How much does it cost you in supplies to ship a fish?

I was wondering what supplies everyone uses to ship fish and how much it costs you.

I was going to get

*Special breather bags to put the fish in (better than a normal bag)
* UniHeat 72 hour heat packets
*Foam insulators for USPS Priority Medium flat rate box (the box itself is free)

total the cost of equipment alone per person would be $18.

Is that High, low, average?

 

Do you mind breaking down the $18 so we can understand where everything is coming from to see if it's reasonable? Is the $18 in addition to shipping charges or does it include it? Priority, 2 day, or overnight? Priority can take as long as 3 days, and I don't know if I'd trust that.

I haven't shipped fish myself, but I've had fish shipped to me. I'd use Kordon breather bags ($0.50 each), and any foam insulation will do, it doesn't have to be from USPS. The heat packs are <$2 each. You might be able to bring your costs down a bit that way. How fast are you shipping them?

 

$18 would include the cost of priority shipping from USPS. Basically the cost of a USPS medium sized flat rate box shipping rate, plus the cost of equipment. I will give an itemized list in a bit

 

That sounds very reasonable then, but you might want to opt for 2 day shipping. I'm not familiar with 3 day shipping with fish as a viable option (but maybe others are?).

 

I know that adding Prime into the bad will reduce the ammonia, but will also take away oxygen (unlike Purigen)

But if I'm using a breather bag, which allows oxygen to enter and expels CO2. then the oxygen issue from Prime shouldn't be an issue, right?

That would make the fish happier over 2-3 days. Also, some Stress Coat would help as well.

That adds to the cost, but only by maybe $1



Here is the list of items. Please let me know if I can do better in price anywhere else!

*Bag



*Heater




*Foam Insulation




*Box

 

I'd find another source for styrofoam. You can cut it to size yourself; you don't need it precut, and that'll save money.

And personally I'd go with brandname Kordon breather bags.

Some people ship with a little piece of ammonia-absorbing sponge. I would do that too.

 

This is the cheapest I could find the genuine stuff for


Know of any better prices? And are the generic ones actually bad for any reason?

and do you mean this thing?


how much of it should be in the bag?

 

Save money by cutting your own styrofoam. I use the following......

 

This is the cheapest I could find the genuine stuff for


Know of any better prices? And are the generic ones actually bad for any reason?

I don't, but that's just over $0.50 a bag, so not too bad! And I'm not sure about the generic ones, but I've heard they don't work as well as the actual Kordon brand. I don't have proof to back it up though.

and do you mean this thing?


how much of it should be in the bag?

Not familiar with that brand, but that's the basic idea! And whenever I got fish, it was a relatively small piece. Wetspot sent very small portions (smaller than half my pinkie) in each bag (keyholes in one, small tetras in another).

 

At what temperature do I not need to worry about adding a heat pack ?

 

bump

 

well, I purchased everything I need to ship the fish. They all come in a week or less. Lets see how this goes.

 

What will you be shipping? Apologies if It's mentioned, and I missed it.

 

dunno.

I got a lot of live bearing fish that need a new home. I will be ready to sell Cherry Shrimp soon, and I'm waiting for my Mystery snails to lay eggs at the moment.

I'll probably start out by giving fish away for free, just pay shipping and let me know if they arrived alive or DOA. Its good to do tests before I go full blown selling with little experience in the shipping area of fish selling.

 

Yep, that's what I was thinking, and would love to eventually do. My red crystal shrimp have babies like crazy, and wouldn't mind shipping those to people that were interested. I do hope you'll update us as to how things turn out. I'm eager to learn about the shipping process. Not too many people ask about that here.

 

I just made a listing for free fish + shipping in the buy,sell,trade,free section of the forum.

If it all works out, I'll totally make a video on how to do it.