How to ship live fish/plants/inverts

trit0n2003

All i have been doing is selling my fish to local shops or trading. But i would like to get into selling/trading on here as well.

The only problem is that i don't know the correct way to package or ship live aquatic life.

Can anyone with experience help me out? I would love to add more to this forums classified market :)

tropics007

Shipping fish is easy, but even I still get nervous about shipping live fish during the winter. Personally, I try to ship fish only during the warmer months.

Basic Need Items For Shipping:

• Shipping boxes
• Styrfoaom sheets (you can cut them according to the box size)
• Poly Bags (2-3 mil)
• Breather Bags ( mostly used for livebearers, and inverts)
• 72hr. heatpacks ( used during winter months)
• Cold packs ( sometimes used during the warmer months)
• Packaging tape
• Rubberbands

If you are shipping platies, guppies, endlers, shrimp, or liverbearer fry, I would HIGHLY rec. using breather bags.

Choose your bag size according to the size of the fish, as well as the qty. of fish you are putting per bag. With breather bags simply fill the bag completely with water. ( I will also normally stick in a piece of live plant for the fish to hide in during transit). To provide extra warmth for the fish, alot of sellers will wrap the shipping bags completely in newspaper.

Make sure you do not feed your fish at least 2 days prior to shipping.

Example of the inside of a shipping box:



Bags wrapped in newspaper:



Baby fry in Breather bags:




Fish in Flat Fold Poly Bags: ( always double bag when using poly shipping bags)



I am sure you will have plenty of other members chime in to help you out.

If you start shipping, make sure to try a test run first.

redchigh

I use breather bags (by Kordon) and bag buddies (also by kordon).

Unfortunately, breather bags don't do well in a styrofoam box (since they transfer oxygen and co2 through the bag, there's no need for air in the bag- saves weight for shipping costs), and heat packs won't heat properly without an oxygen supply (like in a styro box).

Thats why I only ship in spring and summer. If you google it you'll see tons of good advice- breather bags, heat packs, etc can be found on aquabid, and bag buddies are usually on pet stores inventory lists if you ask for them (so they can order them). They're pricey for a bottle of 400, but pretty cheap per piece. They absorb ammonia and tranquilise the fish.