Hifin Sharks??? - Page 5

[LJC6780]

Hey ... so I've got some ricordea yumas for sale on eBay but I've only set it for local pick up because I'm not sure how much to charge or which speed to ship them. I've seen anywhere from $7.99-$50+ for shipping and when I was pricing it out it seemed like much more! Unless I was doing something like priority mail flat rate boxes or something.

I get the general concept of how to pack the corals but I'm needing help on choosing the shipping method.

Is 2 day shipping ok for corals such as yumas, blastos, pocillopora, frogspawn, Hollywood stunner, zoas ... ???

Thoughts??

 

[Kellye8498]

I would do 2 day shipping so you can be pretty sure they will make it alive. Especially in the summer when the heat is so high.

 

[AngelTheGypsy]

For an average person to ship next day is over $100, checked recently myself. 2 days should be fine. I've also heard of bags bursting from the pressure with next day air, so there can be mishaps either way.

 

[SecretiveFish]

Ebay may have rules that live critter require overnight shipping so check that before listing.

I too priced out shipping when I had to ship axolotls, and USPS is the least expensive but least reliable. If you are looking at the medium flat rate box 2-day* priority, I would advise against it. * means that only certain locations are 2-days and at that there is no guarantee the package will actually get there in two days (so no way to file a claim as long as the package actually shows up at some point). USPS priority express actually has a 'guaranteed' delivery date which if not met you get your shipping cost back. For the medium size flat rate box, that was ~$50. I have had them miss the guaranteed delivery date twice and got money back.

UPS 2nd day air was the most reliable and around the same price as USPS Priority Express. That was ~$45 for the medium size flat rate USPS box size and ~1.2lbs.

 

[LJC6780]

Ebay may have rules that live critter require overnight shipping so check that before listing.

I too priced out shipping when I had to ship axolotls, and USPS is the least expensive but least reliable. If you are looking at the medium flat rate box 2-day* priority, I would advise against it. * means that only certain locations are 2-days and at that there is no guarantee the package will actually get there in two days (so no way to file a claim as long as the package actually shows up at some point). USPS priority express actually has a 'guaranteed' delivery date which if not met you get your shipping cost back. For the medium size flat rate box, that was ~$50. I have had them miss the guaranteed delivery date twice and got money back.

UPS 2nd day air was the most reliable and around the same price as USPS Priority Express. That was ~$45 for the medium size flat rate USPS box size and ~1.2lbs.

As far as I know they don't ... or people don't know/care because I see stuff shipped all kinds of ways.

Seems like I usually get stuff via usps but I'm not sure what speed they are using ... I'll have to more research ...

 

[Nart]

LJC6780 if it matters... usually when I deal with WWC, which is about the only online coral company I've ordered from, they've shipped overnight. And I think on some sites... if you opt out of overnight shipping you lose out on the guaranteed live arrivals. So I've seen both over night and 2 day shipping, but I think generally over night is preferred.

 

[LJC6780]

LJC6780 if it matters... usually when I deal with WWC, which is about the only online coral company I've ordered from, they've shipped overnight. And I think on some sites... if you opt out of overnight shipping you lose out on the guaranteed live arrivals. So I've seen both over night and 2 day shipping, but I think generally over night is preferred.

I'll have to look more into it before deciding to ship ... I don't know how they are shipping overnight for $40 unless it's some huge business discount.

 

[AngelTheGypsy]

It's definitely a huge business discount. My (not fish related) business gets a 25% discount with our account with ups, and we don't ship much. For a business that ships all the time, they get significant discounts due to volume. But you also have to realize, to ship overnight, you are buying the box an airplane ticket.

 

[FishNL]

Hello all,

I am in the process of shipping my first fish. Usually when you receive fish from the store they have this oxygen tank for which they fill the plastic bag containing the fish. I was wondering if instead of an oxygen tank I can just use my aeration device to fill up the bag with oxygen and then seal it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Aqua 59]

That'll probably work if you are shipping short distances.

 

[Mcasella]

I do not ship with oxygen, just regular air. The biggest thing is to make sure that your fish have been fasted for 24-48 hrs prior to shipping.

 

[FishNL]

1) how long you reckon fish will be able to survive in a simple 1 liter plastic bag ?
2) Why fish need to be fasting? Is it because of less poop therefore less ammonia ?

