What you need to ship fish..?

[joedarat]

so if you're looking to trade/sell/give away fish to people out of state.. how does one go about doing so? I've often thought about what I would do if my dwarf cichlids spawned some fry(please!), and selling some of them is definitely something I would do..

So what does one do to ship a fish safely? What type(s) of packaging is needed other than a bag of water? What other tools or things are needed?

Im sure a lot of people want to know the best way, since this is something you definitely don't want to do on a trial by error system..that would suck bad for both parties.

 

[Toirtis]

1. Shipping box. This is a fish shipping box which consists of a lidded styrofoam box inside a sturdy cardboard box.

2. Fish bags. You can go with normal fishbags or Kordon breather bags.

3. plastic and or newspaper to line the box...extra protection against leaks.

4. Labels for the box..."This end up", "Fragile", "Live tropical fish", etc

Optionals:

1. heat or cool packs for inside the box...this will depend on the type of fish being shipped, length of journey, season/weather.

2. Oxygen....you may wish to fill the 'air' part of the bag with oxygen if the trip is going to take a while.

Make sure you ship same/next day...plan, plan, plan...make sure the fish can be picked up when they arrive, and always ship first thing in the morning or late at night so the fish do not sit overnight in a shipping office. Likewise, ship early in the week, so no 'over-weekend' delays occur.

 

[joedarat]

great info . thanks. good to have a check list. how long can a typical fish last in just a bag of half water , half air?

 

[Toirtis]

great info . thanks. good to have a check list. how long can a typical fish last in just a bag of half water , half air?

Not long, really....what you want is about 1/4 water to 3/4 air, or at least 1/3 water to 2/3 air.

 

[greenmaji]

Toirtis.. what do you think about the use of Methane Blue and O2 tabs? just currious..

 

[Andos99]

Biggest thing is make sure they get there over night and there is going to be someone home to take them in.

 

[Toirtis]

Toirtis.. what do you think about the use of Methane Blue and O2 tabs? just currious..

Methylene blue is a general antifungal...it has been used for years as a prophylactic when shipping fish, but it can cause unnecessary damage, especially if over-dosed...if you do use it, do so sparingly...mebbe one drop per large bag at most. I am still not convinced that those O2 tabs are really anything but bumf, but I do know a few people that have used those 'bag buddies' with no apparent ill effects, so if you wish to....

 

[greenmaji]

I just recently heard of the O2 tabs on here actually.. I was curious exactly how that would work.. the meth. blue I was asking because it had been used a long time ago and I heard from people resently that the water in the bags from online retailers was a little blue..