Shipping fish
- Thread starter Malbri
- Start date
k
Do some reading
If you are seriously considering trying your hand at shipping fish I suggest reading as many articles on the internet about this as you can. Some of the articles will vary as most are written by personal experience but with the same basic procedures. This article is no different. Many of these articles have pictures to go along with them to show examples. *(mine will be put in here soon). It’s really not all that hard to do.
What you will need:
Container to hold your bag while bagging fish
Fish bags
Bag Buddies or similar type product
Rubber bands
Packing Materials
Box Tape
Shipping Boxes *Styrofoam lined
Heat packs/cool packs
Here are the steps I use to box and ship fish:
Prepping
(A) The first step to successful shipping is to prep your fish. This is done by putting the fish that need to be shipped in their own tank. I use a 30 gallon tank. This tank has already been setup for a while and is established. Before I put any fish in this tank I do a 50% water change. Once the fish are put in this tank they are not fed for 2-3 days prior to the day you have planned to ship them out. If I ship on a Monday my last feeding to these fish is usually on the Friday before.
(B.) Now that I have the fish separated into their own tank. It’s easy to just leave them alone as no feeding is necessary…right? …..wrong…this tank still needs a little attention that I think is very important. I changed the water before putting them in…. remember? Well that was on Friday so then on Sunday I will again do a 50% water change to remove as much of the waste produced by the fish from the tank/water as possible making the water that much safer to ship with. This step will help get the “toxins” down in the tank.
This is why you “prep” fish. If you were to ship them without fasting them the chances of them not making it alive increase as the ammonia from the fish waste will poison them right in the bag. In this tank they will “clean out” their system by not eating and therefore won’t produce as much waste in the bags during shipment. You know what I’m talking about… every time you buy a fish at the pet store you can see feces in the bag by the time you get home. This is the purpose of fasting your fish first.
Bagging
Okay so now you’ve fasted them. Shipping day is here. How do I bag them? Bagging may take a little practice to get a good tight bag with plenty of air in it. I didn’t think I would ever get this down but I watched an employee at a pet store bag up my fish and I use his technique and have been successful with it.
(A) Get the appropriate size bag for the fish you are going to ship. There are many places online to get plastic bags. The bags should be 2 or 3ml thick. I use 3mil 6” x 22” and 8” x 22” bags for the boxes/fish I ship.
(B.) Fill a bucket with some water from the prep tank and then net your fish and put them in this bucket. By having them in this bucket it may make them produce some waste from the stress of just being in the bucket and from the netting. This is just another step that will aide in the bag water being less toxic.
Get a container to put your bag in so it will be easier to bag them. I just use a small pitcher-type container. The following example is based on shipping fry of 1”-1 ½”.
( C) Once in the container, fill the bag about 1/3” full of water. This is the recommended volume, but, certain size or different species of fish may need more or specialized bagging. Just make sure that the water will cover the fish in case the box would end up on its side...etc. It’s how much air in the bag that’s important to keeping the water oxygenated. Not necessarily the volume of water in the bag. Once your water is in the bag you can then net how many fish you want to put in the individual bag. The number of fish will depend on size and possibly how long until your box will arrive at its destination. I can safely ship 7-1” fry or 1 fish up to 3 ½”-4” per bag in the 6” x 22”. It’s kind of a hit or miss. An educated guess. Trial and error. With each shipment you will get the confidence in estimating the numbers of fish per bag, number of bags per box and what size box to use.
When adding your water make sure that when the bag is on its side that the water will still cover the back of the fish. This is a good rule to go buy to get correct amount of water in bag. The cup I use to fill them takes 2 and ½ cups per bag for me.
(D) Now you got your fish in the bag. The next step is to put in your bag buddy tablet and close the bag quickly. The bag buddies are used to help oxygenate, aide against ammonia build up and to relax fish during shipping. There is also a product out there called Ship-shape that many use to ship fish with. I personally don’t have any experience using this product.