 

[Mcasella]

You will want to get actual fish bags that have a thickness of at lest 2 mils, you will need to double bag these bags (inserting the first bag into the second upside down to help prevent leaks, this will sit so the inside bag tied end sits facing upwards in the box).
Yes, if they are not fasted properly it gets very nasty very quickly, I use prime to help alleviate during the first 24hrs of shipping, most shipping takes 2-3 days via usps priority.
You want to line the inside of the box with insulation of some kind (board insulation, the house insulation also works) and make sure the fish is secure from rolling around or being tossed around the box as it is moved around - shipping services are not gentle with boxes even ones labeled with live fish or fragile. It is your job to make sure the bag(s) of fish inside isn't not going to be dashing around as it is moved. If you are worried about the weight use flat rate boxes, the medium flat rate is a good size.
You need to make sure the weather isn't too hot or too cold for the fish both at your location and the end location. Too cold, use heat packs (they make special ones just for fish), too hot, use ice packs (6-8oz packs are good), both types of packs cannot touch the bags of the fish otherwise there will be dead fish arriving.

 

[FishNL]

Thank you for your answer

 

[MaximumRide14]

The only thing I can add is that I recommend using breather bags. I buy mine online from aquatic arts.
I learned how to ship fish from Mcasella. I’ve had lots of orders from EBay now, and all have made it alive!

 

[bizaliz3]

Here is a photo of a medium flat rate box right before I sealed it up.

I also used breather bags. Then I put them in a container for extra security. (Holes poked in the lid so oxygen can still get in) Lots of stuffing and stuff to keep everything snug....but not too snug.

 

[mossman]

What good are breather bags if they are sealed inside air-tight Tupperware containers?

 

[yukondog]

This post came at the perfect time, I to am about to ship for the first time.

 

[bizaliz3]

What good are breather bags if they are sealed inside air-tight Tupperware containers?

If you zoom in you will see many small holes in the lid.

 

[yukondog]

Is that ice cubes on top of the bags?

 

[bizaliz3]

Is that ice cubes on top of the bags?

Haha. Are you really asking that?

They are packing peanuts. Just a small amount to keep the bag as stable as possible in the container without making it too snug.

 

[yukondog]

Yea, I was asking that. Like I said, I know nothing about shipping sorry for the dumb question. Anyway good luck on you shipping FishNL

 

[bizaliz3]

Yea, I was asking that. Like I said, I know nothing about shipping sorry for the dumb question. Anyway good luck on you shipping FishNL

Well technically no question is a dumb question....but don't you think putting a fish on ice would be deadly to them? That's why I thought maybe you were kidding. Lol

 

[jenmur]

Am considering getting a betta online instead of at Petco or LFS this summer. What care would he need? Do I feed that night? Wait? Or just try and read him? How do I acclimate without knowing the water? Do I acclimate or just get him out of the old water ASAP? Any other tips you can give me?

 

[nikm128]

Keep it away from bright light until the next morning, so have as few lights on in the house as you can, no tank lights on, no pictures using flash etc.
You can try to feed that night, but it might even take a few days before he settles in.
With shipped fish, (I don't remember exactly how it works) I think ammonia and everything starts oxidizing, and rapidly dropping the PH in the bag once you open it. What you want to do is float the bag for 10-15 minutes, net the fish, and just put him straight in the tank

 

[Demeter]

I've only received 2 shipments of bettas, two in each shipment. I simply floated the bags in the quarantine tank till the temps felt about the same, added a couple drops of Prime to separate buckets, dumped the fish out and into the buckets then started adding tank water into the buckets with airline tubing right away. As the buckets filled I used a turkey baster and removed any bits of waste along with water to keep it from over flowing. After the buckets were filled and drained 2-3 times I'd let them sit for a little while as I refilled the quarantine, then netted them into the tank.

So far all 4 bettas were fine though one ended up getting a minor eye problem a few days later, which I have been treating for 2 days now. I fed the same day I received them but kept the lights off and the tank quiet. They glass surf for a while but otherwise seem just fine and learned to beg like all the other bettas.

 

[jenmur]

nikm128. I can do that. And it will be easy to keep an eye on him since his tank won’t be as planted as I would like it when I get him. Yeah I’ve even had a betta from Petco wait 2 days on me. Oh eek! Yes, we would not like to poison the fish!

