StephenP2003 Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 I've watched quite a few videos on shipping fish, and the general consensus on packing is pretty clear: Insulated box (most people just use foam panels) Heat pack in winter (attached to the inside of the box and separated from the fish bags themselves) Filler of some sort to keep the fish bags in place (I've seen packing peanuts, blown insulation, and newspaper. Fast the fish for a couple days before shipping Double-bag Make sure there aren't corners for fish to get trapped in (double-bagging usually solves this) What doesn't seem clear, or where people differ: Water volume -- too much and the shipping charge skyrockets, too little and you risk polluting the water. So what's the optimal amount of water to get, say, a trio of guppies, safely through the mail in 2-3 days? How much more if you were shipping a chunker, like a 4-5" oscar or fancy goldfish? Air -- A lot of fish shippers seem to use straight O2, and others just regular air. The advantage of the O2 seems to be higher water:air ratio, but could be other circumstances that call for O2 over regular air. Then of course there's the breather bags, which seems to be the better solution except in certain cases (e.g. fish that can puncture the bag). Water Source -- Some people just use the tank water, others use fresh conditioned water, and some use half and half. Anyone with lots of experience shipping fish care to chime in? Always good to have a solid foundation of good practices for anyone starting a breed-for-profit setup! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy's Fish Den Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 I have always used the rule of 1/3 water to 2/3 air in bags. Whether I'm shipping, packing fish to take to a club auction or whatever. Best bet shipping guppies, I would use small bag, bag individually, probably only need a cup of water in each bag. I've always just used tank water, never heard of anyone used fresh conditioned water until I saw one of Dan's Fish videos showing that what he does. It works cause I've heard lots of good things about his fish and shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenP2003 Posted January 23, 2021 Author Share Posted January 23, 2021 5 hours ago, Andy's Fish Den said: never heard of anyone used fresh conditioned water until I saw one of Dan's Fish videos showing that what he does Yep, and I also saw that Michael's Fish Room does that as well. Guess it just depends on the shipping speed, or the quality of the tank water to begin with. A mix of fresh and tank is probably a happy medium, or to do a 50% water change the night before shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Do you guys ever use a _drop_ of Amquel to offset ammonia spike? And . . . now this is really me being kind of diy-nermish . . . ever cut up a raw potato into small cubes, and mix with H2O2 to create oxygen? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Socqua Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 You probably saw this one already and it didn't add much to what you said, but nevertheless: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhitecloudDynasty Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 I don't like breather bag, if the box if filled up and cover, then tape well, how much oxygen is getting in? I'm on well water, I let my water age for 24 hour with an airstone, making sure the water have the maximum DO in the water. Since its new water it have no ammonia, nitrite, nitrate so its starting at 0. I dont use tank water because it already have some ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. I fast my fish the day before only, because the mass amount of waste should be out by then, fasting too long is stressful even tho they can handle it. As for the amount of water I normally go with 20% water and 80% air. Since I raise whitecloud and rainbow shiner they can handle moving water, and with less water it gets more surface agitation. When I bought baby trout to stock my neighbor pond, thats what they recommended.... "Shake the bag, they love it, itll add in more oxygen" 😆 I dont use pure oxygen cause I'm not that big scale, but I'm sure it would be better if I can. I could be all wrong but thats how I do mine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsten Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Haven't tried it myself, but I've received a number of fish, plants and inverts by mail and I've seen about an even mix of breather bags vs. non-breather bags and all have done well (outside of the one in early December during a pandemic with a hobbled post office, but that's hardly the shipper's fault). I've got a bucket load of liverbearers making babies, so I'm definitely keeping my eye on how to ship these little darlings at some point, and I've seen a lot of conflicting information. Some swear by breathers, some swear by NOT breathers. For the non-breathers, the advice I've seen is to add just enough water to cover the fins in any orientation, and/or fill the rest with pure oxygen, and/or use a bag buddy to help keep them calm and oxygenate the water. Suffocation is the greatest risk. Some of the breather bags I've gotten have been double-bagged, which is good for integrity but can reduce gas exchange, so it's a tradeoff. If I had to ship a fish on Monday, if money were no object, I think I'd go for a tightly sealed and well-insulated breather bag with a 24 hr heat pack, box not perfectly sealed to allow some airflow, and FedEx Standard Overnight (priority overnight just gets it there a few hours earlier and is more likely to get screwed up in my experience at an immigration law firm). If we're on a budget, I'd do Priority Mail but only for hardy fish, and I'd mark as perishable, fragile, this end up, and I'd probably wait til spring or fall to avoid temperature extremes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenP2003 Posted January 24, 2021 Author Share Posted January 24, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, WhitecloudDynasty said: As for the amount of water I normally go with 20% water and 80% air. Right, but the question is how much water? 8 ounces, 4 ounces? I know it depends on the fish, so say if putting 1-2 guppies to a bag. Or 2" bristlenose plecos, which I am actually going to be shipping soon. 4 hours ago, Fish Folk said: Do you guys ever use a _drop_ of Amquel to offset ammonia spike? And . . . now this is really me being kind of diy-nermish . . . ever cut up a raw potato into small cubes, and mix with H2O2 to create oxygen? Didn't even think about this. I have plenty of h2o2 and probably some taters around here. I might give it a shot tonight to see how much it takes to fill a bag. Edited January 24, 2021 by StephenP2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhitecloudDynasty Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 7 minutes ago, StephenP2003 said: Right, but the question is how much water? 8 ounces, 4 ounces? I know it depends on the fish, so say if putting 1-2 guppies to a bag. Or 2" bristlenose plecos, which I am actually going to be shipping soon. Didn't even think about this. I have plenty of h2o2 and probably some taters around here. I might give it a shot tonight to see how much it takes to fill a bag. it depend on your bag size...mine are all 4x18 i believe, and i eye ball all of my water anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisD Posted January 24, 2021 Share Posted January 24, 2021 Please make yourself aware of safety issues surrounding the use of pure oxygen even in small quantities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenP2003 Posted January 24, 2021 Author Share Posted January 24, 2021 3 minutes ago, ChrisD said: Please make yourself aware of safety issues surrounding the use of pure oxygen even in small quantities. Always work near an open flame, correct? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenP2003 Posted January 24, 2021 Author Share Posted January 24, 2021 On 1/23/2021 at 1:10 PM, Fish Folk said: ever cut up a raw potato into small cubes, and mix with H2O2 to create oxygen? So, I tried this today. Doesn't create enough oxygen to fill a bag quickly enough. Probably better off using a DIY electrolysis setup. But I think I'll go with regular air for now. There are also the canned oxygen packs on Amazon, meant for athletes training at high altitude. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 54 minutes ago, StephenP2003 said: There are also the canned oxygen packs on Amazon, meant for athletes training at high altitude. Crackin’ open a can o’ oxygen!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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