Stocking density while shipping.

[t2rev]

IS there a hard and fast rule out there for number of fish per litre/bag when shipping?

just trying to figure out a per box size/price for shipping clowns direct to LFS, saving me diesel and time!
I have access to oxygen for shipping if needs be.
most shops near me take about 20 fish a month, which i can have shipped quite cheaply.

thoughts?

[Suzy]

I would think it would matter on the size of the fish, how much o2 they consume, ect. 20 tiny fish would be fine I would think. But, 20 large fish would be an issue.

I might start with very few, and see how they do, then ship a few more every time until you get the feel of how they do.

[t2rev]

we're talking about standard sized percs/ocellaris, as this makes up the bulk of my sales. so fish are between 1-2inchs.

[Suzy]

20 fish that size in one bag would be risky, I think. Could you split them into 2 or 3 bags in the same box?

[t2rev]

why's a single bag risky?
in theory i could bag them individually, but i dont see the point. one bag saves me time and unit cost.
On shipments ive seen unboxed the only fish that come in individually are things like dottybacks or territorial species.
speaking to some of the guys i work with they ship approx 100fish@ 1-3g in about 10l of water. Will speak to a couple of LFS over the weekend and see what they think.

[Suzy]

That is a good idea. They would have great experience.

I didn't mean ship each one in a separate bag, but maybe a dozen in each bag? Just in case one died and spiked the ammonia.

[Luis A M]

I think overseas exporters always pack in individual bags,tiny CB clowns in little bags.

[Greshamh]

[BaboonScience]

Packing multiple stressed fish per bag would seem to be inviting the cross contamination of any disease that a wild caught fish might have.
Still risky if the fish are pond (tank) raised but essentially in wild and potentially poorly filtered water.
Captive bred would be less risky because of the controlled environment.

[Ben]

I have only shiped a couple of times myself by air but know a few people that do it as well
It depends on how long they are going to be in the bag for as well
Say it was 6 to 7 hrs max i put 5 to 8 per bag the bags i use hold about 1.5l water and then 2/3 more is air
Beter of spliting them into a few smaller bags than 1 big bag

[William]

Last time I unpacked a box of clowns from ORA(admittedly a few years ago), there were a bunch of fish in each bag. I don't recall exactly how many were in each bag, but it seems like there were probably at least 20 per bag.

I'm not saying that ORA is perfect, but they were doing it apparently without too much trouble (there were never any/many DOA's in the ORA shipments I unpacked)