When getting ready to close the bag, you need to open the bag as wide as you can. Then, while holding the bag with one hand, in a quick motion grab the top 4” of the bag with the other. This should allow you to trap air in the bag. This will take a little practice. Basically I move both hands together to meet in the center as this was how I was able to consistently get a lot of air in the bag. Moving just the left hand to the right seemed to “push” the air out of the bag instead of trapping it. Finding this out came about by practicing. *Remember this is all done while the bag is in your holding container.
Now that you got some air trapped in there you will need to twist the top of the bag. This will make the bag even tighter. Twist until you have 3-4” or basically the width of your hand wound up. You will need this much to be able to seal the bag properly.
(E) Now your ready for the rubber band. Before putting you rubber band on I always wet it so it gets nice and tight. I just dip it in the bucket of fish water. Take the rubber band and loop it through itself around the base of your twist and then pull tight. I then continue to wrap the rubber band in a circle around the base of the twist 2 or 3 times. After this I will fold the twist down. This will then be a loop. Now I will take the rubber band and wrap it around the loop quite a few times and then I will proceed to twist rubber band over the top of the loop to the base and back again until it is tight. Some people prefer to use 2 rubber bands when bagging in case one would break during shipment. I like to hold the bag upside down for a bit to double check for a leak before I finish with the bag.
(F) Now that you’ve got your bag tight and sealed you will need to put it inside another bag. It is always a good idea to double bag your fish in case a bag would start to leak from say a rubber band breaking, tiny puncture in the bag or possibly delivery abuse. To do this just invert the bag with the fish into another bag. Here you will find out that the bag is hard to get in. Well that’s because air is trapped between the two and you need to get it out. You can get this out by either having a piece of air line tubing in there so the air in bag will go out through it or what I do is to squeeze or push the bottom of the bag up and this usually gets the air out. Once you have it double bagged then you will need to tie the outer bag as you did the first or inside bag. Another purpose for double bagging is to eliminate the corners of the bag. Keeping fish from possibly getting trapped in them during shipment.
Boxing them up
Now that all the fish are double bagged you will need to put them in the box you are going to ship with. It is a good decision to ship your fish in some kind of Styrofoam box. You may be able to get these from your local pet store. This is where I get most of mine. You could also reuse the boxes from the fish you may have had mailed to you previously.
One other option you have is to get yourself and sheet of the pink Styrofoam from your local Menards, Home Depot or similar store. This is relatively cheap. When using this you can custom line any box you need to insulate it. The average width of sheeting is @¾” for this procedure.
When boxing your fish it’s a good idea to lay the bags on the side. I use 17”x17”x10” boxes and the bags I use fit snugly into them. Not much packing is needed for my boxes. You should always pack your box with items such as packing peanuts or newspapers. Basically anything with cushion that won’t harm your bags.
Once in the box and packed you will need to put in your heat pack or cool pack if necessary. Keep an eye on the weather/temperature in your area AND the destination area to make sure it will be safe for successful delivery. Read and follow the recommended procedure on the packs for proper use. The heat packs should be wrapped in newspaper after opened. This then can be taped to the Styrofoam lid of the box and then closed.
Now all you have to do is use the boxing tape to seal the box shut.
Sending them off
Everything has gone well and your fish are in the boxes and packed well. Now you need to ship them off to their destination.
There are many companies to use to ship with. UPS, Fedex, USPS, and DHL. You can get online and setup an account with any of these. On their sites you can get the estimated rates and shipping times for all types of delivery options. You can print out a shipping label right from your computer if the package is to be picked up at your house or fill it out at the designated shipping office that you will be dropping the package off at. You will get a tracking number that you can use to see the progress of your shipment. This should be sent to the buyer as well so he can keep an eye on possible arrival time.
Shipping to places that the package will arrive the next day are best. Smaller fry can make it 2 days with all the proper steps being followed. Sites like Fedex have a chart or map to look at to show all of your overnight, 1-day and 2-day destinations. This way you could actually use a method such as Fedex Home Delivery to your 1-day customers. This method for this area is basically a cheap next day shipping option, although, it is not guaranteed by Fedex to actually arrive there the next day. In my experience so far it has worked out very well for me.
I would recommend Fedex to anyone, as my first attempt went awry, possibly because I made a mistake somehow and/or delivery abuse by the carrier. It was the first and last time I used that particular company.
