Shipping
Ripple Effect Aquatics is an online-only store, we unfortunately do not offer local pickup or in-person visits. All Live fish orders are carefully hand-picked and shipped by us directly to your door!
Order Processing:
Live Fish: Orders for live fish are shipped on Mondays and Tuesdays only, this is to minimise transit time and ensure live arrival. Orders received after 11 PM (AEDT) on Saturday will be scheduled for shipment on the following Monday (held for an extra week).
Aquarium Products: Ships within 2-8 business days when ordered before 5 PM (AEDT) on weekdays. Orders after this time ship the following business day.
Holiday Schedule:
Public Holidays: Live fish orders placed on a public holiday will be scheduled for shipment on the next available Monday or Tuesday. Non-living product orders will be sent off on the next business day following the holiday.
Shipping Methods:
Quick Guide:
Live fish: $30 express (FREE $150+) | Ships Mon/Tue only
Plants: $11.95 express (FREE $150+) | Ships Mon/Tue only
Food: $9.95–$11.95 (Free $150+) | Ships any business day
Dry Goods: $11.95 | Ships any business day
Medication & Water Treatments: $9.95 | Ships any business day
Ordering live items + dry goods? Live items ship Mon/Tue ($30), dry goods ship separately ($11.95) | Total: $41.95
See detailed breakdown below ↓
Single Product Type Orders:
• Live Fish: $30 express (FREE on orders $150+)
Ships Monday/Tuesday only, arrives within 1-4 business days
• Live Plants: $11.95 express (FREE on orders $150+)
Ships Monday/Tuesday only, arrives within 1-4 business days
• Fish Food: $9.95 standard or $11.95 express (FREE on orders $150+)
Ships Monday/Tuesday only, arrives within 2-8 business days (standard) or 1-4 business days (express)
• Dry Goods: $11.95 standard
Ships any business day, arrives within 2-8 business days
• Medications and Water Treatment: $9.95 standard
Ships any business day, arrives within 2-8 business days
Mixed Orders:
Live Fish and/or Plants (with or without Food): When your order includes live fish or plants, everything ships together via express for $30 (FREE on orders $150+). Food, Plants and Fish can be safely packed in the same box at no extra charge.
• Ships Monday/Tuesday only with our Live Arrival Guarantee:
- Arrives within 1-4 business days
Note: Food ordered with live fish/plants will ship Monday/Tuesday with your live items
Adding Dry Goods: Dry goods ship separately for $11.95 to avoid delaying your supplies while waiting for Monday/Tuesday live shipments. Because they ship separately, the shipping costs will add together when ordering both live items and dry goods.
• Dry goods ship any business day, arrive within 2-8 business days
• Total when ordering live items + dry goods: $41.95
($30 express for live items + $11.95 for dry goods)
• When purchasing dry goods + medications shipping price will default to a combined rate $11.95
Why separate shipping? Your live fish and plants get express care with temperature control and oxygen, shipping Monday/Tuesday for the shortest transit time. Food ships safely with them in the same box. Dry goods ship separately on any business day so they arrive quickly without waiting for Monday/Tuesday live shipments. This ensures everything arrives in perfect condition!
Local Delivery (Within 50km):
Live close by? We're excited to offer special perks for our local community!
Customers within 50km of our location automatically receive:
• Free express shipping on live fish and plant orders $120+ (compared to $150 Australia-wide)
• 10% off all fish, plants, and food products
• Faster delivery times with fresher arrivals
Why the difference? Shorter delivery distances mean quicker transit times for our live fish, so we're able to pass those savings directly to you while ensuring your new arrivals get home as quickly and safely as possible.
Your local perks are automatically applied at checkout when you enter your delivery address. No codes needed!
We’ve done our best to keep shipping costs as low and fair as possible, while ensuring your fish and products arrive quickly and safely.
All Live Fish Orders: Have been set for authority to leave at property so please make sure someone is home to collect your order in a timely manner. Live fish are only delivered to residential or business addresses and will not ship live fish to P.O boxes.
How we pack our fish:
We take great care to ensure your fish arrive happy and healthy.
We carefully select the best-looking, healthiest specimens from our stock. When possible, we purge (dont feed) them overnight in a separate tank to minimise fish waste in the shipping bag during transit.
On the day of shipping, each fish is gently scooped and placed into a bag filled with medical-grade oxygen to keep them comfortable with plenty of breathable oxygen.
To be environmentally friendly, we heat-seal our bags instead of using rubber bands, this is to reduce plastic waste and ensuring a secure seal during transit.
The bags are then placed into a foam box and packed snugly with recycled newspaper to keep them warm and stable, preventing movement during transport. During colder months, we include heat packs on the lid to maintain a safe, warm temperature for your fish throughout their journey.
Dead on arrival (DOA) Guarantee:
We work hard to breed and ship the happiest, healthiest fish possible. However, sometimes the unexpected can happen during transit, and a fish may sadly arrive deceased.
Please know that all fish orders are covered by our Dead on Arrival Policy, giving you peace of mind when ordering live fish from us.
Click here to read our full DOA Policy.
Exclusions:
Customers From: NT, TAS, and WA are unable to purchase live plants or fish from our website due to local import regulations.
Returns and Refunds:
Please Visit: our Returns and Refunds page and sections 5 and 6 on our Terms and Conditions page for all information on returns and refunds for all non living products.
If in need of any help please feel free to reach out by filling out a contact form or utilising the chat bubble on the bottom right of the screen we're happy to help!