Has anyone shipped a dwarf seahorse?

[vlangel]

Hi folks,

I have a wild caught dwarf seahorse that came as a hitch hiker with my feeder shrimp order. I have had her for over a month and she seems to be thriving.

Unfortunately a dwarf seahorse with their need of live, enriched food does not fit in my lifestyle of moderate travel. I am going on a humanitarian mission trip to Greece to help with the refugee population in the middle of March. I will be gone for a week and need to rehome my little dwarf before then.

I am wondering who here may have shipped dwarf seahorses. I have heard that erectus fry can be shipped in a 20-22 oz plastic soda bottle and wondered if a dwarf could be shipped the same way. I am willing to pay to have the seahorse overnighted to its destination.

What I do not want to do is condemn it to a sure death, hence my question. If any of you have experience in this area, I would be grateful. Thank you,

Dawn

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Bump for evening crew! Anybody had any experience with shipping dwarf seahorses? #reefsquad

 

[redfishbluefish]

@SeahorseKeeper is this something you could comment on?

 

[JLynn]

As far as I’m aware, they are shipped the same way as anything else: in a plastic bag. I don’t know about shipping any fish in a soda bottle. Personally I’d be worried that momentum in a truck might have them slamming into the sides of the bottle.

There are two special considerations with seahorses. Firstly, they are super inefficient eaters, so they produce a lot of waste, and I would put a dwarf seahorses in a larger bag than you might normally ship a fish it’s size in - put the power of dilution to good use. Secondly, bacteria populations begin growing exponentially more quickly in water above 74 F, which is why we keep them at 72 F or so, normally (greatly reduces risk of disease). There’s not a whole lot you can do to control temperatures when shipping a fish, but keep that in mind when you are deciding how much heating to include in your packaging.

One last thing, which is by no means necessary, but might make your little seahorse feel a little less stressed in shipping is that seahorses, as relatively poor swimmers, like to hook their tails around things so they don’t have to do as much work to keep afloat. I think your seahorse would appreciate it if you cut off a couple inches of screen netting or something like that and put it in the bag for them to hang on to.

 

[WetPets]

When i get seahorses they cone with zip tie loops in the bag

 

[Lucie]

They ship very well, like erectus fry but more hardy. Some online sellers even send them with 3 days shipping (which is not recommended for any live fish)
the water should not drop less than 65 or overheat more than 80

 

[vlangel]

Thank you to all who responded. I do have small Styrofoam boxes so I can ship her in a bag. I guess if the bag is big enough with enough air, she won't need to have compressed air added.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Disclaimer: I have never shipped a dwarf seahorse.

I would make sure the bag is 25-30% water and the rest air. The bag should be taut like a balloon. I would double bag it by tying up the first bag and sliding a new bag over the top where it is rubber banded. It helps ensure no leaking. I would also have some thin zip ties in for the seahorse to hitch to.

 

[vlangel]

Actually I shipped her this past Monday. I was a bit unprepared how much overnignting her would be...over $100 so I sent her 2 day. The bags I used were the same my shrimp come in so I probably did fill it 30% with water and the rest with air. I added macro algae for her to hitch to. Also I added hand warmers wrapped in paper. She was double bagged. Last night her new owner told me that she arrived in good shape so I was happy to hear that. A happy ending for all!