Freighting Fish

[neilm]

Hi all,
Can I please get some advice on how I go about freighting fish (Syd-Bris).  How do I prepare them etc? Who is the best company to use? Any advice would be appreciated.
Cheers
Neil

[africanman79]

You'll have to bag them with some oxygen is the best, if your friendly with your local petshop take em down there in a bucket & see if they'll bag em for ya & use the oxygen bottle, i use australian air express for freighting stuff your looking at a booking fee & a $ per/kg rate.hth.

[neilm]

Thanks for your comments africanman79.
The plan was for a non aquariast friend of mine to collect some fish from sydney and prepare them for shipping up here to me. But if oxygenating the bags is going to be required then I'm not sure my mate's going to be up for it.

[ndoboi]

G'day Neil,
Shipping fish Syd-Bris should be no problem - Have the fish bagged as per normal (1/3water (max), 2/3 air) and they should travel no problems. You will need a foam box or similar to put the bagged fish in (an esky may suffice). Most LFS will be able to supply a foam box.
AAE or Virgin will ship for you, but the fish will need to be dropped off and collected from the airport.
AAE should cost you about $55 per box of fish.

Good luck!
Cheers
Steve

[braddo]

Virgin aren't taking live fish anymore AAE will send the fish to their regional offices as well I work for AAE on the sunshine coast and we ring the client to pick up from our base they arrive within 24 hours from anywhere in Australia. It is expensive but worth it. But definately use oxygen and if you have some either a couple of drops of prime, stress coat or safe helps keep ammonia down also don't feed for a minimum of 24 hours before you pack them. preferably 48 hrs.

[choppafrog]

"virgin arent taking live fish anymore"  :?:   have you got shares in AAE or something. what a croc of shit.

[ndoboi]

I agree with choppafrogs comment! Show us where it says Virgin wont ship fish anymore.

BTW AAE will NOT deliver your fish to your door (and seeing as you live about 20-30mins from the airport I dont think a regional office will be of any use to you.....).

Oxygen is not required for such a short trip, but it would be nice to have if the LFS, where your mate will be picking up the fish from, is able to help. Most will do this free of charge if they know the fish are travelling long distances. I agree that some prime, or similar,  would be a good idea if possible.

I think what he means is that Virgin are not accepting live fish anymore as "unaccompanied baggage" from "unknown shippers". This is what I have also been advised by Virgin. What it means apparently is that unless you are a "known shipper" with an established freight account with Virgin, the paperwork required by the Government for "unknown shippers of unaccompanied baggage" is too time consuming for what they make from shipping your box of fish. Something to do with security against terrorists apparently.

Cheers, Doug

[ndoboi]

Thanks for the explanation Doug  :)

There's nothing about it on their website, but that's no real surprise...  :evil:

[trofius]

AAE will deliver door to door but triple the cost.

a  base fee of $45, and brisbane to sydney is less than $2 /kilo(perishable rate is best)

fish will need to be double bagged, 2 rubber bands per bag, as mentioned 1/3 water , 2/3 air(oxygen is better) starved fish for 2-3 days will help them travel,

box will need to be styrofoam, brocholi box will surfice, but a prper fish box is stronger. I alays add newspaper to the bottom of the box to absorb any water that is abouts. The box will need to be tapped closed so that it is water proof, marked as live fish, perishable, thus way up, etc.

good luck.

[dammwoman]

Take them to Virgin Freight.  As above for everything eg. 1/3 water 2/3 oxygen. and definetly starve for 2 days prior.
Virgin will do paperwork and add "Live Fis" stickers ect for you.
Don't know about aae but Virgin keep them in Airconditioned room until they are to be loaded too which is a bonus in this weather.
Good Luck.
Linda

[neilm]

I spoke to virgin freight in sydney and they won't touch live fish!  He didn't say if that changes if you have an account with them.  On the other hand, AAE were very helpful.

[ndoboi]

Another thing you can do to bring the price down is to see if anybody else wants to bring up some fish in the same shipment.   :D