Shipping Fish/shrimp Important

I’m pretty sure I made a thread about this but I can’t find it and I need some help. I’m looking into the possibility of shipping platy fry and neocaridina shrimp. I’ve already bought breather bags from Aquatic Arts but I’m not quite sure about some other things. I am looking into insulation, but I may need to go to a craft store to buy styrofoam or something. Temps where I live will be in the high 90s and go over 100... will I need a cooling pack for that? I know I am supposed to fast the fish two days beforehand and the shrimp should have moss or mesh to cling onto. Also, I know that bags are usually blown up during shipping, but I don’t have an oxygen or anything for that. How much water do I leave in the tank if I were to put 5 or 6 platy fry in one bag? Also, what sort of shipping options are used for shipping fish? What size box and do I use overnight shipping? What price range is expected? I once bought shrimp online and I kept the box to use as a reference.
Thanks!

 

Lowe's has massive sheets of insulation (board style, they can cut it down to size, I get mine in 2x4 foot sections) about 12-14$. Regular pink or brown house insulation works as well. Anything in the 90s ice packs are needed, get the ones from Wal-Mart they are under 1/2lb so don't add as much weight, wrap that in a paper towel or newspaper then place it inside a sandwich baggie, make sure it is mostly frozen before use. Use a piece of insulation between this and the fish or the buyer will get fishcicles.
Use fresh dechlorinated water from your tap, not tank water. 2/3-1/2 air to 1/3-1/2 water depending on the fish, for breather bags use all water.

 

So breather bags do not require any air inside? They can just be filled with water? Also for the ice pack, does the bag directly touch the breather bag? And then insulation on top?
Thank you so so much!

Oops misread your response. Ignore the third question lol

 

@Mcasella So I’m thinking of shipping neocaridinas, and the problem is that I don’t know if they are too sensitive to be placed in completely new water for shipping. Could I use tank water for the shrimp and new water for the platies?

 

Use half and half for the shrimp, they still need fresh water for shipping.

 

@Mcasella so this is the box I used to get shrimp, so I’m using it as my model. How would I be able to cut this top part of insulation to use the cold pack. I want to make sure that it isn’t too covered to be useful, and I also need to make it fit.

 

You can cut out a section inside the styrofoam to fit the ice pack in, then cover the ice pack with a small piece of insulation to prevent it from chilling shrimp to much ( same can be done with heat packs.

 

Haha just realized I got this box from you when I got the snails lol

 

Ok thx. I’ll try to do that when I get home.
Thank you so much!

 

@Mcasella so I’m at Walmart not and these are the only kind of cold packs I can find. Would these work or are they too big? There is no weight measurement on it.

 

They should, they look to be about 1lb.

 

Phew, that’s a relief. I was worried that they would be too big compared to the 4 oz ones I see online. I bought a ginormous sheet of that styrofoam insulation and now I’m sorting out the measurements to cut it. Hopefully it all works out

@Mcasella sorry if I’m asking too many questions but does this look ok? The edges are sort of rough because I used a serrated blade to cut them. I guess in the top I’m going to cut out a piece so the cool pack can fit. I hope I can do that right.

 

Yes, if you can keep the top piece you cut out intact you can use to to reinsulate the ice pack (I would tape the insulation barrier over the ice pack so neither moves too much).

 

@Mcasella the ice pack is bigger than I expected. It’s bigger than the lid and I think it will be too thick if I folded it. Could I use this ice pack instead? If it’s too big can it cut out a certain amount of cubes?
Also is this a good amount of water or should I use less?

Thank you very much.

EDIT: I took some water out of the bag so that it could fit better in the box. Is this enough water? Also, I’m not sure if insulation between the cold pack and the breather bag would work very well because the cold pack seems barely cold while wrapped in a paper towel and a plastic bag. View attachment 445718View attachment 445719

 

For shrimp I would use 8-10oz of water with something for them to hold onto (plant, piece of yarn, small mesh).
You should be able to use that icepack instead (I do not know if you can cut them, i just got in my order of 8oz ice packs, they look like this↓)

 

I plan to ship 6 platy fry in this order, maybe around the same amount of water?

So I went to the post office to check the weight of the box and the shipping price to the east coast, and the box was 2 lbs 6.5 oz. that means that shipping to the east coast is $17.30. They told me the could cut the price to $13.50 if I used a flat rate box, so I might have to try that instead. I don’t know how well that’s going to work though. Any idea on why it’s so expensive? Maybe I added too much water? I get that shrimp only need around a cup of water, do you think that 2 cups would be good for the 6 fry?

 

Coast to coast is very expensive, specially when you can't use the flat rates or have to add heat or cold packs to the box. The last thing i shipped nonflat rate was a couple EBA out to Fresno, CA, it was almost 30$. If the flat rate works for you use it, the next thing you need to look at is   if you are using USPS, it helps greatly to figure out weights and costs and what weights you want to aim for (the good thing is the post office can no longer make you pay up front for the difference in weight at the post office but will mail you a bill if it gets caught in the system -aka if the weight is close enough they aren't going to flag it- the next thing is getting some sort of scale to use to weigh the boxes, i have a small kitchen scale that is pretty accurate, before that i used a bathroom scale -get used to seeing your weight in that case lol).

 

Yeah I'm just confused because I bought snails from you, and they came in the same box that I'm trying to use. The shipping was a lot less expensive, around $12 or less if I recall it correctly. And it was pretty much a coast to coast shipment. Anyways, I'm going to try to give this flat rate box my best shot

 

It was also under 2lbs, once it hits a new pound number it ups the whole price until the next pound number (so 2lbs is going to be the same as 2lbs 14oz).
Some states cost more depending on the route it has to go.

 

Ah. My package was 2lb 6.5 oz for some reason. Good news is that I was able to cut out insulation for this flat rate box, and there’s plenty of space! I would be able to fit the bigger ice pack, but I don’t know if I should use it because 1. It might be to big, and 2. It will weigh more.