Shipping large fish

[awwinterfall]

Every time I order large fish, they are dead on arrival.

Is there a secret to shipping them or did the vendors not ship properly?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

How many times have you ordered a “large fish”? Different vendors or the same one?
There’s lots of people on here who order fish online and don’t have issues

 

[LPS Bum]

What constitutes a large fish? Which vendor are you using? What kinds of fish?

I’ve had quite a few 5-6 inch Angels get shipped to me. They’ve all done well in large triple bags of water filled with O2. Packed in styrofoam coolers with heat packs.

Not shipping in extreme weather and no shipping delays are crucial factors too.

 

[threebuoys]

Lot's of water. Shipping delays / deliveries in cold weather has been a bigger problem for me.

 

[awwinterfall]

I tried dynasty marine for lookdown and jacks at 5 to 6 inches. They came in huge bags.

I just got a snapper yesterday at 6 inches from. King coral.

No shipping delays.

I used ups early arrival in the morning too.

I will never order super large fish again .
I'd rather raise them from 2 to 3 inches

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I tried dynasty marine for lookdown and jacks at 5 to 6 inches. They came in huge bags.

I just got a snapper yesterday at 6 inches from. King coral.

No shipping delays.

I used ups early arrival in the morning too.

I will never order super large fish again .
I'd rather raise them from 2 to 3 inches

Many times when people ship larger fish, they miss the point that as a fish's length increases linearly, its mass (and therefore its waste output and oxygen intake) goes up geometrically.

So, what often happens is that they, say ship a 2" fish in 8 ounces of water, so they think they can ship a 20" fish in 80 ounces of water (increase the length by 10, so they increase the water volume by ten also). Trouble is, 80 oz is only half a gallon (grin). This is an extreme example, but the same issue applies to 8" fish as well.