Shipping Sharks and Rays

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Deano1956

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 1, 2008
1,265
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Morris, IL.
I'm wondering how many have had sharks or rays shipped to you and die within a few days? I just had 2 yellow rays shipped to me and one didnt look all that good when I open the box and has died and I am hoping the other makes it. A while back I had two Cali's shipped and both them died on me although one was probably my fault. All the ones that I bought from local places have survived well. Is it the shipping or are they shipping sickly fish?:confused:
 
I think that there is a little bit of a learning curve when acclimating sharks and rays that have been shipped. Also a lot depends on if the shipper does everything right on there end. I had the first couple of sharks die on me right away including a beautiful leopard shark.
 
turbo253;4473135; said:
I think that there is a little bit of a learning curve when acclimating sharks and rays that have been shipped. Also a lot depends on if the shipper does everything right on there end. I had the first couple of sharks die on me right away including a beautiful leopard shark.
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On the acclimating subject tell me what you mean as I had been wondering about that myself
 
i actually just bought a banded bamboo shark on monday shipped from new rochelle,new york to groton,connecticut. not a long trip right well i acclimated him (drip line way) and then put him into the tank 2 hours later. when he went into the tank he started doing backflips at max speed then stood stock still and straight as an arrow and died. well i had been emailing the customer service guy all day and then when i email him that the shark died i all of a sudden don't get any emails back.
 
I've had my share of elasmos die from transit (only once in transit itself), so that leads me to believe that our methods of acclimation aren't yet perfect - but my record has greatly improved with this setup:

Prep an appropriately sized (100-200 gallon stock tank/tub/pool) with freshly prepped saltwater about 40% filled, and bring it up to temp and salinity day before new sharks arrive. When they arrive, add a tiny bit of Prime and check water specs (temp, salinity, pH) of the shipped water, and adjust the tub as necessary to match the shipped water. Place sharks in tub, and after 30 minutes, begin drip acclimating them from their destination tank. Continue for ~3 hours. Depending on species and temp, add air stones.

Using that method, I've only lost one ray in the first 48 hours, and I think it was because of shipping; since the container leaked badly, and there was barely enough water in it's bag to cover it when it arrived, so I had to speed up the acclimation.
 
Biggest things for me are keeping disolved oxygen up in the water the animal is in, then matching temp, pH and salinity.

Often times what you see in transport is pH dropping off due to the animals being in the water, and the ammonia come up. Ammonia is actually burning off the tissue in the gills, making it harder for the animals to extract the oxygen.

Another thing I've seen is an animal that is stressed prior to shipping not fare well through the whole process.

Everyone loses animals in transport at some point... I hate to say it, but my last move didn't fare well. I'm still pissed about it.
 
Zoodiver;4474704; said:
Biggest things for me are keeping disolved oxygen up in the water the animal is in, then matching temp, pH and salinity.

Often times what you see in transport is pH dropping off due to the animals being in the water, and the ammonia come up. Ammonia is actually burning off the tissue in the gills, making it harder for the animals to extract the oxygen.

Another thing I've seen is an animal that is stressed prior to shipping not fare well through the whole process.

Everyone loses animals in transport at some point... I hate to say it, but my last move didn't fare well. I'm still pissed about it.
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hey zoo don't sweat it. like you said it happens to all of us once in awhile.


And deano, Jabba's method is pretty much what I do. The only thing that I like to do different is to have a super fine air stone with pure o2 pumping through it and a DO meter to check the o2 saturation levels. Although I currently don't have one, cause last time I used it, my lemon thought it would be a idea to run away with the probe and the meter doesn't seem to work too well at the bottom of the pool.:irked:
 
well it looks like I need to improve on my acclimating from what has just been said. I put both Rays in a large cooler with a modified bilge pump to spray water down for o2 and dripped for just over an hour and into the pond they went. Maybe the one could have been saved if I took my time but it was late and I hurried. Live and learn!
 
...little trick.....order from live aquaria, order some fish and say one or two of them died. They don't ask to send it back nothing!!!!! I so far have a fox face, and puffer for free lol! Don't get carried away
 
Pazzoman;4475813; said:
...little trick.....order from live aquaria, order some fish and say one or two of them died. They don't ask to send it back nothing!!!!! I so far have a fox face, and puffer for free lol! Don't get carried away
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you're kidding right?
 
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