Preparing and Freighting
Your Fish
Your Fish
Intro
Freighting fish seems to leave a rather large question to most hobbyists namely “HOWâ€. This article has been written in order to help, as most hobbyists will find things that work best for them this is merely an outline to help both prepare your fish and package them for freighting.
Preparation
Preparing your fish will ensure that during the trip in the confined bag water quality, o2 levels and the fish in general remain in top condition, as its not likely the courier will open the bag up to let your fish have a quick breath.
It all start’s in the aquarium. Leading up to shipping your fish, water changes can be done to ensure the quality of the water being placed in the bag that the fish will travel in, as the fish will stress its oxygen intake will increase and the production of co2 will begin along with the increase of ammonia! Making water quality essentially lethal if this is not considered.
Feeding the fish heavily for the days leading up will help the fish acclimate to their new homes as it is typical with most fish but more so Plecs that they will not eat for the first few day’s. Do not feed the night before! This will lead to the fish disposing of waste in the bag again leading to un-favourable water quality.
Temperature, over time I have heard and read a lot in regards to lifting temperature before hand to maintain heat for the trip and those that disagree and lower to maintain high oxygen levels and slow the metabolism in order to make the docile fish use less oxygen,
i’m in favour of a lower temperature at around 24 degree’s Celsius or 75.2 Fahrenheit. This will have the benefit as explained above without venturing too far from the fish’s normal aquarium temperature, which would induce stress. The final issue would be catching, in order to freight fish from my end they need to be received by the courier quite early making it a nuisance catching them in the morning so this requires attention the night before without adding much if any stress to the fish. Dependent on species I find an appropriately sized smaller aquarium to hold them in to be the safest option but you may also use fry or breeder net’s making the morning a stress free transaction for both owner and fish.
Packaging
Bagging the fish is straight forward, I add water ager to the bag the fish are placed in and use pure oxygen. Some fish may require double bagging namely large fish and those that have sharp spines, rays or scales. It has been mentioned that Corydoras species may not find pure oxygen favourable and this should be considered.
Very little water is needed for bagging Plecs and only enough to fully submerge the fish is required (hence the reason for good water quality), leaving plenty of room for oxygen.
Using a foam box as a main housing for the fish will both protect them and maintain temperature during the trip.
Placing the foam box within a cardboard box is not a necessity but comes in handy as a fortification for the foam box, and will withstand a puncture more so than the foam could handle. Make sure to label the outside of your box with both "Live Fish" and this "way up", some courier companies may require you have these.
*Post offices in the UK provide 'fragile' stickers which would be worth using, other countries would need to ask at their PO
A large bag is then placed inside the foam box, this will hold any leakage
And hold the bags.
Heat packs can be added for longer trips to maintain temperatures but are often not required. These are simple cotton bags filled with crushed rock that are heated in the microwave, you can also purchase disposable pads which vary in length and degree of heat (eg 20 hours or 30 hours heat) or buy arthritis heat pads from chemist.
Place the bags in the formation that best suits the type of bag you use.
In cases where there are large spaces left within the box you can quickly fill the space using bags filled with air and tied off then secured with newspaper to absorb any shaking.
Tape down the foam lid, and tape the cardboard box and your done!
Very little water is needed for bagging Plecs and only enough to fully submerge the fish is required (hence the reason for good water quality), leaving plenty of room for oxygen.
Using a foam box as a main housing for the fish will both protect them and maintain temperature during the trip.
Placing the foam box within a cardboard box is not a necessity but comes in handy as a fortification for the foam box, and will withstand a puncture more so than the foam could handle. Make sure to label the outside of your box with both "Live Fish" and this "way up", some courier companies may require you have these.
*Post offices in the UK provide 'fragile' stickers which would be worth using, other countries would need to ask at their PO
A large bag is then placed inside the foam box, this will hold any leakage
And hold the bags.
Heat packs can be added for longer trips to maintain temperatures but are often not required. These are simple cotton bags filled with crushed rock that are heated in the microwave, you can also purchase disposable pads which vary in length and degree of heat (eg 20 hours or 30 hours heat) or buy arthritis heat pads from chemist.
Place the bags in the formation that best suits the type of bag you use.
In cases where there are large spaces left within the box you can quickly fill the space using bags filled with air and tied off then secured with newspaper to absorb any shaking.
Tape down the foam lid, and tape the cardboard box and your done!