Sellers and shippers, please help, need advice

[rumblesushi]

I've only shipped fish twice before, and both times they were small vampire tetras. Both arrived fine.

I simply grabbed the bag to have as much air as possible, triple bagged it, put in loads of newspaper and 2 heat packs.


Now here's my dilemma - tomorrow or the next day I am shipping a 10 inch albino snakehead to a fellow MFK member in Portugal.

The transit time is gonna be from the afternoon, to 10:30 in the morning, that's at his door though.

The dilemma is whether to ship in a bag, raw in the polybox, or a bucket.

For starters this fish is a TOUGH TOUGH fish. He survived almost 48 hours in a bucket with the temperature around 50 degrees fahrenheit. No exaggeration. He was even swimming around, albeit slowly.

So I'm not too worried about the cold (thought it's cold here now) or the water quality, more about oxygen.

In a large bag how long should a 10 inch snakehead survive? I'm also not sure if an airbreather is at a disadvantage or an advantage in a situation like this.

Also - a standard polybox filled with say 3 inches of water - do you know the approximate weight? It might be too heavy, as it has to be 5 kg or under.

What would you do? Ship in the bag or straight in the polybox? Or even a bucket?

Cheers.

 

[Euge]

Personally i haven't had much experience with shipping. But I have before. I would ALWAYS recommend using the back and then the polybox. Shipping in a polybox or a bucket there is always a chance leakage. So i would definitly use a at least 3 layers. I can't believe you are giving away your albino SH. I'm shocked.. You love that thing.. Must take fotos before you give it away.

 

[rumblesushi]

sqratch it seems surprising I know, but it's for the best. He's my favourite fish, I love him. But I'm in a non fish keeping country where I can't buy a big tank, he's outgrown his current tank, i can't buy a bigger one here, and I'm also moving country within the next few months.

So I would feel better giving him to a good home, I'm doing a trade with zix, getting some fish in return that I can put in my community tank.

 

[Miles]

Use a plastic bag.. Other crap will leak. Get a thick bag, so he dosn't rip it with his nasty lil teeth.

Use only enough water to keep him submerged, the rest of the space makes for good O2.. Get pure 02 from a LFS if you can, maybe they will even help you bag/ship it.. It's a fairly short bag time though, as most fish will survive 2-3 days in a box when Imported. Infact, its a very short flight for 'Frankenfish', and as noteworthy as the snakehead myths are and how they can live on land and kill small children, he would probably survive this trip even if you were to ship him incorrectly!!

Snakeheads are very tough, and the atmospheric breathing method should work to his advantage I would imagine. Gas exchange happens between the lining of the bag, so there should always be some O2 content in the bag, even if the DO gets very low in the water.

Get some bag buddies if you can, they help with shipping. Increased O2, calms the fish down, detoxifies any ammonia. Don't forget to not feed him for 2-3 days before you ship too, don't want him pooping in his own bag!

Lots of newspaper and styro! Still would use a heatpack, sudden temp drops are bad bad bad even if the fish is very tough.


I hope that helps..!

 

[Euge]

sqratch it seems surprising I know, but it's for the best. He's my favourite fish, I love him. But I'm in a non fish keeping country where I can't buy a big tank, he's outgrown his current tank, i can't buy a bigger one here, and I'm also moving country within the next few months.

So I would feel better giving him to a good home, I'm doing a trade with zix, getting some fish in return that I can put in my community tank.

man thats disappointing. I wouldn't be a happy camper. Not to rub it in or anything. But i remember when u got him. Said he was viscious little SOB... Good luck with everything.

 

[rumblesushi]

Miles - thanks for the advice man.

Unfortunately I have none of that at my disposal, the nearest petshop is an hour away, they have no oxygen, their biggest bags are tiny, and they wouldn't have a ****ing clue how to ship a fish. All they sell is guppies, goldfish etc.

So I can't get any heatpacks, bag buddies etc

I'm not too worried about that though, the temp in the bucket when i finally got a hotel when moving country was about 50 degrees (around 10 celcius). He's a beast of a fish.

So Miles - in your experience a tough 10 inch fish should survive overnight shipping no problem, even without pure oxygen in the bag?

I'll just triple bag him, and insulate with newspaper I think.

 

[rumblesushi]

Miles - one more Q. I guess the bag is the best method so I'll do it, but how about this...

I have to drive over 3 hours to get to the depot to send the fish, maybe more because of finding the depot etc.

Do you think I should bag him up at home, then a few hours later before I send him, open the bag up for a few seconds to let in some fresh air/oxygen, then triple bag him and send him?

The fish hardly ****s at all so I'm not worried about polluted water having a gas exchange with the air.

 

[zix]

is going to a good home mine .the fish that i gone send are pack by my LFS so they go well pack they are importers , the shiper firm have a label saying that are live animals . so i hope that alll goes well

 

[DiXoN]

definatley use a fish transport type bag of some sort as miles advised in a poly bag.
as for heatpacks you can get these from yourt local sports store they use heatpacks for minor injuries so a goos sports retailer should have them.
is there a motor mechanic near you as you can use the oxygen from oxy acetelyne welders (only from the oxygen bottle not the acetelyne) to add pure oxygen into the bag.

 

[zix]

is living in the end of world i just hoppe the bags are big for the channa