Questions About Shipping Fish

[LiamLiamLiam]

Ok this is a subject I greatly wish to learn more about. I have been looking at the classifieds here and on MFK, and I am constantly seeing really good deals. But unfortunately these deals require shipping the fish to me. Now I know absolutely nothing about the process involved in shipping live fish. I guess I will start buy asking a couple of questions, as I'm sure it will lead to more questions.

If I would like to order a fish from overseas, what are the US Customs requirements, and what is the process that will take place in this type of shipment? (e.g. will it ship to me, to a UPS or FedEx location, or to a LFS?)

What steps are taken to ship a fish in winter weather? How will the fish not freeze to death when it's 20 - 30 degrees outside?

Your help and advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Star_Rider]

hmm all my fish from overseas I had to pick up at the airport.
fish shipped within continental US were shipped in insulated containers with heat packs but the heat packs are not always needed..depends on the climate ie west coast to west coast. I have not had fish loss from fish shipped from Ca.
I live in Wa.

everyone I received fish from from cooler climates boxed the fish appropriately with styo containers and heat packs.
often newsprint is employed as additional insulation and to keep the heat packs from direct contact.

 

[LiamLiamLiam]

Thanks for responding.

When you had your fish shipped form overseas, were there any prerequisites with US customs or the respective airport?

 

[Star_Rider]

I had to wait a couple hrs in most cases.. the shipper already had the papers in order.. the orders were taken from someone with a license ..I was just the pick up.. the money was handled thru the person I ordered from.
the other case.. believe it or not.. the guy who had the license was on the 'watch' list..his name was similar to someone else on the watch list.. we had to wait 2 more days...we were lucky the angels had 0 loss...
it also led to my first experience with ammonia burned fins.
FYI, call it luck or what ever.. I have never suffered a loss of fish in these.