Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Product sources Mailing Live Fish (Catfish)

As my new pond is still filling, I have aspirations of having a small-scale "Blue Cats By Mail" business someday (hopefully by next year), where I'd be able to ship live BC fingerlings to whomever wanted them. I feel like there's a growing demand for BC, and outside of a few states in and around TX/OK/MO, they're hard to come by. I've done a little bit of digging into it, watched a few videos, etc. I was just wondering if anyone here has direct experience with this, and could offer any advice.

Some basic questions:

• Any particular source for the shipping supplies?
• Preferred mail carrier (FedEX, UPS, etc.)
• Overnight vs 2-day for Catfish?
• Sourcing oxygen tanks and getting them filled (never done this)
• Bag thickness? Box size/thickness? Cooler needed? Ice packs needed?

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

I'll follow with interest Steve_. I don't know how challenging it will be. BC tend to have more issues in transportation than CC ... but ... its a catfish so they ought to be tougher than other fish that are shipped. Hsb and lmb are shipped for example. Maybe snrub or nedoc could comment on their packages from KEO. Snrub picked up but nedocs overnighted FedEx I think.

Steve,
I found these earlier when I was looking for Satinfin shiners. It might be something you are interested in doing. Never done it myself but it might address overnight vs. 2 day shipping.
https://www.aqpkg.com/products/aquatic-packaging-life-support-bags?variant=22847314722874

Wow, I've never heard of those! Breathable bags that oxygen can pass through? How does that even work? *Brain explodes due to science overload*

Steve,
Not an expert by any means but I would check it out to see if it is a viable option for what you are intending to do.

You might reach out to Zimmerman's fish with questions. http://www.zimmermansfish.com/

I learned that ziploc bags pass oxygen from a paper on keeping hexagena mayfly eggs. The oxygen exchange was sufficient to maintain the eggs. Their eggs were refrigerated to delay hatching. The surface tension of water is high enough to to prevent flow if the holes are small enough I guess. Those employ technology to improve the rates of exchange.

When you want to do test orders let us know! I dont need catfish but wouldnt mind a small donation for you to test shipping

If I can arrange a shipment, mine will go in a fish tank to grow and assess survival.

For the O2... hit your local welding supply company.

Medical oxygen requires Rx and is very expensive.

Industrial oxygen is plenty good for hauling fishies.

Some interesting stuff to think about. I've also seen these cans of oxygen you can buy right from Amazon or a few select big box stores. I think it's for hikers that climb high altitudes, but I could be wrong. Before I begin to think about any of this, I definitely need some damn RAIN! I hate being a slave to the weatherman. Hurricane Ida is going to just go by us to the West, the same as the last storm that came through. TN and western NC will get hit, but not us.

I haven't been on the Pond Boss site for a while.

It looks like my old friends "Rainman" Rex Raines is still in the fish business and active here on the site. If he is still in the business, he could be an invaluable contact.

He is one of several who have shipped fish to me over the year. I always received 100% live fish when I received a box from him.

I have a worm bin in one of the Styrofoam coolers he used to ship fish to me from Missouri to West Virginia, probably at least 10 years ago.

He is probably pretty busy this time of year. But if you can get in touch with him when he isn't on the road, he could be an encyclopedia of shipping fish. Maybe he could also deliver fish for you. He has supplied a lot of fish to Pond Boss member's ponds over the years

Ken.

I haven't been on the Pond Boss site for a while.

It looks like my old friends "Rainman" Rex Raines is still in the fish business and active here on the site. If he is still in the business, he could be an invaluable contact.

He is one of several who have shipped fish to me over the year. I always received 100% live fish when I received a box from him.

I have a worm bin in one of the Styrofoam coolers he used to ship fish to me from Missouri to West Virginia, probably at least 10 years ago.

He is probably pretty busy this time of year. But if you can get in touch with him when he isn't on the road, he could be an encyclopedia of shipping fish. Maybe he could also deliver fish for you. He has supplied a lot of fish to Pond Boss member's ponds over the years

Ken.

Thank you, catmandoo. I've definitely seen your name on some of the older posts I've viewed in the past, glad to see you making an appearance. Hopefully Rainman will see this and reply. If he's busy, I'd rather not bug him lol, but I'll definitely keep that in mind.

This is a fairly old post, but, I will reply with some of my experiences....I almost never ship fish anymore...The regs, state and federal are too cumbersome for my older, more feable brain to deal with...lol That said, forget the "breather bags"..They are all but useless if you properly ship. Breather bags need air surrounding them, and to ship properly, you need double layers of plastic bags that can not leak. The best shipping containers are used and designed for shipping "Tropical fish"...Hit up pet shops that are not chain store, like a PetSmart...They will often sell you the shipping containers for a few bucks each...then you need 15" square bottom shipping bags, and double bag. I originally used UPS to ship, but after many crushed boxes of dead fish, and fights for the refunds from UPS, I shipped overnight exclusively with Fedex, and only had 1 "bad" delivery after that...I am fortunate that I live near an international airport, so my cut-off was 9:45pm to ship overnight...and if I was late, a Fedex pilot would often take my packages and still deliver....Overnight is expensive, but reliable...Surprisingly, the least expensive was same-day air freight...I once shipped 400 pounds of fish from St Louis, MO to LA in CA, and the cost was only $175, and in the customer's truck 5 hours after I dropped off the fish....I used industrial oxygen to fill bags "loosly"...the gas expands in flight....It takes practice to do it right on the shipping end, but it takes knowledge and lots of research to ship legally. The Lacey Act of 1900 requires a shipper to adhere to all federal, state, local and international laws pertaining to all plants and animals....including shipping laws

Good to see you on the forum Rex!

Rex:

I get constant requests to ship fish. I even had a request for two Rainbow Trout to be shipped to an island in Florida in August..... Sorry, ain't going to happen. Like you I found that the work required to do behind the scenes didn't even begin to cover the expenses in packaging and shipping the fish, so I stopped shipping fish. Just not worth the hassle.