1st Class Fish

[Piltdownpaul]

Please lets try to discourage sending fish in the post. Its barbaric and surely anyone who has any true feeling for their fish would not want their future fish sent through the post. I've seen this idea really sprouting and i find it abhorrent. Would you want a puppy sent to you through the post because it was convenient-no you wouldnt so why a fish.......

 

[demonmagus]

I don't think it's gonna stop, loads of people do it, aquabid basically runs on it lol

 

[starrynightxxi]

sprouting? this idea is hardly sprouting, it's quite common. givn an appropriate shipping environment, shipping a fish is no different from shipping a horse or cat or puppy, all of which are things that DO happen.

 

[SandMan8388]

You might kind of have a hard time on this one. Especially since nearly half the people on this forum have used postal means of obtaining fish. Although the fish do seem to have adequate care to make it through the trip. How often do they die and are the honestley even bothered by it?

If my dog was given the proper container I'd ship him . I mean I fly on plains and he does fine in the cargo.

But hey... that's my 2 cents and everyone is entitled to theirs.

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

how do you think the get to the shop? not as well packaged as when a breeder posts them i can assure you. yeah in a special truck just for fish but thats all it is, a truck with no extra heating or anything

 

[BigC]

Please lets try to discourage sending fish in the post

.
What a load of rubbish. I have been keeping and breeding fish for over 25 years now and the only way to distribute eggs and fish is to use the postal service and couriers. The fish I sell to like minded breeders/enthusiasts have gone on to produce their own offspring and lead a full and productive life. How do you think you get your "tropical fish" in the first place they are not endemic to these shores, therefore they need to be transported sometimes taking two or three journeys. You/we by keeping the fish in the first place are adding to the supply and demand for these exotics so if all trade and transportation in these fish were to stop we would have no hobby and no forum to raise questions about them.

 

[starrynightxxi]

right. and on top of that, if hobbyists had to collect their fish, those fish would likely be packaged for several days, whereas I can get a fish from the other side of the country shipped to me overnight.

It's cheaper too. in one day i could have a fish from california for 25-50 dollars, including the price of fish, but to fly myself to california to collect that fish I would have to pay a few hundred dollars. Oh, and that's not to mention that very few airlines, especially since 9/11, allow live animals on board passenger planes. They have to go in cargo.

 

[littlelegs]

Good point well done!

Everything is shipped in one way or another.

 

[Betta5]

I agree i hate sending fish in the post their not mail.

 

[starrynightxxi]

then i hope you only keep fish you caught yourself because otherwise your fish have been shipped at some point and buying shipped fish while being against the shipping of fish is a shade hypocritical

 

[SandMan8388]

Yeah but think about what smurfy said, how do you think they get all those fish to the fish stores within the first place? The packaging is alot worse than a breeder (like Big C) in which they actually care about the well being of fish.

 

[QuotheRaven]

Just a little pointer to avoid this getting to flaming and merely a friendly debate

 

[xoedusk]

My own opinion is that it is uncomfortable and stressful for the fish. That being said, I realize that the fish I have were probably sent via small boxes on trucks to the stores I bought them at (maybe excluding the platies). That doesn't stop me from getting fish from the stores, however. There's something different about actually seeing it go into/come out of the box than getting it from a tank at the store, even if they were sent to store via mail.

I personally would not send one in the mail, but I might accept one in the direct mail. Hypocritical, I know. One of those stupid human things.

Anyways, hopefully the homes that the fish are sent to are stress-free and enjoyable for them.

Anyone else feel the same?

 

[starrynightxxi]

I agree that shipping is stressful, but I think that coming from a breeder they are being sent properly packed from a home where they were well kept, and that they will arrive at my place in good condition as a result.

Coming from many stores (not all, but many), the fish have been poorly cared for (pumped full of hormones, overbred, overmedicated, overcrowded etc.), incurring deaths, then they are shipped in ridiculous numbers into the US, incurring deaths, then they are shipped across the country, incurring deaths, where they are packed as many as will fit into pet shop tanks, incurring deaths, and are kept by [generally] poor-trained or uncaring associates who often treat them too roughly trying to catch them, or pack them with too much water and not enough air, or who will sell fish that are sick or aggressive, incurring deaths.

Is either situation perfect? No, not really, and you can't expect them to be, but I know what I would pick if given the choice.


With that said, if you get a fish mailed and are not there when it is delivered...

 

[Loko17]

Saying that fish shouldnt be shipped in mail is something I would expect an idiot from peta to say. It is stressful on fish to be shipped but 99% of the fish that are packaged correctly make it to their destination healthy. And everything gets shipped in the mail, people are shipped not in the mail but they are shipped, and some people get stressed but people arent going to stop flying or driving place to place. I've gotten 4 fish in the mail and they arrived healthier than most of the fish I get at my lfs. You must think about what you post before you post it and as far as this one think about all of the fish that are shipped every day that make it healthily.