tolstoy21

I used those for about a year. They do work well. ULINE also has those in bulk (what I used to use), so you might want to do some price comparison. https://www.uline.com/BL_7009/Universal-Sorbents

So Dan's Fish?

You could also just tape the cooler shut and slap a shipping label on that, if you think it's structurally sound enough to not bust apart in shipping. This would all depend on the density of the foam. Know the feeling all too well . . . .

@Cinnebuns Your best bet is the following --> https://www.homedepot.com/p/3-4-in-x-1-25-ft-x-4-ft-R-2-65-Polystyrene-Panel-Insulation-Sheathing-6-Pack-150705/202090272 I used these in the beginning. Don't be deceived by the picture, this is a 6-pack of 4' x 1.25' sheets. They're not 1" thick but instead are 3/4", but they work totally fine. And they won't break the bank at approx $16 per 6-pack. Newspaper is decent as another form of insulation inside of a stryo-lined box as anything that fills up the empty space inside the box helps it hold its heat better. Well, that's my theory at least . . . . . because I do know that if I hold BBQ in a cooler and fill the empty void in the cooler with a towel or two, it helps keeps the food warm for a very loooooong time. So, my guess is that the crumpled newsprint in my shipping boxes also helps in that aspect. Dunno. . . . it's more speculation on my part than science.

Yeah, so far in 2022, I've shipped 253 packages (that's today's count). So I've had some experiences (most good; a few of them the opposite of good). 😉

Agreed. I am 100% happy to share anything I've learned thus far from my experiences (and there is still more to learn) so others don't have to go through some of the trial-and-error. A lot of things can be learned through making mistakes (it's one of the best ways to learn and I've made plenty of them!), but no one wants to make a mistake that results in a stinky bag full of pale, upside-down, floating fish.

I cut insulation with a foam cutting table (hot wire cutter) I got off amazon. It was inexpensive (as far as foam cutting tables go), and I don't love it and want to make my own, but it's done a very good job for me over the past couple years. They run about $100. I get some, but not all, of my packaging supplies from ULINE. They have good prices and a HUGE selection, but they kill you on shipping. I still get the absorbents from them cause my local package supply source doesn't carry anything like it. https://www.uline.com/Grp_39/Paper-Cushioning Not sure what an O2 concentrator is. I use O2 from a local welding shop (in fact I need to get a refill today!). Honestly, I love breather bags. But their failure rate got too high for me over X amount of shipments. I still use them for shrimp because I feel like a bag with air in it would be too much jostling about for them during shipping and handling.

Yup. This is what I eventually settled upon. But those prices for occasional shipping make that option cost prohibitive. I don't think one 'needs' pure O2 in a bag, but it sure does help in keeping the bag sizes smaller to get more out of a shipment. Agree 100%. Get rid of bag corners. If using breather bags, purchase the ones with pre-rounded corners.

