FishForums.com - View Single Post

**SueM** · 04-17-2006, 01:15 AM

A good friend of mine, Don Owen wrote this up for us

..........

That’s my measure of success. Shipping live fish for those of us who occasionally ship them.

Thought maybe I would post a bit of information about shipping fish that I have managed to learn in the last few month’s. I have a couple of objectives here: #1 is to help others new to shipping fish, #2 is to invite comment from more experienced folks on what I may be doing wrong so that I can learn to do better.

I do not claim to be any sort of expert on shipping fish so if there is anything incorrect about this information. Please try to remember the part about inviting comments about what may be wrong with this.

I will start with the materials I gathered to use for shipping fish, and then go step by step how I pack a bag. I can truthfully say that this has worked well enough to keep fish alive for three days once, and four days another time. Out of the last 150+ fish I have shipped I have lost one small brichardi less than ½ inch long that got caught in a fold in the bag.

Part one: Materials needed:

1. An oxygen bottle and a regulator. I got one at an estate sale for $15. You can trade bottles at any welding supply shop for another full bottle for $10. The bottle needs a long rubber hose that can be placed inside the fish bags.
2. Rubber bands, three quarter to one-inch size. Also larger 1 ½ inch any office supply
3. Masking tape
4. Permanent marking pens, several colors for writing on plastic bags
5. I kg Ship-Shape I purchase these at Jehmco. www.Jehmco.com This is far superior to bag buddies or such things as novaqua to control ammonia and other waste materials in the shipping bag. “This, is my opinion anyway.”
6. FREEZEZE Gel Ice Pads for summer time shipments. These are available from Roshgo Corporation toll free 1-888-4-ROSHGO, or at www.roshgo.com These do not leak water when they thaw out, stay cold longer than ice, and they are reusable. You just soak them in water, “they absorb several hundred times their own weight in water”. These are placed in the freezer. Nothing to it.
7. Heat packs for winter shipping. The minimum size I use is a sixty-hour heat pack. You may obtain both 60 hour and 72 our heat packs from Kens Fish.
8. Assorted plastic bags. Jehmco and Ken’s fish sell good quality bags. I get the heavier bags, and look for those at least 18 and preferably 24 inches in length. The reason why I want long bags is so that I can tie at least two knots in the bag after sealing it by twisting the bag. I prefer the 2X18 inch bags for single small fish. The 6x24 inch bags for single larger fish. The 12x24 inch bags for holding two double-bagged 6x24 fish bags. Because I send out angelfish I use the heaviest bags available so that their fins are less likely to puncture the bags. If your shipping smaller fish, lighter bags would probably do just as well.
9. A box of plain drinking straws, or a piece of rigid airline tubing I use these to remove air when placing one bag inside another. Simply slide a straw or piece of airline tubing in between the bag of fish and the new bag. This lets air escape out of the second bag as you shove the bagged fish in. Once the fish bag is inside the second bag suck on the straw to get an airtight seal between the two bags by removing all of the air between the bags. Trust me it’s a lot easier to slide the bag of fish into the second bag if you can get rid of the air.
10. A two-cup measuring cup.
11. A 1/8-tsp. Measuring spoon.
12. A 24-cup stainless steel bowl to hold bagging water.
13. Appropriately sized nets for the fish you are bagging.
14. A roll of paper towels that I can assure you will find a use for.
15. A good shipping box with at least ¾-inch thick Styrofoam that fits inside a good cardboard shipping box. This shipping box should be in the fish room at least several hours before you ship the fish so that you are not placing your bags into a freezing cold or blazing hot box.
16. A bale of that shredded paper insulation of the type that is blown into the ceilings of houses. Make sure you get insulation that is not treated with pesticides. Any other good insulating material will work well, but that stuff just works better.
17. Two TV folding tables, and a good chair.
18. A small aquarium, 2.5 gallons is what I use, for holding the fish to be bagged.

I have found out the hard way that it is a really good idea to have everything on hand before you even think about packing any fish.

Part two: Bagging the fish.

