Shipping fish

[farm41]

My fish are ready to go, but I'm not up to speed. I have only recieved fish one time, and I saved the box and packing.

I have the 6x20 bags and I always have boxes around. What do I need to use for packing material? Heat packs?

 

[Richgrenfell]

Yep, heat packs are a good idea this time of the year. I also line the inside of the box with newspaper and the fold the paper over the bags. I also fill the remaining space with big wads of newspaper or paper towels. Filling the remaining room helps the heatpacks do their job, as it cuts the space amount of space to be heated. It also helps to keep the bags more stationary.
HTH!

Rich

 

[Neil]

Matt,
Shipping fish is a whole new phase of fishkeeping. Luckily apistos are pretty darn good shippers. As long as you take measures to not over inflate the bags with air (they will expand in the plane), make sure that you don't feed them a day or so before shipping (to reduce waste in the bag), keep the temp from reducing greatly via a heat pack and pack them lightly in the bag but heavily in the box to reduce jostling! Good luck with this and let us know how you do.
Neil

 

[farm41]

Thanks guys,

It looks like my first shipping experience is coming up right now, I have a taker on the hoignei. They are asking for me to ship 2-3 day priority to reduce costs. Isn't that too long to have them in those little bags? Do I have to use oxygen? I think I would rather do it overnight air, but they are paying for shipping.

 

[Richgrenfell]

Hi Matt,
length that fish will tolerate shipping is going to depend on the packing job.
2 or 3 days IMO is a bit long. However, fish are shipped for those time periods all the time (mostly overseas shipments). If it were me...i'd send them any way they want. however, I would advise them before you ship that you will not be responsible for any shipping problems or DOA's as a result. i'd try and find a source of pressurized oxygen rather than bag buddies, and pack them well. If it's a thing that you'd rather not send them because you don't want to kill them, then I'd tell them that they need to use overnight shipping or you're not going to send them. If I remember correctly you're giving these fish away correct?

Rich

 

[farm41]

Yes, I am giving them away. They are real nice fish too, and I don't want them to suffer in a bag for that long. the only reason I am giving them away is that I don't have any females, or I would have offered them for sale. I have too many fish coming on right now to hold them any longer.

I do have oxygen available through a tank at the farm, but it's oxygen from my cutting torch.

I checked out USPS and it's $5.75 for 2 day and $17.85 for overnight. Quite a bit cheaper than UPS of fedex. Anything wrong with USPS?

 

[Richgrenfell]

Depends on who you talk to. I won't use USPS as i've had more than one horror story. other people seem to have no problems at all. If you use oxygen, they should be alright. however, you'll need to look into some 60 hour heatpacks in case you run into some cold weather. It is warming up but it is still winter.

Rich

 

[farm41]

Where are you guys getting the heat packs? I looked at the sporting goods and the most I could find are 18 hour heat packs. That isn't going to do. I even called the camping and hiking stores, they are saying 7 hours.

 

[Richgrenfell]

I buy mine from a fellow I met on aquabid. His username is Kensfish. He has some up for auction right now, both 40 hour and 60 hour. go to aquabid, and look in the shipping supplies section....i also buy food, and some other stuff from him. A really nice fellow, and great service. But then, you might want to ask Ted as well. I'm sure he could come up with something.

Rich

 

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

BTW. Most heatpacks need oxygen in order to work. If you seal them into
a styro, they'll eat up the oxygen and then stop working.

 

[Richgrenfell]

Well, that's news to me. I have been using heatpacks for lotsa years now, and i do run into the ocassional problem, but for the most part, the fish are nice and warm when they get to were they are going. Perhaps you are talking about the "handwarmer" types that are use for camping and such?

Rich

 

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

I was referring to the type that work when they come in contact with air.
Handwarmers - most of them - fall into that category. Not all of them
work that way though. Just something to look at when buying heatpacks.

 

[farm41]

I found them Rich,

thanks

 

[farm41]

My first shipping experience was a success, thanks to the help I got here.

Both the hoignei arrived in Nashville today after 2 days in a box. They were still warm and quite spunky right out of the box. I used the 60 hour heat packs and they said the heat packs were still giving off heat. 8)

Thank you all very much for the good advice.

 

[aspen]

great news matt. oregon to nashville is quite a ways for those fish to travel. how long did they spend in the bags? how did you end up shipping them?

rick

 

[farm41]

2-3 day priority USPS at Jody's request. I delivered them to the PO at 4:30PM, they arrived sometime thursday in Nashville, TN. I bagged them at 4PM, and filled the bags with pure oxygen.

If I only had a digital camera, I'd be selling my rams and panduro's on aquabid.