Shipping Livestock

[Speedy]

Ok. *I think it would be cool to learn how to ship livestock. *I am sure that different types of livestock ship differently. *Would you ship coral or snails the same as fish?

How do you bag them? *How do you pack them? *Is a heating pad necessary for all types of livestock? Should there be food in the bag for them? *How much water should be in the bag? *Which creatures can shipped in the same bag? Which need to be shipped seperately?

Sorry about all the questions. Just wanna do things right when I send some of my 3reefin' buddies some livestuff.

[Matt Rogers]

A few people here have A LOT of experience with this and will probably add to it, I've worked in a couple stores, so here's my take.

Get some fish bags from your lfs and ask if they have any styrofoam insulated shipping boxes you can bum.

Then fill a 1/3 (more if shipping far away) of the bag with your tank water. Add the specimen. 'Capture' as much air in the bag before twisting the top and rubber banding that a couple of times. Put in the box.

Depending on the time of year, you won't need heat pads. If you do, don't use a lot, because you will overheat everything. I'd probably just use one if I used them at alll.

Bag corals and inverts like you do fish. Keep them separate.

If you want to be extra safe, go back to the lfs before you seal the box and fill the bags with pure oxygen from their o2 tanks. They should have those if they ship a lot.


hth

[NUGIO]

heres a good thread on bags and also one on using a igloo cooler on the same catagory http://www.3reef.com/cgi-bin/yabb/Ya...num=1074524970

[Gresham]

Heres my take:

Don't add any O2 to inverts or corals.

The more O2 you add to fish, the more sloshing, so stick to 1/4 to 1/3 air.

For "spiney" fish or extremelly "active" fish use a liner on the bottom

Double bag every thing, and triple bag needy items, ie. heavy bags, corals, URCHINS (you can "cup" them then bag them for added safety), triggers, angels, tangs, butterfly, lionfish, scorpionfish, groupers, puffers, well you get the point.

Bag all fish seperete and same with corals

You can "gang" bag snails, peppermint shrimp, hermits, algae, some small fish, condylactus anemones, corkscrew anemones and a few other items

Some things ride(ship) better "dry", ie. wrapped in wet paper towel or newspaper. You can do zoanthids, green star polyps, epizoanthids, anemones (more on this below), hermits and snails this way. Toadstool leathers can be shipped this way minus as well.

For anemones, it's best to put them on a fine mesh "dry rack" and get them to purge the water the contain, then either ship them in the tight ball their in, or put them into new "fresh tank" water. Most are shipped into the US by the "dry rack" method.

I'll write more later when I'm done with business, until then, check the other threads mentioned. David, I have some pdf's and other info I can email you.

[Monacle]

Gresham, please post more info publicly. I am in the start of my breeding program and if all goes well, I will need to be well informed on how to ship properly. Thanks