1. To ship one large angelfish I measure 1.5 cups of water and then place a measured 1/8-tsp of ship shape into the water and stir it. This is poured into the shipping bag. This water was preheated to the correct temperature and well aerated for at least 24 hours before shipping. I use RO water for shipping water. The amount of water would be more or less depending on what other type of fish you may be shipping. For small fish like a baby angelfish I normally use the 2x18 inch bag and single bag them. I place several small double-bagged fish inside a larger bag for shipping.
2. The fish is netted out of the holding tank and placed into the shipping bag.
3. I place the tube from the Oxygen tank inside the bag and lightly twist the bag around the tube. I then turn on the oxygen to inflate the bag. When the bag is tightly inflated I remove the tube by pulling it out and then twist the bag several times to seal the oxygen in. I then tie at least two knots in the bag, and finish with a rubber band twisted several times between the two knots. My major objective is to have three times the volume of oxygen in the bag compared to the volume of the water.
4. I then tape the bottom corners of the bag tightly against the bottom of the bag using masking tape so that small fish can’t get caught in a corner. The only fish I have lost lately died just that way.
5. Now I double bag the fish. To do this I place the knotted end of the fish bag into another bag and pull the second bag over the fish bag a couple of inches. I then slide a soda straw or a piece of rigid airline tubing between the two bags. I pull the second bag over the fish bag accordion style until the new bag touches the knots on the fish bag, and the fish bag is as far as possible inside the new bag. I grab hold of the knots on the end of the fish bag. Then holding the second bag I just pull on the knot until the fish bag is completely inside the second bag. I then use the straw to suck out all remaining air between the two bags. This is done to create an air tight seal between the two bags so that if fins do puncture the inner bag, water has no place to leak to. I knot the second bag twice if possible, and then band it.

6. If I have two large angelfish I place both double-bagged fish inside a large 12x24 inch bag. I use soda straw to remove air from the bag and tie a knot in this bag and band it. In effect I triple bagged the angelfish. Please do remember those very long and sharp fins if you think triple bagging is too much. I am sure you don’t need to do this for many smaller fish.
7. About one hour before I am ready to pack the shipping box I open a pair of heat packs and use a long nail through the end of the bag into the top edge of the Styrofoam side of the shipping box to hold the heat packs in place. When you put the lid of the box in place this holds the nail so the heat pack can’t fall. This gives the heat packs time to heat up before you take the box out into the cold air. The cold packs in the summer I put in just before closing the box in the same way. I use a nail to poke a small hole in the cover of the shipping box just above the heat packs so that oxygen can get to the heat packs. The heat packs will stay hotter for a longer period of time if they have fresh air. The heat packs uses oxygen to produce heat.
8. I place about one inch of insulation in the bottom of the box. I then place the bagged fish in the box, with the knots of the fish bag downward toward the bottom of the box. The double bags knots are then upwards. If any water escapes from the fish bag it has no place to go except into the double bag.
9. I insure that a minimum of one inch of insulation is between any bag and another bag, and that every bag has at least that much insulation between it and the side of the Styrofoam box. Heat and cold transfer very rapidly between the Styrofoam and the fish bags if there is any contact with the Styrofoam box. I t really does not matter how many heat packs you have if the fish bag is touching a Styrofoam box that has a temperature of ten degrees, or 110 degrees.
10. Once all fish are inside the box, I place at least an inch of Styrofoam over the fish for the same very good reason.
11. I fit the lid onto the Styrofoam box, and tape it down if needed.
12. I tape a paper with all shipping information on the lid of the Styrofoam box and tape it down. It may never get used but at least if the post office opens the box they might be able to figure out where to send the box.
13. I place the Styrofoam box into the shipping box, and seal that box with packing tape top and bottom.
14. I place up arrows on all four sides of the box and clearly print “THIS SIDE UP”. I also write the same on the top of the box.
15. I print “LIVE FISH,” and “PLEASE KEEP WARM,” or cool on all four sides of the box and on the top.
16. I then take the box to the USPS folks and do a lot of praying.
17. If you want fish from me you will pay Express overnight shipping charges from USPS.
18. Fed-Ex is run by drooling I***t’s down here. You use them if you want to.

Do I really believe you have to do all of this? Simply put, I doubt it. However I have put enough hard work into raising the fish that I send out that it is worth it to me to go to this much trouble. If I were trying to run a business this way I am sure I would go broke. It takes me two to two and a half hours to pack a box of fish this way.

My only objective here is to help folks like me who have shipped very few fish to get their fish somewhere alive. For those of you who have your own tried and true methods of shipping, all I can say is good for you. This has worked for me. I have managed to have fish take three and four days in shipment and get to a new home alive, healthy and ready to eat.

