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Re: [Killietalk] Flying Fish
I just returned, last month, from Singapore, with a lot of small fish
and shrimps (maybe 100 of each?).
I took with me a few fish, in breather bags, and all arrived in fine
shape. I had saved a small styro with thick walls in a cardboard outer
box that would fit inside my large suitcase. Both going and coming, I
used that box and just checked it through in my luggage. I used the big
box-liner breather bags between the styro and cardboard, to catch any
possible leaks. My routing involved plane changes (both ways) at Taipei,
and I had no problems with the officials. I anticipated some with
customs/USF&WL on entering the states, but I declared the fish and some
excessively expensive camera accessories and they just waved me on
through. Quien sabe?
Breather bags are not good for large numbers of fish, I found. I lost
most of the pygmy catfish and a few each of the 3 species of dwarf
Rasboras (Boraras species). Many, if not most, of the shrimps came
through OK. Of those, I had some crystal reds, some cherries, and some
plain cleaner shrimp. All were under 1" long.
Lesson learned: Don't pack 20-30 small fish in a single bag. One dies,
they all may. Divide the shipment into as many smaller bags as possible,
heat-sealed as flat packs (not golf balls), and taped to stiff cardboard
dividers so they cannot slide around. [Ronnie Lee taught me that trick
and it's a really good one.] You can get an enormous number of small
fish in a 6" cubic space, that way.
Going, I had used several microfiber wash cloths as packing, but the
breather bags did shift around way too much. Ronnie's trick stops that
problem cold. [Eliminates getting trapped in a fold or corner.]
2nd Lesson: Buy camera stuff here. It is cheaper than in SG, unless it
is only available there. I got a 90 mm macro lens that still hasn't been
released in the US. Otherwise, I found my camera-accessory purchases
were not big bargains.
Lesson 3: Aquarium stuff is really cheap there. CO2 diffusers, little
glass display tanks, and aquarium plants are big bargains.
Wright
Allan Semeit wrote:
> When you are flying, what is the best way to take fish to and from an event?
> With the TSA no longer allowing you to carry on a container with fish, that
> leaves check-in or having the fish shipped. The latter can be a problem
> when you don't know what you might take home and aren't around on a Monday
> to get to the post office.
>
> A few years ago, Monty Lehman showed me his hard plastic cooler on wheels
> that he used. What do you use?
>
> Allan from Arizona
>
--
Wright Huntley - Rt. 001 Box K36, Bishop CA 93514 - whuntley at verizon_net 760 937-2276 (cell) 760 872-3995.
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