboxing video along with your order number. The video must show:
- The parcel still sealed, outer box visible
- You opening it, in one continuous take
- The fish still inside the sealed bag, so we can see their condition before anything is disturbed
We cannot process DOA claims from phone calls, text-only emails, or still photos alone. A short video is required — no exceptions. Read why below.
Why we need a video (not a phone call, not just a photo)
This one’s direct from Kevin: the video policy exists for four reasons, and all of them protect genuine customers:
- 1.Anti-scam protection. Without video evidence, a small number of bad-faith claimants would force us to build refund fraud into every price. The video keeps prices honest for the 99% of customers who would never think of claiming on a healthy fish.
- 2.Root-cause documentation. I personally review every DOA video. If a heat pack failed, a bag leaked, or the courier left the parcel in the sun, the video shows it — and I fix the process so the next customer doesn’t face the same thing.
- 3.Courier insurance. Our licensed live-animal courier accepts insurance claims only with continuous video evidence of the unboxing. No video, no claim, no way to recover the cost for you.
- 4.Speed for you. With a clear video, I approve replacements or refunds the same day you send it. Without one, we’d be back-and-forth on messages for days trying to work out what happened — and neither of us wants that.
Our promise
Replacement on the next shipment orfull refund to your original payment method. Once the video shows a DOA, we don’t ask for receipts, we don’t make you prove fault, and we don’t argue about whose problem it is. If it arrived wrong, it’s on us.
Small print: the guarantee requires someone to have been at the delivery address to receive the parcel (see next section), the parcel to be opened and inspected the same day it arrives, and a continuous unboxing video showing the parcel still sealed. Live fish that are left sitting unopened overnight, or parcels opened off-camera, fall outside cover because we cannot verify the cold chain or the state at arrival.
Communication & tracking from the moment we dispatch
- Tracking number and confirmed delivery date by email — you’ll know exactly when your fish arrive
- Live updates from the courier through the afternoon and evening
- Kevin on WhatsApp — a real person, same-day replies during opening hours
Someone must be at the delivery address
This is a hard requirement. Couriers will not leave a parcel of live animals on a doorstep, with a neighbour, or in a “safe place” — because it kills the fish. If nobody is home, the parcel returns to the depot, the cold chain breaks, and the Live Arrival Guarantee cannot cover what happens next.
Please only order for days when you know you’ll be in. If your plans change, message us on WhatsApp before dispatch and we’ll hold the order for the next dispatch slot (Tuesday or Wednesday).
Cost & dispatch schedule
Shipping is a flat rate of £20 regardless of how many fish are in your basket. We combine all items into a single shipment and don’t profit from delivery — the fee covers the courier, insulated box, oxygen, heat packs, and packing materials.
We dispatch live fish on Tuesdays and Wednesdays via 24-hour courier — your fish arrive the very next day, on Wednesday or Thursday. We never ship for weekend transit; the exact day for your order is confirmed in your tracking email.
Orders placed Wednesday – Friday (before 4pm)
- Dispatched in the following week’s window (Tuesday or Wednesday)
- Delivered on Wednesday or Thursday
Orders placed Friday (after 5pm), Saturday, Sunday, or Monday
- Dispatched in that week’s window (Tuesday or Wednesday)
- Delivered on Wednesday or Thursday
Tracking:your tracking number updates after 6–7pm on the dispatch day.
Customer service that actually answers
If anything about your order worries you — before, during, or after delivery — talk to us. Real humans, same day.
- WhatsApp: message Kevin directly — fastest route, same-day replies in working hours
- Email: [email protected] — great for photos, order numbers, longer questions
Pre-purchase compatibility questions, acclimation help after the box lands, parameter advice for a new tank — all on the table. If it’s about fish, we’ll help.
Buy now, pay later — spread the cost
Stocking a full community tank in one go is a real spend. If you’d rather spread the cost, our checkout supports the same credit-based partners the big UK retailers use — no extra fees from us, and the price stays exactly the same.
- Klarna— pay in 3 interest-free instalments, or pay in 30 days
- PayPal Pay in 3 and PayPal Monthly — instalments through your existing PayPal account
Klarna and PayPal credit are provided by those companies, not by Tropical Fish Co. All terms, eligibility checks, and repayments are handled by them. Availability at checkout is subject to your provider’s criteria.
Adding fish to an existing order
Want to add more fish to an order you’ve already placed without paying extra shipping? Place a new order and pick the ‘collection’ option at checkout. Then message us on WhatsApp and we’ll combine both orders into a single shipment.
Important notes
- Someone must be at the delivery address to receive the parcel — live fish cannot be left unattended
- Acclimatise your fish slowly — float the bag for 20–30 minutes before releasing
- For any Live Arrival Guarantee claim, a short unboxing video is required (parcel still sealed → opened → fish still in bag) — we cannot accept phone calls, text-only emails, or still photos alone
- Delivery is available across the UK mainland
Where we can and can’t deliver live fish
I’d love to ship everywhere in the UK, but I can’t. There are two kinds of places we can’t safely send live fish — and both are about keeping the fish alive, not about the sale.
1. Postcodes our licensed courier does not serve
Not every UK courier is legally licensed to carry live animals, and the ones that are don’t serve every postcode. A handful of remote mainland areas, some of the Scottish islands, and the offshore territories (Isle of Man, Channel Islands) are outside our carrier’s live-animal network entirely. If that’s you, your order cannot be dispatched — not a policy choice, a physical reality of who will carry the box.
2. Postcodes that need 2+ days in transit
Our licensed live-animal courier covers most of the UK mainland, but parts of the Highlands and far North Scotland, parts of rural Wales, and Northern Ireland are a minimum two-day transit with the live-animal carriers that will go there. Fish mortality climbs sharply past 30 hours in transit, especially in cold months when water temperature drops even with a heat pack. We’ve seen too many sad outcomes from sending to these regions, and I’d rather decline the sale than ship fish I don’t think will arrive alive.
If you’re in one of these areas and still want to try, message me on WhatsApp before you order. For hardier species (shrimp, snails, some coldwater stock) and during warmer months I can sometimes make it work — but the Live Arrival Guarantee may not apply, and we’ll agree that in writing before I dispatch.
Not sure if you’re affected? Drop your postcode on WhatsApp before placing an order and I’ll confirm whether we can dispatch safely. It takes a minute and it’s always worth checking first.
A note from Kevin
Delivery has been one of the most difficult parts of running Tropical Fish Co over the past year. There’s no way to make live fish transport risk-free— but you can make it as safe as any mail-order pet in the UK, and that’s what I’ve worked on.
Every box I send out is packed by someone trained to handle live fish. Every box leaves on a courier that’s legally licensedto carry live animals — and no, not every UK courier is. I pay a premium to work with the ones that are, and I’m glad I do.
And because things can still go wrong — a parcel gets delayed, a heat pack runs out, a bag leaks — every order carries a Live Arrival Guarantee. If something unfortunate happens, tell me the same day your fish arrive and it’s on us. No paperwork, no arguments.
One thing I do need from you: a short video of the unboxing, showing the parcel still sealed and the fish still in their bag. I know it feels awkward, but it’s the only evidence the courier will accept for an insurance claim, and it’s how I stop fraudulent claims from pushing prices up for genuine customers. We can’t process a claim from a phone call or a text-only email — the video is the policy, no exceptions.
— Kevin, Tropical Fish Co