04-17-2006, 01:15 AM	#1
SueM Administrator Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Kennewick, WA. Age: 50 Posts: 1,017	Shipping Live Fish............. A good friend of mine, Don Owen wrote this up for us .......... That’s my measure of success. Shipping live fish for those of us who occasionally ship them. Thought maybe I would post a bit of information about shipping fish that I have managed to learn in the last few month’s. I have a couple of objectives here: #1 is to help others new to shipping fish, #2 is to invite comment from more experienced folks on what I may be doing wrong so that I can learn to do better. I do not claim to be any sort of expert on shipping fish so if there is anything incorrect about this information. Please try to remember the part about inviting comments about what may be wrong with this. I will start with the materials I gathered to use for shipping fish, and then go step by step how I pack a bag. I can truthfully say that this has worked well enough to keep fish alive for three days once, and four days another time. Out of the last 150+ fish I have shipped I have lost one small brichardi less than ½ inch long that got caught in a fold in the bag. Part one: Materials needed: 1. An oxygen bottle and a regulator. I got one at an estate sale for $15. You can trade bottles at any welding supply shop for another full bottle for $10. The bottle needs a long rubber hose that can be placed inside the fish bags. 2. Rubber bands, three quarter to one-inch size. Also larger 1 ½ inch any office supply 3. Masking tape 4. Permanent marking pens, several colors for writing on plastic bags 5. I kg Ship-Shape I purchase these at Jehmco. www.Jehmco.com This is far superior to bag buddies or such things as novaqua to control ammonia and other waste materials in the shipping bag. “This, is my opinion anyway.” 6. FREEZEZE Gel Ice Pads for summer time shipments. These are available from Roshgo Corporation toll free 1-888-4-ROSHGO, or at www.roshgo.com These do not leak water when they thaw out, stay cold longer than ice, and they are reusable. You just soak them in water, “they absorb several hundred times their own weight in water”. These are placed in the freezer. Nothing to it. 7. Heat packs for winter shipping. The minimum size I use is a sixty-hour heat pack. You may obtain both 60 hour and 72 our heat packs from Kens Fish. 8. Assorted plastic bags. Jehmco and Ken’s fish sell good quality bags. I get the heavier bags, and look for those at least 18 and preferably 24 inches in length. The reason why I want long bags is so that I can tie at least two knots in the bag after sealing it by twisting the bag. I prefer the 2X18 inch bags for single small fish. The 6x24 inch bags for single larger fish. The 12x24 inch bags for holding two double-bagged 6x24 fish bags. Because I send out angelfish I use the heaviest bags available so that their fins are less likely to puncture the bags. If your shipping smaller fish, lighter bags would probably do just as well. 9. A box of plain drinking straws, or a piece of rigid airline tubing I use these to remove air when placing one bag inside another. Simply slide a straw or piece of airline tubing in between the bag of fish and the new bag. This lets air escape out of the second bag as you shove the bagged fish in. Once the fish bag is inside the second bag suck on the straw to get an airtight seal between the two bags by removing all of the air between the bags. Trust me it’s a lot easier to slide the bag of fish into the second bag if you can get rid of the air. 10. A two-cup measuring cup. 11. A 1/8-tsp. Measuring spoon. 12. A 24-cup stainless steel bowl to hold bagging water. 13. Appropriately sized nets for the fish you are bagging. 14. A roll of paper towels that I can assure you will find a use for. 15. A good shipping box with at least ¾-inch thick Styrofoam that fits inside a good cardboard shipping box. This shipping box should be in the fish room at least several hours before you ship the fish so that you are not placing your bags into a freezing cold or blazing hot box. 16. A bale of that shredded paper insulation of the type that is blown into the ceilings of houses. Make sure you get insulation that is not treated with pesticides. Any other good insulating material will work well, but that stuff just works better. 17. Two TV folding tables, and a good chair. 18. A small aquarium, 2.5 gallons is what I use, for holding the fish to be bagged. I have found out the hard way that it is a really good idea to have everything on hand before you even think about packing any fish. Part two: Bagging the fish. 1. To ship one large angelfish I measure 1.5 cups of water and then place a measured 1/8-tsp of ship shape into the water and stir it. This is poured into the shipping bag. This water was preheated to the correct temperature and well aerated for at least 24 hours before shipping. I use RO water for shipping water. The amount of water would be more or less depending on what other type of fish you may be shipping. For small fish like a baby angelfish I normally use the 2x18 inch bag and single bag them. I place several small double-bagged fish inside a larger bag for shipping. 