Do some reading
If you are seriously considering trying your hand at shipping fish I suggest reading as many articles on the internet about this as you can. Some of the articles will vary as most are written by personal experience but with the same basic procedures. This article is no different. Many of these articles have pictures to go along with them to show examples. *(mine will be put in here soon). It’s really not all that hard to do.
What you will need:
Container to hold your bag while bagging fish
Fish bags
Bag Buddies or similar type product
Rubber bands
Packing Materials
Box Tape
Shipping Boxes *Styrofoam lined
Heat packs/cool packs
Here are the steps I use to box and ship fish:
Prepping
(A) The first step to successful shipping is to prep your fish. This is done by putting the fish that need to be shipped in their own tank. I use a 30 gallon tank. This tank has already been setup for a while and is established. Before I put any fish in this tank I do a 50% water change. Once the fish are put in this tank they are not fed for 2-3 days prior to the day you have planned to ship them out. If I ship on a Monday my last feeding to these fish is usually on the Friday before.
(B.) Now that I have the fish separated into their own tank. It’s easy to just leave them alone as no feeding is necessary…right? …..wrong…this tank still needs a little attention that I think is very important. I changed the water before putting them in…. remember? Well that was on Friday so then on Sunday I will again do a 50% water change to remove as much of the waste produced by the fish from the tank/water as possible making the water that much safer to ship with. This step will help get the “toxins” down in the tank.
This is why you “prep” fish. If you were to ship them without fasting them the chances of them not making it alive increase as the ammonia from the fish waste will poison them right in the bag. In this tank they will “clean out” their system by not eating and therefore won’t produce as much waste in the bags during shipment. You know what I’m talking about… every time you buy a fish at the pet store you can see feces in the bag by the time you get home. This is the purpose of fasting your fish first.
Bagging
Okay so now you’ve fasted them. Shipping day is here. How do I bag them? Bagging may take a little practice to get a good tight bag with plenty of air in it. I didn’t think I would ever get this down but I watched an employee at a pet store bag up my fish and I use his technique and have been successful with it.
(A) Get the appropriate size bag for the fish you are going to ship. There are many places online to get plastic bags. The bags should be 2 or 3ml thick. I use 3mil 6” x 22” and 8” x 22” bags for the boxes/fish I ship.
(B.) Fill a bucket with some water from the prep tank and then net your fish and put them in this bucket. By having them in this bucket it may make them produce some waste from the stress of just being in the bucket and from the netting. This is just another step that will aide in the bag water being less toxic.
Get a container to put your bag in so it will be easier to bag them. I just use a small pitcher-type container. The following example is based on shipping fry of 1”-1 ½”.
( C) Once in the container, fill the bag about 1/3” full of water. This is the recommended volume, but, certain size or different species of fish may need more or specialized bagging. Just make sure that the water will cover the fish in case the box would end up on its side...etc. It’s how much air in the bag that’s important to keeping the water oxygenated. Not necessarily the volume of water in the bag. Once your water is in the bag you can then net how many fish you want to put in the individual bag. The number of fish will depend on size and possibly how long until your box will arrive at its destination. I can safely ship 7-1” fry or 1 fish up to 3 ½”-4” per bag in the 6” x 22”. It’s kind of a hit or miss. An educated guess. Trial and error. With each shipment you will get the confidence in estimating the numbers of fish per bag, number of bags per box and what size box to use.
When adding your water make sure that when the bag is on its side that the water will still cover the back of the fish. This is a good rule to go buy to get correct amount of water in bag. The cup I use to fill them takes 2 and ½ cups per bag for me.
(D) Now you got your fish in the bag. The next step is to put in your bag buddy tablet and close the bag quickly. The bag buddies are used to help oxygenate, aide against ammonia build up and to relax fish during shipping. There is also a product out there called Ship-shape that many use to ship fish with. I personally don’t have any experience using this product.
