[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Mailing Fish



Sylvia writes:

> They were well packaged, 2 in one bag, and 3 in another, with maybe 2 quarts
> of water in each bag. The fish looked pretty healthy and <blunder> one even
> took a dive out of the net onto the carpet on the way into the tank. They're
> still doing well.

Then they were properly cleaned out before shipment. The water shouldn't be
bad either in chemistry or smell upon arrival if it was done right.
Apparently the person who sent you that package knew how to do it.

Personally I don't feed them for a week before shipping. I also do a good
sized water changed a couple days before shipping, using that water and one
fish per bag. Makes shipping weight a bit heavier but the fish arrive in a
lot better shape.

FWIW, two summers back I was shipping some sensitive fishes and suspected
that this might be the case. Having several folks to ship to that wanted a
particular species I tried a theory out.  These fish were all from the same
tank and approximately the same size, bagged and shipped on the same day.
One person got a shipment with one fish/bag, another got 2 fish/bag and the
third was 3 to 5 fish/bag. The single fish per bag had fewer initial losses
and fewer losses over time while the 3 to 5 fish/bag had the highest losses.
What surprised me was not the inital losses, but the long term survival when
shipped 1/bag versus multiples/bag. Single, at least in this case, is
apparently better.

Re: USPS

In the past 6 to 8 weeks I have heard many stories on and off the APD about
lackluster service from the Postal Service. In the future it will be UPS
Blue (2 day service) for anything aquatic.

Susan