I've done quite a bit of experimenting with packaging and shipping over the past 2 years or so--trying various box sizes, cushioning, insulation, absorbent materials, bags, cold packs, heat packs, labeling, etc. These are my brief (ok longish, I have a problem with brevity) thoughts on the subject at this point I am happy to elaborate more on any point in this thread. In the end, my personal advice really depends on how often you plan on shipping fish, but for purposes of this topic I'm going to imagine you're shipping occasionally. Bags: I use doubled-bagged plastic bags because they are more reliable (I use pure O2 in these). But for infrequent shipping breather bags work well too. In fact, I prefer breather bags, but over a lot of shipments, I find more bag-related failures with breather bags than I do with plastic bags. (I still use breather bags for shrimp). Don't double bag breather bags and pretty much close them up as @Fish Folkrecommended. Fish-per-bag: For me this depends on the species. For things like apistos I pack one per bag. For smaller, schooling fish like tetras, I do maybe 4 to 6 tops per bag, but this depends entirely on their size and how many i need to get in a box. If I were shipping angels, I might do the same, but it would depend on how many I was shipping. (Caveat, I have no experience with angel fish at all, so these are guesses). If I were shipping a couple angels, I'd do one-per-bag. With larger fish, one-per-bag. Very small, young fish, I might do three-per-bag in a larger bag. 6" to 8" wide, measured when empty. With a single fish, you don't need a ton of water in the bag, just enough for the fish to turn around and not 'go potty' themselves to death. With multiple fish, I use just enough water that they look comfortable in terms of space. Water-prep: I will fully admit that I don't go super crazy with fasting (usually cause I forget!). Typically, I don't feed the night before and morning of shipping. But I ship exclusively overnight and 2nd-Day. I put a couple drops of AmQuel Plus in the bags. I use 100% clean fresh water I always have staged in a barrel (no tank water), unless the fish have special water params. Then I use their tank water. With these practices, I've not seen a huge difference between fasting vs not fasting. For longer trips, or larger fish-per-bag densities, I'd imagine the picture would change a bit. Packaging: I standardize on three box sizes: 12x9x6, 12x9x9, 12x12x12. Why, because I pre-cut all my foam inserts in bulk and those sizes give me the least amount of waste with the size sheets I cut. What size you specifically need really depends on the size and quantity of fish you're sending. I don't put any 'live fish' stickers on my boxes (see the pics at the end of this thread), because this just causes questions and makes UPS scrutinize my packages. If you're shipping in breather bags, you need absorbent materials in the box in case of leaks. For plastic bags, just double bag and use newsprint for cushioning to fill out the empty space. Insulation: I use 1" thick polystyrene sheets. Aside from offering insulation, these add quite a bit of structural integrity to a box. When cutting/fitting them into a box, make sure the edges of the sheets are snug and tight fit without deforming your box shape. Heat/Cold Packs: Heat packs are a must in cold weather. For hot weather, ice packs only work so much and I find them ineffective and only add to the weight of the package. If the temps are 90f or below in both the source and destination location, forget cold packs. If temps are going to be above 90 at the destination, or are like 100 at the shipping source, use cold packs, but only if you can guarantee the shipment will arrive before noon the next day. If not, then expect DOAs. I tend to avoid extremes like those when I can. Always (repeat always) tape the heat or cold packs to the box lid and leave room and packing material between these and the fish. I've lost shipments due to these coming dislodged and sitting too close to bags. Ok so, I guess that's it? Probably not. I always have more to say. But I'll say it in pics! See below: My typical box looks like this (my shipping area shown in the back): Absorbent materials I use (pretty much just paper towel, but way thicker and I get them on big rolls).

I'm pretty new to line breeding and have been keeping it simple and follow the most basic formula that I've found in my reading. For now, I'm trying to avoid any methodology that seems overly complex at this stage in my learning. I inbreed brother-to-sister for a few generations, keeping two separate lines going without crossing them. Then in generation 4, I cross a male and female from line1 and line2 and start the process again. I'm sure at some point I will need to outcross to bring in more genetics (maybe?), but I'm not at that point yet. I don't use separators. I just use individual 10 and 20 gallons. Everything I'm not holding onto for breeding, I move to 40 gallon grow outs. These hold a mix of fish from the different pairs, undifferentiated. Like I said, I am very new to this . . . . total noob. Much to learn. Many mistakes still to be made. But the above is my starting point.

ITCH SCRATCHED!!!!!!!

The reactor works well at dissolving the CO2 so there are no bubbles in the display at all, but its' kind of unsightly if you mount it in the tank (I think it can be mounted externally as well). The one thing I didn't like about it was that every now and then the chamber would fill with more CO2 (over time) than it could dissolve into the water and it needed to be stopped and re-filled with water and restarted. The reactor is a good option if you have a sump you can hide it in. Also, if you have a sump, there is a type of impeller (needle-something-or-other) than can be used to help dissolve the CO2 before it hits the display. Haven't used one so I don't know how successful they are.

Yeah I see the same on Craigs List in my area. Most folks are looking to get close to full retail 'new' value for very used looking aquariums. I stopped searching there entirely a while ago.

I ran CO2 for few years. I used both the drop checker and the chart @Mmiller2001 linked in this post to dial things in. At first I just picked a moderate bubble rate and then watched the tank all day (it's next to my work desk, so keeping an eye on things was easy), and then I just slowly tweaked the bubble rate each day till I had it running at a nice lime green. One thing I would advise, if I remember correctly, is to switch the solenoid on a few hours before lights on, and to shut it off a few hours before lights out. This allows the aquarium to have CO2 in the water when the plants are ready to photosynthesize and lets it deplete a bit before they are ready to stop. Also, is that a 5lb tank? My one regret was not getting a 20lb tank because I got tired of running out to refill it. I was running my setup in a 125 and felt like I was refilling CO2 all the time. I never really measured to see if a 20lb tank would fit under my stand, so not sure one would even fit. However, from a cost perspective, I think I paid $15 to fill the 5lb, whereas a 20lb is like $30 for a refill (so 4x as much gas for only 2x increased cost). I also preferred the Sera CO2 reactor to the normal diffuser because I didn't care for the sprite-water look. Oh, and your plants look great!!!