2. The fish is netted out of the holding tank and placed into the shipping bag. 3. I place the tube from the Oxygen tank inside the bag and lightly twist the bag around the tube. I then turn on the oxygen to inflate the bag. When the bag is tightly inflated I remove the tube by pulling it out and then twist the bag several times to seal the oxygen in. I then tie at least two knots in the bag, and finish with a rubber band twisted several times between the two knots. My major objective is to have three times the volume of oxygen in the bag compared to the volume of the water. 4. I then tape the bottom corners of the bag tightly against the bottom of the bag using masking tape so that small fish can’t get caught in a corner. The only fish I have lost lately died just that way. 5. Now I double bag the fish. To do this I place the knotted end of the fish bag into another bag and pull the second bag over the fish bag a couple of inches. I then slide a soda straw or a piece of rigid airline tubing between the two bags. I pull the second bag over the fish bag accordion style until the new bag touches the knots on the fish bag, and the fish bag is as far as possible inside the new bag. I grab hold of the knots on the end of the fish bag. Then holding the second bag I just pull on the knot until the fish bag is completely inside the second bag. I then use the straw to suck out all remaining air between the two bags. This is done to create an air tight seal between the two bags so that if fins do puncture the inner bag, water has no place to leak to. I knot the second bag twice if possible, and then band it. 6. If I have two large angelfish I place both double-bagged fish inside a large 12x24 inch bag. I use soda straw to remove air from the bag and tie a knot in this bag and band it. In effect I triple bagged the angelfish. Please do remember those very long and sharp fins if you think triple bagging is too much. I am sure you don’t need to do this for many smaller fish. 7. About one hour before I am ready to pack the shipping box I open a pair of heat packs and use a long nail through the end of the bag into the top edge of the Styrofoam side of the shipping box to hold the heat packs in place. When you put the lid of the box in place this holds the nail so the heat pack can’t fall. This gives the heat packs time to heat up before you take the box out into the cold air. The cold packs in the summer I put in just before closing the box in the same way. I use a nail to poke a small hole in the cover of the shipping box just above the heat packs so that oxygen can get to the heat packs. The heat packs will stay hotter for a longer period of time if they have fresh air. The heat packs uses oxygen to produce heat. 8. I place about one inch of insulation in the bottom of the box. I then place the bagged fish in the box, with the knots of the fish bag downward toward the bottom of the box. The double bags knots are then upwards. If any water escapes from the fish bag it has no place to go except into the double bag. 9. I insure that a minimum of one inch of insulation is between any bag and another bag, and that every bag has at least that much insulation between it and the side of the Styrofoam box. Heat and cold transfer very rapidly between the Styrofoam and the fish bags if there is any contact with the Styrofoam box. I t really does not matter how many heat packs you have if the fish bag is touching a Styrofoam box that has a temperature of ten degrees, or 110 degrees. 10. Once all fish are inside the box, I place at least an inch of Styrofoam over the fish for the same very good reason. 11. I fit the lid onto the Styrofoam box, and tape it down if needed. 12. I tape a paper with all shipping information on the lid of the Styrofoam box and tape it down. It may never get used but at least if the post office opens the box they might be able to figure out where to send the box. 13. I place the Styrofoam box into the shipping box, and seal that box with packing tape top and bottom. 14. I place up arrows on all four sides of the box and clearly print “THIS SIDE UP”. I also write the same on the top of the box. 15. I print “LIVE FISH,” and “PLEASE KEEP WARM,” or cool on all four sides of the box and on the top. 16. I then take the box to the USPS folks and do a lot of praying. 17. If you want fish from me you will pay Express overnight shipping charges from USPS. 18. Fed-Ex is run by drooling I*t’s down here. You use them if you want to. Do I really believe you have to do all of this? Simply put, I doubt it. However I have put enough hard work into raising the fish that I send out that it is worth it to me to go to this much trouble. If I were trying to run a business this way I am sure I would go broke. It takes me two to two and a half hours to pack a box of fish this way. My only objective here is to help folks like me who have shipped very few fish to get their fish somewhere alive. For those of you who have your own tried and true methods of shipping, all I can say is good for you. This has worked for me. I have managed to have fish take three and four days in shipment and get to a new home alive, healthy and ready to eat. __________________ Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled** Last edited by SueM; 04-25-2006 at 08:37 AM.