My Shipping Experiment

so i have long wondered what was the best way to ship fish so i went out and purchased some breather bags. i tried to ship some fish to fern and they did not make it. so in order to attempt to figure out what went wrong i propose the following experiment. i also measured out 3.5 cups of water every time.

i have randomly selected 3 fish for each bag. these fish are around 2.5" each and healthy. i will use water from the same tank every time as a control variable. bag one will just have water in it and will serve as the control. bag 2 will have 2 bag bubbies tablets, bag 3 dechlor/ stress coat for 10 gallons, bag 4 sink water with dechlor / stress coat for 10 gallons, bag 5 1 bag buddy tablet, and bag 6 is double bagged.

Bag # 1 Control
Bag # 2 2 bag buddies
Bag # 3 dechlor
Bag # 4 Sink water with dechlor
Bag # 5 1 bag buddy
Bag # 6 double bagged

i plan on opening the bag in two days to determine the results. i will keep you posted and if anyone has any suggestions on how i should change the experiment please let me know. also they were placed in 2 separate boxes in the same room and same location.

let the experiment begin.

Let us know how the experiment turns out. This will be valuable information for anyone who wants to ship fish.

I've bought fish from four different people using 2 or 3 day priority mail. All of my fish came in alive and well. One of the batch were double bagged and the person barely filled half of the bag up with water. I guess he left a lot of space for oxygen. I bought a total of 11 fish in this batch and all came in alive and healthy using 2 day priority male.

Another person used breather bags and put 7 fish into one bag. He sent me 3 bags with 7 fish in each. Out of the 21, I believe only half survived. Most of these were fry less than half an inch long. Most of the larger fry survived because I think they may have ate the corpse of the dead fry.

Another person shipped me 6 kyoga flameback using priority male as well. I think he only filled the bag half full and pumped it with oxygen. All the fish came in fine and healthy.

No 1 and 5. No 6 for fish that is capable of poking the bag. Also pure 02 and fasting is very important for high survival rate.

Goodluck let us know the result

how long did it take the fish to reach fern?

Did u consider using distilled ro water as another test???

Ghoulish shipped to fern today I think

i took my fish 3 days but the fish she shipped me got here in 2 days lol. both shipped on the same day lol.

the problem with distilled water is it lacks many of the required minerals and could potentially kill the fish

3 days is a long time in this hot weather. good luck on your test.

when I ship fish I don't feed them 24 hours before shipping. That cutes down on the ammonia released from the fish into the bag. Also the amount of air in the bag is important. With my Bettas being laberynth breathers it's different then your fish who get there oxygen from the water. When I bag the Bettas it is important to have more air in the bag then water. They can be bagged in very shallow water and three times more air. When I ship guppies I put more water then air in the bag. Also be careful of how many fish are put in each bag. The more fish the more ammonia you will get in the water. I also ship Priority Mail. I have had shipping take up to 4 days and the fish still arrive alive. Fewer fish less ammonia. I have shipped using RO water and othe times I have used treated water. Depends on what I have around at the time of shipping. Either way they get there fine.

Thebanker - 3 days is a long time in this hot weather. good luck on your test........... You can wrap the bags with wet newspapers and that will help to keep the bags cooled down some.

the breathers bags require no air in the bag.

That's good for oxygen water breathers but the Bettas have to breath air. They have to have air in the bag.

very true.

airball2006 wrote:

One of the batch were double bagged and the person barely filled half of the bag up with water. I guess he left a lot of space for oxygen. I bought a total of 11 fish in this batch and all came in alive and healthy using 2 day priority male.

Another person used breather bags and put 7 fish into one bag. He sent me 3 bags with 7 fish in each. Out of the 21, I believe only half survived. Most of these were fry less than half an inch long. Most of the larger fry survived because I think they may have ate the corpse of the dead fry.

Another person shipped me 6 kyoga flameback using priority male as well. I think he only filled the bag half full and pumped it with oxygen. All the fish came in fine and healthy.

When u are not using Kordone Breather bags it's best to use 1/4 water and 3/4 air. So person #1 did well. Person #2 is sticking way to many fish in one bag.

khrister wrote:

fasting is very important for high survival rate.

I agree 100% One of the most important things.

Holey Rock of Texas wrote:

the problem with distilled water is it lacks many of the required minerals and could potentially kill the fish

I agree

thebanker wrote:

3 days is a long time in this hot weather. good luck on your test.

Holey Rock of Texas wrote:

the breathers bags require no air in the bag.

They are the best bags to use when shipping. I double bag all the time and you must fast your fish or they will not make it. Also NEVER put a male and a female in the same bag(as far as cichlids go)

Can't wait to see the results. I mailed some fish to Fern today. Hopefully they all make it.

I use regular bags from fish freaks, they are nice and thick. I always double bag. I starve the fish for 3-4 days. I fill up a 5g bucket with 25% tank water 75% fresh tap water 2x the amount of prime and add 1/3 the amount of stress coat. Just enough water in the bag to cover the fish and the rest of the bag is medical grade oxygen. I always use a foam insulated box and gap fill with newspaper or plastic bags or some other thing that's handy just to keep the bags from moving about in the box.

HRT, I am very impressed that all of those jewels made it, I packed them so tight I was sure a few wouldn't make it. 2 adult jewels in a small bag with probably 1/2 cup of water I think the main things are starving them and the use of o2.....

I use regular bags from Mike & breather bags. I have had both epicly fail & both work great. I can stuff 10 moorii fry in a breather bag & ship to Texas with no problem. I dont use the post office & will never ship with them again. Air cargo cant be beat. Bottom line is good fish (stock), sound shipping methods & the least amount of time in the bag. Its like keeping fish, there are many ways to do it & we all have "our" way of doing things...

Well with this you have pretty much ruled 2 out of the equation.
What water/additives were in bag #6?

nothing. just double bagged.

so tank water or fresh dechlor water?

tank water.

Today I received my Gibb Ikola. The person sent me 14 and 6 ended up dying. They were all bagged the same way; yet 8 made it and 6 didn't. I guess sometime it also depends on the strength of the fish.

Good thing the seller is going to reimburse me for the dead fish.

nice. what way were they bagged?

They were double bagged (tied end going first into second bag). Also, the water was blue so I am not sure if he used some special water or some tablets that turned the water blue. He also shipped all the fish in a styrofoam container so that it would not get extremely hot.