When getting ready to close the bag, you need to open the bag as wide as you can. Then, while holding the bag with one hand, in a quick motion grab the top 4” of the bag with the other. This should allow you to trap air in the bag. This will take a little practice. Basically I move both hands together to meet in the center as this was how I was able to consistently get a lot of air in the bag. Moving just the left hand to the right seemed to “push” the air out of the bag instead of trapping it. Finding this out came about by practicing. *Remember this is all done while the bag is in your holding container.
Now that you got some air trapped in there you will need to twist the top of the bag. This will make the bag even tighter. Twist until you have 3-4” or basically the width of your hand wound up. You will need this much to be able to seal the bag properly.
(E) Now your ready for the rubber band. Before putting you rubber band on I always wet it so it gets nice and tight. I just dip it in the bucket of fish water. Take the rubber band and loop it through itself around the base of your twist and then pull tight. I then continue to wrap the rubber band in a circle around the base of the twist 2 or 3 times. After this I will fold the twist down. This will then be a loop. Now I will take the rubber band and wrap it around the loop quite a few times and then I will proceed to twist rubber band over the top of the loop to the base and back again until it is tight. Some people prefer to use 2 rubber bands when bagging in case one would break during shipment. I like to hold the bag upside down for a bit to double check for a leak before I finish with the bag.
(F) Now that you’ve got your bag tight and sealed you will need to put it inside another bag. It is always a good idea to double bag your fish in case a bag would start to leak from say a rubber band breaking, tiny puncture in the bag or possibly delivery abuse. To do this just invert the bag with the fish into another bag. Here you will find out that the bag is hard to get in. Well that’s because air is trapped between the two and you need to get it out. You can get this out by either having a piece of air line tubing in there so the air in bag will go out through it or what I do is to squeeze or push the bottom of the bag up and this usually gets the air out. Once you have it double bagged then you will need to tie the outer bag as you did the first or inside bag. Another purpose for double bagging is to eliminate the corners of the bag. Keeping fish from possibly getting trapped in them during shipment.
Boxing them up
Now that all the fish are double bagged you will need to put them in the box you are going to ship with. It is a good decision to ship your fish in some kind of Styrofoam box. You may be able to get these from your local pet store. This is where I get most of mine. You could also reuse the boxes from the fish you may have had mailed to you previously.
One other option you have is to get yourself and sheet of the pink Styrofoam from your local Menards, Home Depot or similar store. This is relatively cheap. When using this you can custom line any box you need to insulate it. The average width of sheeting is @¾” for this procedure.
When boxing your fish it’s a good idea to lay the bags on the side. I use 17”x17”x10” boxes and the bags I use fit snugly into them. Not much packing is needed for my boxes. You should always pack your box with items such as packing peanuts or newspapers. Basically anything with cushion that won’t harm your bags.
Once in the box and packed you will need to put in your heat pack or cool pack if necessary. Keep an eye on the weather/temperature in your area AND the destination area to make sure it will be safe for successful delivery. Read and follow the recommended procedure on the packs for proper use. The heat packs should be wrapped in newspaper after opened. This then can be taped to the Styrofoam lid of the box and then closed.
Now all you have to do is use the boxing tape to seal the box shut.
Sending them off
Everything has gone well and your fish are in the boxes and packed well. Now you need to ship them off to their destination.
There are many companies to use to ship with. UPS, Fedex, USPS, and DHL. You can get online and setup an account with any of these. On their sites you can get the estimated rates and shipping times for all types of delivery options. You can print out a shipping label right from your computer if the package is to be picked up at your house or fill it out at the designated shipping office that you will be dropping the package off at. You will get a tracking number that you can use to see the progress of your shipment. This should be sent to the buyer as well so he can keep an eye on possible arrival time.
Shipping to places that the package will arrive the next day are best. Smaller fry can make it 2 days with all the proper steps being followed. Sites like Fedex have a chart or map to look at to show all of your overnight, 1-day and 2-day destinations. This way you could actually use a method such as Fedex Home Delivery to your 1-day customers. This method for this area is basically a cheap next day shipping option, although, it is not guaranteed by Fedex to actually arrive there the next day. In my experience so far it has worked out very well for me.
I would recommend Fedex to anyone, as my first attempt went awry, possibly because I made a mistake somehow and/or delivery abuse by the carrier. It was the first and last time I used that particular company.