Demeter. I could do that. But I don’t have a way to keep bucket heated or filtered. It’s safe? Oh I expect the glass surfing. My Petco bettas did that. And they learned to beg profusely! Hehe.

 

[Demeter]

The water being added will keep the temp stable and dilute, I didn't exactly drip acclimate them as it was a slow but steady stream using an air stone on the bucket end, to make it a bit slower than just the tubing. The process probably only took 45min to an hour from getting the fish delivered to being in the tank.

 

[jenmur]

The water being added will keep the temp stable and dilute, I didn't exactly drip acclimate them as it was a slow but steady stream using an air stone on the bucket end, to make it a bit slower than just the tubing. The process probably only took 45min to an hour from getting the fish delivered to being in the tank.

I will have to look up how to drip acclimate. I just plopped and dropped Stucky (my pleco) and the rest of my fish came from my city. Petco or LFS

 

[coralbandit]

I ship a lot of fish and usually tell people about plop and drop first just to be easy and get fish in tank . If the fish is in a breather bag you can not float [hopefully no one is shipping bettas in breathers but ?] then you need to pour fish into bucket or container where you can add prime and fresh tank water at timed intervals or drip via an airline with valve or knot in it ...
I am sure most of my customers plop and drop .If your fish will eat the feed it .Been starved before shipping. Darkness is really only needed if there are other boisterous fish in its tank.
I never tell my customers to turn lights off and l get asked about feeding enough to I say feed em without concern .
NOW MAYBE BETTAS ARE DIFFERENT ? I DON'T KNOW FOR BETTAS OR GOLDFISH MUCH BUT THOSE SENSATIVE TYPE RAM FISH I HAVE PLENTY OF SHIPPING EXPERIENCE !
Good luck getting a special fish !

 

[Noroomforshoe]

You should always carefully acclimate all fish. Knowing the ph of the water the new fish are already in is great, you could test it your self, but even if you know what it is you still need to caerfully acclimate, not just float, any fish you get. I usually use the bag method and add tank water that is an equivalent of 10 percent of the current bag water every 15 minutes or so. for up to 90 minutes.

I personally believe that it is more calming for fish to have the tank lites off, and You might want to do that, and also keep noise levels low. You can feed him, but he might not eat for a few days to a week, so don't be too worried.

 

[nikm128]

I will have to look up how to drip acclimate. I just plopped and dropped Stucky (my pleco) and the rest of my fish came from my city. Petco or LFS

You should do the exact same with the betta. Dripping will do more harm than good with shipped fish

 

[jenmur]

coralbandit. I hope I don’t get a breather bag. Is there a way to tell if it’s one? If I drip acclimate I will need to look up how to keep water coming into bucket. Ok. That’s what I did with my other bettas. Sam took a couple days, but everyone else ate same night. I do leave the lights off for a few hours at least. Usually cuz I try to keep lighting on a schedule.

Noroomforshoe. I could ask if I get it shipped. Luckily LFS and Petco close enough we have the same water. . I leave lights off for a few hours with new fish but I do try to turn them on for a little bit at least. Room lights come on first though. I’ve had one betta not eat the first day. Everyone else were pigs.

nikm128. So you say float and then pour into net and put in tank?

 

[nikm128]

That is exactly what I think you should do

 

[coralbandit]

Breather bags have no air in them , They are full of water only .

 

[jenmur]

nikm128. That’s what I do for my community fish when I first get them.

coralbandit. Oh eek! That would be horrible!

 

[nikm128]

Great, you already know what to then
When you drip acclimate a shipped fish (again, I don't remember exactly how it woks) you can have a drastic PH crash that will cause lots of stress, and a few other things can go bad too

 

[jenmur]

Great, you already know what to then
When you drip acclimate a shipped fish (again, I don't remember exactly how it woks) you can have a drastic PH crash that will cause lots of stress, and a few other things can go bad too

No. We don’t want a pH crash! Or ammonia poisoning.

 

[msminnamouse]

I breed (mostly) at risk (legally obtained) conservation status freshwater fish (CARES, if anyone is interested in this, I highly recommend Googling the program!) and there's little demand for these species where I live in the USA, so I need to ship them out to wherever there's demand in the USA.

The issue is that I've never shipped before and am super worried.

I've been doing research and one issue is that I have no idea how much to quote for shipping.

