Mail ordering fish?

[FreshyFresh]

I've dabbled in aquaria for about 40yrs, with the last 8 or so being the most serious. My first time ever mail ordering fish was a little over a week ago and I was blown away at the speed and efficiency of the process. My order came from central FL and made it to the Buffalo NY area in one day via USPS. Actual transit time was like 12hrs. A fluke perhaps? The stars were perfectly aligned?

My second order.. Not so much. Placed the order on the 12th. It didn't ship until the morning of the 19th. Today is the 22nd and the package is still states away per FedEx tracking.

It looks like the earliest I'll possibly get them is tomorrow, which would mean the fish have been in shipping for 4+ days. The shipper uses 72hr heat packs and foam insulated boxes, but how long can they make it in the bag before there's not enough O2 to survive? One dies and things are going to go south quickly.

This is 5 gold barbs. I'm not overly concerned with temperature as these are sub-tropical. Just more concerned about everything else.

If they or most make it, it's going to be pour the bag into a net and directly into the tank. No time for drip acclimation.

For you guys/gals in the know, is there no special process for live goods with UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc? I've had ordinary stuff come quicker.

 

[Rocksor]

With live fish I always do guaranteed next day shipping. I don't take chances with anything less. I never order between Oct-Mar because the weather can screw with next day shipping.

 

[duanes]

With live fish I always do guaranteed next day shipping. I don't take chances with anything less. I never order between Oct-Mar because the weather can screw with next day shipping.

Agree with this, I also use a 24 hour guarantee rate.
And (when in the states) I always used USPS if available, because if they are even a few hours late from the 24 hour deadline, you (if you paid for shipping) can be reimbursed the shipping charges.
There isn't any reimbursement for dead fish from the post office, but shipping is often more costly than the fish themselves.
One other thing I do with the USPO, is I call the local office the morning they are supposed to arrive, ask them to hold the package there, at the office and will pick it up myself, this usually saves few extra hours in a hot truck in summer, or freezing truck in winter.

 

[FreshyFresh]

So FedEx finally dropped my order off today, day 6, and the bag of fish and heat pack was frozen solid. Kind of sucked because I had to have my wife open the box given I was at work. We were expecting the worst so it wasn't a major shock.

You'd think they'd take special precaution for a box with "Live fish" on it, but you can't blame the drivers. They deliver what they've got on the truck.

This was a lesson learned. I assumed because my first order from this outfit (a week or so ago) that came in less than 24hrs was overnighted. It wasn't. That was just a fluke. Just lucked out that it went from Tampa, direct to Buffalo and to my doorstep.

My frozen fish sat in Orlando for 30hrs, then NC for a day, then PA for a day or two, then Syracuse NY, then to me. It's not just a Fedex problem. They're all beyond capacity these days.

Seller was very apologetic and is sending me a new order. I paid an extra $10 for overnight.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Forgot to update! My replacement golden barbs made it to me a few days later. FedEx 2-day. Really great fish. No issues at all. It's been a few weeks and no losses. I paid for 5 and the seller sent me 6.

Since then I also ordered 5 green barbs for this setup to accompany a lone green barb I took in from someone who re-homed him to me. Just got those today. Again the seller sent me 6. I didn't pay extra for "fast" shipping this time and they were sent USPS priority mail. They made it in under 2 days. This time the seller added blown in insulation between the styrofoam and fish bag and there were two heat packs in the box as well. It kind of scared me when I opened the box and everything was encapsulated in paper pulp looking powdery stuff.

In the end, 4 orders total from this seller. 2 were FedEx and 2 were USPS. USPS blew FedEx away and they generally do in my area for what ever reason.

 

[Cardeater]

I'm glad things worked out. That sucks about the frozen fish.

I've only ordered from liveaquaria Diver's Den and Imperial Tropicals and both shipped next day delivery. I had no problems with either and will order again in the future.

The impression that has stayed with me is that I'm probably only going to buy fish mail order now. I was surprised how well the process usually works and I like that there isn't an extra step for fish to pick up diseases (getting them straight from wholesaler instead of them going from wholesaler to store tanks to my tank).

 

[Cich Mind]

Hey FreshyFresh,
Just curious. If you don't mind, how much was shipping? I'm thinking about ordering fish from TUIC. Anyone else ordered from TUIC?

 

[FreshyFresh]

Hey FreshyFresh,
Just curious. If you don't mind, how much was shipping? I'm thinking about ordering fish from TUIC. Anyone else ordered from TUIC?

For the seller I went through, standard shipping was rolled into the price. I did 3 different orders with this seller.

The 3 weather loaches were around $40 shipped USPS priority mail and made it from door to door in under 2 days.

The second order was 5 gold barbs. I paid an extra $10 for FedEx 2 day after the standard FedEx frozen fish fiasco, so those came to about $45 and they still took longer than USPS. Was sent 6 fish

Third order was 5 green barbs. Those were around $30 and shipped USPS. Got them in 2 days. Was sent 6 fish.

When I say 2 days, this doesn't include the time in processing and handling the order. This seller was slow in regards to that. Like 5 or more business days before the fish shipped.

 

[Cich Mind]

Hey FreshyFish,
Thanks for the quick response. That info is exactly what I needed. Never ordered online before.

 

[Potato Patatto]

Decent stores won’t ship during storms, but in reality you should let the store/importer know of weather in your area and they should know the weather in theirs. Delays suck but dead fish suck worse and sometimes you have to ask to hold your own order. The stores can’t do anything about FedEx or UPS delayed flights or grounded transportation and weather is the number 1 factor in all that. Winter is miserable for shippers but I think you should always do 1 day shipping and hold at the shipping center so you can pickup first thing instead of sitting on a truck, especially in a place like Buffalo.