Extra peace of mind for the livestock you love.

What the Living Guarantee is

Every order on Fast Aquatics already comes with our standard Buyer Protection: a 4-hour DOA window that starts the moment your package is delivered. Photo evidence, carrier-tracked timestamps, vendor SLA, and Fast Aquatics mediation if anything goes sideways. That part is automatic and free.

The Living Guarantee is an optional add-on at checkout that extends that protection well past arrival. If your specimen does not make it through the next month, three months, six months, or full year, file a claim with photo evidence and a quick parameter log and we make it right - replacement, store credit, or refund.

It is the same idea behind any other warranty you have bought for something you care about. Pay a small amount up front, sleep better for the next year.

How to choose a tier

• 1-month - good for hardy, established livestock you have raised before. Covers the high-risk first 30 days when most post-arrival losses happen.
• 3-month - the sweet spot for most buyers. Long enough to clear the acclimation period plus any latent disease that could appear in week 2 or 3.
• 6-month - recommended for sensitive species (SPS coral, anemones, wild-caught marine fish) and for buyers building a new system.
• 12-month - for high-value pieces, named cultivars, large display anemones, or anything you would be heartbroken to lose.

What it costs

The Living Guarantee is priced as a small percentage of your order subtotal. The exact amount depends on the species, the duration you choose, and the vendor's data on the specific specimen. Hardier livestock costs less to cover. Longer durations cost more. Plants and freshwater livestock land at the low end. Anemones and SPS coral land at the higher end.

The calculator below gives you a real quote in seconds. There is a $1.99 minimum so we can keep covering the smallest orders.

Available from participating vendors

The Living Guarantee is offered on listings from vendors who have opted into the program. Look for the Living Guarantee Member badge on the vendor profile and on listing cards. These vendors have committed to honoring claims with replacement specimens or to backing customer credits, which lets us extend the strongest coverage in the hobby.

If a vendor has not opted in, your order is still fully covered by our standard Buyer Protection (the 4-hour DOA window from delivery). The Living Guarantee simply will not appear as an upgrade option at checkout for those listings.

Get a quote

What's covered

• Mortality from natural causes during the guarantee period. Within the policy window, if the specimen dies and you submit photo evidence + parameter logs, we pay the full subtotal as store credit, or 80% as cash refund.
• Disease that the specimen arrived with. If a treatable disease (ich, velvet, flukes) shows up within 14 days, you can either claim a replacement or get reimbursed for med costs up to 35% of subtotal.
• Stress-related death within 30 days. Always covered, regardless of duration tier.

What's NOT covered

• Tank crashes from negligence (heater fail, no top-off, salinity spikes outside 1.022-1.027). Submit parameter logs - we review.
• Predator events (the Lyretail Wrasse the customer added that ate the cleaner shrimp).
• Specimens kept outside species-appropriate parameters (we publish ranges on every species page).
• Anything outside the policy window. The 12-month tier covers 12 months from delivery. Day 366 is on you.

How claims work

1. Open a claim. Sign in to your account and go to the order. Click File a Living Guarantee claim and you will be walked through the form.
2. Upload photos. A clear shot of the specimen and any visible signs of disease or injury. If you have parameter logs (test strip photo, app screenshot, or your notebook), include those.
3. Vendor review. The vendor has 24 hours (48 on weekends) to respond. They can approve, ask for more information, or escalate.
4. Resolution. Approved claims are made right one of three ways - your pick:
   • 120% store credit (recommended) - we add 20% on top of the lost specimen's value, redeemable across the entire marketplace. Stack the credit with new items in your cart to hit any vendor's free-shipping threshold and your replacement effectively ships free.
   • Replacement on the next shipment when the vendor has the same species in stock. The replacement specimen itself is free; standard shipping rates still apply, so most customers add a few extra items to the cart to hit free-shipping (we tee that up automatically).
   • 100% cash refund back to your original payment method. Simplest option if you do not want to keep shopping.
5. Mediation if needed. If you and the vendor cannot agree, Fast Aquatics steps in and reviews the evidence. We tend to side with the customer when evidence is mixed.

Why most customers pick the 120% store credit

The Living Guarantee covers the value of the lost specimen. Live shipping (heat pack, foam, overnight box, FedEx Priority) is its own line item that we cannot cover without doubling the program's cost. Almost every customer comes out ahead by taking the 120% store credit and stacking it against new items in the same cart - because that is how you hit a vendor's free-shipping threshold and effectively get your replacement shipped free.

Here is what the math typically looks like for a $25 lost fish:

Vendors that have opted into the Living Guarantee program post their free-shipping threshold on their profile and on every listing. Many vendors also turn on Replacement Includes Free Shipping as a courtesy, in which case the replacement-only path costs you nothing. Either way, you choose what works best for you - we just want you to have the math up front.

What about shipping on a replacement?

Live livestock shipping is expensive because it has to be done right - heat pack, foam, overnight, carrier-tracked. The Living Guarantee covers the cost of the animal, not the shipping box. We are upfront about that because we would rather build a program that survives at scale than promise something that quietly raises premiums for everyone.

To make sure customers always have a path that feels fair:

• The 120% store credit option exists specifically so you can stack it with new items and hit a vendor's free-ship threshold. No additional shipping cost in that scenario.
• Vendors can opt to ship Living Guarantee replacements for free regardless of cart size. Look for the badge on their profile.
• If you only want the lost specimen replaced and you do not want to add anything to the cart, the cash refund option puts the money back in your hands so you can buy whenever it makes sense.

Frequently asked