It seems like I would need to prep and bag up and box the actual order, in order to calculate how much I'll need to ask for shipping, in order to quote people shipping.

I can't afford to cover a bunch of expensive mistakes.

That's a **** of a lot of work, wasted materials, and can also be hard on the fish. They'd need to be caught, fasted, etc.

How do I figure this out? I was planning on first shipping overnight and then going on to ship priority pending success at over night.

Thanks for advice.

 

[JessicaSwanlake]

I ship out a lot of stuff for my job so I can give you some recommendations. (Although I never ship anything living, a lot of my stuff is time sensitive). It seems like a lot of fish sites ship UPS over anywhere else due to their tracking & pricing. There is a tool on their website that will quote you a price based on the shipping and destination zip codes, dimensions, and weights. You don't even need the dims to get a good idea since presumably your packages with have a decent amount of water and wouldn't be "high cube/low weight".

I would just have a set number of package sizes and weights (which you can estimate by putting a bag of water of about the right size in each package) that you are able to easily get and only ship in those size boxes so all you would need to know to quote would be the destination zip and the size of livestock you are shipping.

Like you could have 3-4 sizes of packages, like a 7x7x7 for a small fish at a weight of 4 lbs, a 12x10x10 for a medium fish at 7lbs, 15x12x12 at 10 lbs, etc as the only options for quoting shipping. If that makes any sense? Occasionally, your weight might bit a little less or a little more but if your standard dims and weight leave you enough wiggle room you wouldn't lose any money.

 

[BeardedTetra]

I've got a few strains of guppies that are starting to produce well. I'm thinking of listing them on eBay and I'm looking for info on how to successfully ship fish/fry.

 

[Salem]

Shipping Information

 

[BeardedTetra]

My bad.

Thank you!

 

[Donthemon]

Seems like it would cost too much to ship a guppies?

 

[MaximumRide14]

I use Priority shipping, breather bags, and styrofoam insulation from Home Depot to ship. Looks like the link provided will help too

Seems like it would cost too much to ship a guppies?

Depends on how well the guppies look, or if they have a good strain. Though yes, I'd agree that regular guppies might not be worth shipping.

 

[BeardedTetra]

May offer some different dumbo varieties in the future.

 

[coralbandit]

Look into Aquabid to sell.Free not like Ebay ..
Ask if you need any special help..
People would be very surprised to see how much some people pay to get good quality or special fish ..
2-3 day shipping should not go over $20 Express which is usually overnight could be as much as $80 .
I use USPS for all my shipping still..

 

[BeardedTetra]

Look into Aquabid to sell.Free not like Ebay ..
I ship weekly.Ask if you need any special help..
People would be very surprised to see how much some people pay to get good quality or special fish ..
2-3 day shipping should not go over $20 Express which is usually overnight could be as much as $80 .
I use USPS for all my shipping still..

Can you go into the specifics of your shipping process?

 

[coralbandit]

I cut foam for a #7 USPS box.In the next month I will go to two layers of 3/4 inch foam and then heat packs.This box is larger then a large flat rate at 12x12x8 but needs to ordered from USPS web site as most office don't carry them .They will give them to you and deliver them for FREE.
I bag fish in 5x20 in 2 mil poly bags with 12-16 oz water and the rest o2 from a cylinder . I double ,even triple bag some fish .I think the o2 is important if you are shipping as opposed to having someone pick up ..The fish may spend 3 = days in this water . I pack the box with fish and bags of air so no movement in the box happens ..Shipping by weight is cheaper then flat rate and is worth buying a little [12 lb] digital kitchen scale ..
The day I pack fish I do large water changes on their tank of like 50-75%..I change that much regularly but before shipping good water is important..
After that you need to learn to let go !If the USPS screws up you can't do anything about it so ?? 2-3 day is not guaranteed..Express is guaranteed for date of delivery .

 

[LMO]

I'm shipping fish fry that are a few weeks old now (about 1cm long). I've got a breather bag (about 15x23cm) but it has pointed corners not rounded. I'm testing the bag out with 12 fry at the moment - there seems to be plenty of room for them but I'm concerned as sometimes they swim into the bag's corners which can flatten when the bag is put on a surface. Should I / how do I tape up the edges to get rid of the corners without effecting the bag's ability to allow gas exchange? I've read that some turn the bag upside down so the corners are at the top - would this work or would putting the bag on its side prevent the corners collapsing?