How to ship cichlids

[Nebraska_cichlids]

I have received fish by USPS/Fedex/DHL several times, but never had to ship fish myself -- until now. To some extent shipping of fish seems straightforward, e.g., use of styrofoam, overnight only, heatpack, not feeding the fish for 2-3 days, lining the box, and filling bags with 25% water plus 75% air.
Here's what I'm not sure about: First, do I need to use bag buddies? Second, do I need to use pure oxygen or will room air do? Thanks.

[tjnelson44]

I have never used bag buddies and my fish have shipped well. I also use pure O2 in the bag. You could probaly get away without using O2 but it would require a much larger bag to hold more air. One of the benifits of filling the bags with pure O2 is that the fish can be packed in much smaller bags. This means a smaller package and less shipping costs. Have you looked into breather bags? These bags allow for gas echange through the bag. The fish are packed into these bags with no air space, it looks like a water balloon with a fish in it. I have never shipped fish in a breather bag but have recieved fish that were packed in them and they did fine.
Trevor

[tjudy]

I became a 'bag buddy believer' a couple months ago when I bagged about 50 pairs of fish in 4"x15" bags (one fish per bag) with bag buddies and took them to the OCA. I did not lose a single fish and some of them were in the bags for four days.

I will use Priority mail for small boxes, or UPS three-day select for a few dollars more if the box is going to the west coast (I am in WI). I have only had two bad experiences using Priority Mail, and in both instances the box took way to long to get there (5-6 days). That is only two out of probably close to 50 I have sent that way. I started using UPS 3-day select when the USPS did away with Priority 2-day guaranteed.