Longstocking,
Well mail order fish seems to be the "way" to go if your LFS doesn't have the "specialized" stuff that you might be looking for. I admit, when I first started, there was a learning curve of about 10 shipments but after I got it down and all I haven't lost a single fish in about 200 shipments.
The key is you have to get the chemicals right and balanced. I am a big fan of HEAVY sedation so the fish do not injure themselves nor puncture holes in the bag. I use a very harsh sedative that basically washes the fish out but once you put them in your tank give and give them 6 hours they are back to where they were. I have to do this b/c the people at FedEx seem to throw the boxes any which way they know how!!