Shipping Fish

[Hugh Mann]

All my local fish stores currently have sweet F-A for stock, but there is a great place with lots of good, healthy stock of everything, unfortunately it is on the other side of the country. The guy there tells me he ships all the time, usually takes 1-2 days from there to here, followed by a 2 hour round trip drive from the airport to my house.

I know it's a common thing to ship fish, and these fish have already traveled around the world, but I am still apprehensive to bag up a couple hundred dollars in living creatures, load 'em onto an airplane and flown out here, handled by who knows how many disgruntled employees along the way. So I just have a couple questions regarding shipping. Currently looking at 1-2 fish and a BTA.

To those who have shipped fish, how often would you say that you get DoAs or expire shortly after arrival?

Acclimating fish that have been shipped, I'm sure there is plenty of O2 left in the bag after even 2 days, but I am concerned about ammonia buildup. I've heard that ph changes from opening the bag can increase its toxicity or something like that? Could be wrong, but any special procedures to acclimate fish that have been in a bag for so long?

I usually Drip acclimate in the bag over a couple hours, but these fish spend no more than 7 hours in the bag (lfs is a long drive), and I have yet to lose a fish from acclimation issues.

 

[RapidReefer]

defiantly dont wanna drip accumulate in the bagged water if they been in there for 2 days .....soon as the air hits that water ammonia will start to form.

 

[RapidReefer]

all i buy online is coral and some CUC snails esc.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I haven't bought a saltwater fish in a store since 2006. I've never bought a single coral in a retail store. Never had a single shipping fatality, ever.

I wouldn't ship corals or fish two-day though. For me it's overnight only.

 

[Hugh Mann]

defiantly dont wanna drip accumulate in the bagged water if they been in there for 2 days .....soon as the air hits that water ammonia will start to form.

So what then, is the process? Match the salinity in the QT somehow without opening the bag, float for 30 and dump in?

 

[Hugh Mann]

I haven't bought a saltwater fish in a store since 2006. I've never bought a single coral in a retail store. Never had a single shipping fatality, ever.

I wouldn't ship corals or fish two-day though. For me it's overnight only.

Overnight is fine though? Still seems like an awful long time to spend in a bag, building ammonia up.
The guys says it's typically overnight, but there's always the possibility of delays, especially now.

 

[RapidReefer]

temp accumulate bag then dump "fish" in water keep there water out of your tank. Yes id make sure the qt tank matches the temp and salinity of the bagged water. Im sure they dealer will tell you the parms of water !

 

[RapidReefer]

fish should be fine im about to soon order a Valentini puffer form live aquairia

 

[Gernader]

I just ordered a bunch of quarantined fish and they will ship them overnight. If I were you, I would just float the bags for some time, open them and take the fish out, and put them in the tank. I wouldn’t drip acclimate fish that came from shipping due to ammonia issues.

 

[Hugh Mann]

temp accumulate bag then dump "fish" in water keep there water out of your tank. Yes id make sure the qt tank matches the temp and salinity of the bagged water. Im sure they dealer will tell you the parms of water !

I hadn't thought about that, asking about their perameters. Did that with a clown I bought recently, but it was only a few hours in the bag so I just opened it to take a sample. So much easier than dripping.

 

[Hugh Mann]

I just ordered a bunch of quarantined fish and they will ship them overnight. If I were you, I would just float the bags for some time, open them and take the fish out, and put them in the tank. I wouldn’t drip acclimate fish that came from shipping due to ammonia issues.

Isn't there the possibility of osmotic shock if there's too great a salinity difference? I guess that's a bit less dangerous than ammonia poisoning.

 

[Gernader]

Isn't there the possibility of osmotic shock if there's too great a salinity difference? I guess that's a bit less dangerous than ammonia poisoning.

Yes, that‘s a possibility. If the salinity is less than 2 points from your display’s salinity, there shouldn’t be any problems.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Yes, that‘s a possibility. If the salinity is less than 2 points from your display’s salinity, there shouldn’t be any problems.

I keep mine 1.023, which is right in the middle where my usual stores keep theirs, either 1.021 or 1.025. Definitely still worth to ask what they keep theirs at.

Any other considerations to take when ordering livestock?

 

[Gernader]

I keep mine 1.023, which is right in the middle where my usual stores keep theirs, either 1.021 or 1.025. Definitely still worth to ask what they keep theirs at.

Any other considerations to take when ordering livestock?

I’m not an expert on livestock since I barely order fish online. That is all I can say to you. However, you might be able to find more answers if you search around on this forum.

 

[RapidReefer]

just make sure you overnight it and you should be good temp acclimating. todays economy is tough tho i ordered a package from amazon in may and paid for over night and it just showed up today ! :( wasnt any live stock thankfully lol just some glasses. but LMK how ordering live stock is ill be curious.