Amanda

I need some tips in shipping fish. I know the general idea, as I've had fish shipped to me. But I'm not clear on adding the pure O2 to the shipping bags.

CHoffman

I don't plan on using reg bags and O2. I bought some breather bags off of Ken's. I did a ton of reading and weighed the pro's and cons. The breather bags don't need air. They allow the Carbon Dioxide out and oxygen in. And since there is no air in the bag the fish and water don't get sloshed around. They weren't terribly expensive either.

Amanda

Thanks Cesch!!

Martinismommy

Wish I could help but with Bettas all you have to do is leave 2/3's ait at the top of the bag.....I have shipped over 200 fish now and the one thing you may want to do is double bag....Are you insulating the box?

CHoffman

Welcome...I'll tell ya what I'm doing right now..I got on USPS and made an account and ordered all my supplies for flat rate priority shipping. All the boxes are free you just pick which sizes and they will deliver them right to your house for free.
I went to the lumber yard IE lowes, home depot got some sheets of foam to make insulated boxes inside the priority boxes, I just measured and made tops, bottom and sides. I also got a bunch of newspaper from my step dad and put it through a paper shredder. I'm going to use that to keep the bags from moving around and add even more insulation plus it will make it super dark in there so hopefully the fish will be less stressed. I also orderd some bag buddies from kens. It's a tablet you mix up with the water before you put it in the bad. it calms the fish down and aides in perimeters. then Also I figure with the breather bag that's one less thing I have to figure out how to get...How do you even get medical grade oxygen??..No idea and I didn't want to figure it out either so this was a great option. Good luck with them.

Amanda

Depending on the weather, I will insulate if I need to. I'm hoping to have them all shipped out by the end of August, beginning of Sept.

Red1313

Hmmm... Mind if I ask what you're shipping?

Amanda

Convicts

Shawnie

some other helpful things ive learned is make sure you double bag...put them in the bag, then tie it up and flip the back upside down and bag again in another bag..you do NOT want corners for them to get stuck and suffocated in..depending on where you are shipping and the temps at the time, you may need cooling packs..(small half dollar sized ice packs) or some freezer felt...(thick felt that is frozen overnight and holds the cooler temps) ..

Martinismommy

CH, I ordered the same boxes from USPS....Just make sure to either wrap them with brown paper or turn the boxes inside out if you ship express mail...They will not except a priority box for express.....I also got my foam at Home depot as well....Isn't shipping fun.....

NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol I hate shipping fish!

CHoffman

I was wondering if you could do this with breather bags?? You use breather bags though don't you shawnie.

Martinismommy

Shawnie, Felt coolers? hummmmmm I need to know where to get these....I have been driving to the airport for my shipments this month so the fish don't overheat.....I also upgraded to 1 inch thick styrofoam....I'm a little nervous about cool packs of any kind with Bettas....

SWilkins

I hope you got a bunch of those boxes at one time. They have now printed on the inside of them for priority mail only. I was doing the inside out box myself so I guess it is back to brown paper wrapping. I think they caught on LOL. You would not think they would mind since they are getting more money...I guess that is USPS for ya.

Shawnie

yes you can cesch..and yes I do as well as use the regular shipping bags

Red1313

lol that's because you've gotta say goodbye to all your pretty babies.

Butterfly

One note of caution- Breather bags cannot be double bagged only regular plastic bags.
Breather bags will not breathe as well if doubled. Here are step by step instructions on using them
http://www.goodeids.com/docs/Success...ather_Bags.pdf
Carol

Martinismommy

SW......Are you serious! Geeeeeeeze lol......I agree and have asked the postal workers about that and why they don't offer free boxes for express mail.....Makes no sense to me at all! All they can say is "I don't know" lol

Martinismommy

Carol, that makes sense....I wondered about that.....

CHoffman

Ok..I used the link that Ken's supplies and read up. You can multi bag perferably with newspaper, even several layers between the bags..But multi baggin does cut down breathablity up to 50%...I'm wondering if putting them in a foam box inside the box is going to cut down breathablity as well??..it does say the bags can breath just fine in corrugated boxes and plastic foam...I'm assuming they are talking about styrofoams. They say to separate the bags (when shipping more then one bag of fish) with a piece of cardboard because you want as much of the bag to be able to exchange gases as possiable and if they are against each other they are unable to do that.

LOl..Carol beat me

SWilkins

I read that too but I want them to have 100% of the oxygen they can get. I use either papertowels or newspaper to wrap the bag and then put in more newspaper for added insulation and protection against too much movement. I think they can get air in the insulated boxes...I mean I don't know about you but I can't make them airtight.

SWilkins

Yep I am afraid so. I just folded those boxes inside out and the last time I got some in they had that printed on the inside of them. I saved what few I had that didn't for express so I could wait as long as possible before having to wrap the package on top of packing the package. I got the exact same answer on that. And if you put in for pickup, I do with some things I ship to my daughter, not fish. They will only take it if it is priority and not anything else. No answer on that one either.

CHoffman

I also found this and thought I would share.
http://www.aquaboards.com/viewtopic.php?id=6260

Slug

Best packing job i've ever seen can be seen here.
Straight out of Malaysia :)

This guy's packing is amazing. Usually triple or quadruple bags (double will work fine) With newspaper in the layers. I've never seen the newspaper wet on multiple orders.

The rest is just bags inside a larger bag surrounded by packing peanuts in a styro cooler inside of a cardboard box and a heat pack taped to the inside top of the styro cooler. As long as they arn't sloshing around they should be good. Sometimes you don't even need a heat or cool pack, just be aware of where the package is going and by what means (Plane, Truck, etc).

CHoffman

Those aren't breather bag though are they??.

Slug

No regular