Oh, how do you solve a problem like kribensis?How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? (God I really hope you were really intentionally quoting The Sound of Music. Otherwise, move along, nothing to see here).

OMG!!!! Thanks for posting this. I just checked the other day and NO SALE! So I was getting ready to pay full price this weekend for a few 20 highs. But now ... SALE SALE SALE!!!!!!!!

And to be completely transparent, the tanks I do a lot of WC's on are on an auto water change system. I have some tanks that get remineralized RO water and others that I have to boost the GH quite a bit. Those, I rarely change water on, basically as needed. So, all my WC habits can be 100% attributed to laziness (there is no science to it)--I auto-change a lot of water so I don't have to worry about keeping track of params (especially when stocking density is high or I'm intentionally over feeding). On the other tanks not on auto WC, I change water infrequently because why make work for myself if I don't have to?

Yeah, if your water is clean, you just want to focus on having the correct params for the fish to breed -- temp, gh, kh, ph, etc. But as @lefty o said, some species are trigger by a flush of clean water that drops both the temp and/or GH/KH. So it depends on what you're trying to breed. The frequent water changes come in handy when you have a packed grow-out tank full of fry that you're trying to grow. Personally, I do perform a lot of frequent water changes on my breeding tanks, but that's only so I don't have to go around and measure the tanks params all the time. But it's certainly not necessary.

Also bringing up @Fish Folk's original response . . . this is the thing to keep in mind, it's a longer term project/journey. You have to put the time in not just keeping and breeding fish, but in getting people to know, trust, and like you and the fish you have to offer. Nothing happens overnight, at least nothing regular, like trading/selling fish to a store on a longer than one-off-sale basis. But that's part of the fun. At least to me. Having a longer term trajectory and chipping away it it over time, one little piece at a time. Gives you something to do, think about in those quieter moments, to plan for and that will occupy your time day after day. I do the same. Usually I'll be at the register chatting with the owner and then I'll show them some pictures of fish I need to offload for credit and ask them if they are interested and what's the best day/time to bring them in. If the folks in the store look super busy or are with other customers, I'll browse the shelves or just try again on a quieter day. But . . . it was probably three years of shopping before I approached them for the first time. Not that I planned it that way. But this is just to illustrate that being a regular is beneficial.

I traded a bunch of endlers for credit at my local LFS the other day and the person in charge of purchasing fish told me that they prefer to get guppies and endlers from local sources because this way they can sell them in pairs and their customers are assured the males and females are from the same line.

Pretty much everything will eat shrimp, other than the smallest nano fish. As for guppies, Oscars would work, but they get big and poop like Labrador Retrievers.

Yeah, I think you just have to observe and wait it out.

Are there any fry in the aquarium at all? How large is the aquarium? If the male and female are getting aggressive with one another and there aren't any fry in the aquarium, the only thing you can do is provide ample hiding space for the fish that is receiving the abuse and just wait for the fish to 'work out their issues'. I'm also guessing you can put in a partition (tank separator) that the fish can see each other through, but not attack one another. I've never tried that personally, but it could work, or, minimally, if they never resolve their issues, at least you won't wind up with one of them dead.

In case anyone was following this thread . . . . . I got mine to breed again, but looks like they are once again doing the whole oviraptor thang. This is egg-eating session #4! I think I going to pull the cave next time and see if I can be a better parent. I "think" I know how to trigger them (and I stress "think" cause I'm reserving the right to be wrong!). It's pretty much the standard way as with many other species. Fatten them up with live foods and frozen foods. I use live black worms and frozen brine (they don't seem to care for BBS as I never see them actively eating it when I put some in). I then do a decently sized water change with cooler water to simulate a rain. I keep these fish in 100% RO water with peat pellets in a box filter. The Ph is too low for me to measure with any of my kits, so I'm just going to call it below 6. The temp is about 80F before the WC. Didn't take a measure afterwards, but I think I'm going to start taking notes next time round. I have a medium sized cichlid cave for them, which they do like, but thus far, the female prefers laying in a small terracotta pot laid on its side.

Or open an aquarium store?