1st Class Fish

[tophat665]

Dude, I love keeping them and caring for them, but have some perspective - they're g*dd*mn fish. Sending them overnight mail has got to be less than half the stress they endured getting from where they were collected to the distributor. And, if they were tank or pond bred, well, not only is it not the travail that a journey from the wild would be, but they are likely hardier to begin with.

Save your outrage for people, or, if you must wax irate in piscine matters, worry about painted fish or vase bettas or things that are undeniably stupid, not the retail version of how all our wholesalers got their fish to begin with.

 

[OohFeeshy]

It is the case that they are shipped by air mail etc overseas but this is a NECESSITY.

For the majority of fish, yar. Silly easy to breed species like livebearers, not so much, but it's generally cheaper to buy them from the fish farms in the same delivery as all the other fish.

do they turn up at a door in a box NO!!! and i dont buy fish from shops i get my friend to breed whatever ones i want!!!

Out of sight, out of mind....? Really, your views are very immature and if you can't come up with a structured, logical arguement, just don't bother. And can your friend breed you anything other than the most common, easy to breed fish? Nope. This 'friend' will have bought fish from LFSs, and you yourself keep reccomending other people to buy the wild caught fish you seem so against.

EDIT- Oh, and it appears Betta5 didn't even make a *true* statement...

I am going to the pet shop what fish should i get to add to my community.

Angels
A keyhole
Female bettas
Female guppies
Bala sharks
Cory cats

What else should i get?

And he is/was setting up a SW tank... Bet those fish aren't from a friend neither.


Personally, it's a nessecity. Anything I could get from local breeders/any breeder are generally only good as feeders. And there are few fish I can get from an LFS now. When I want something (usually something very few people own, although I'm rather financially limited ATM ), I'll check out the fish lists for a few importers and see which has them, then get them from there. Since not many fish are imported at a time, they are healthy and well cared for, and have plenty of time to recouperate after being imported. From there, it's a double bag-up, packed in a large, insulated box and sent, by courier, to arrive before 9am.

 

[Piltdownpaul]

Ah yes-i can imagine it now-your expensive plec in a box flying around a uk sorting office-tossed about like who knows what-"handled carefully by the post" dont make me laugh!!!!! Yes my 30 minute journey to my lfs is much preferable to the 3rd rate service here. The smaller boxes were even used as footballs once and that doesnt even bear thinking about.

 

[vancouver]

How do you think fish get to the pet store?

They don't swim down magical rivers from the supplier to the stores.


I don't know why, but I really felt the need to be sarcastic..

 

[OohFeeshy]

Ah yes-i can imagine it now-your expensive plec in a box flying around a uk sorting office-tossed about like who knows what-"handled carefully by the post" dont make me laugh!!!!! Yes my 30 minute journey to my lfs is much preferable to the 3rd rate service here. The smaller boxes were even used as footballs once and that doesnt even bear thinking about.

Ah yes, I can imagine it also- your expensive plec stuffed in a small bag with 59 other expensive plecs which in turn is in a small polybox with 20 other small bags filled with fish thrown around on a plane for a few days, whichever customs stuff applies, then thrown around in a van to the lfs, shoved into small tanks with hundreds of other fish then sold, where it is stressfully netted, put in another bag and put in your tank.

 

[CFC]

I can see where your worries are coming from now It is illegal to send live animals or liquids by the national post, fish arent sent by Royal Mail but by private courier firms via overnight next day delivery to arrive before 10am.

Almost all mail order fish suppliers guarentee live arrival so it is not in their interest for you to recieve a dead fish, that would cost them for the delivery, packaging and the lost stock. Fish are double bagged and placed into a polystyrene box with bags of air and newspaper to support them and keep them upright, in cold weather a heat pack is added. The boxes are then sealed and clearly marked with LIVE TROPICAL FISH; FRAGILE HANDLE WITH CARE; KEEP WARM; THIS WAY UP; LIQUIDS.
The courier firm guarantee the package will turn up undamaged and on time, it is not in their interest for the package to turn up damaged or late as then they have to pay out on their insurence, too many claims and their premiums go up and they cant afford to operate. I have worked in a parcel distribution center for TNT and trust me if a box says handle with care it gets handled with care, you are not even allowed to put them on pallets for the fork truck to handle them, they have to moved by hand.

The mail order fish business allows people to keep fish they would otherwise not be able to obtain, most local fish stores carry fairly limited stock and finding anything unusual means having to travel long distances across the country, not every one has this luxurey as not everyone drives or has access to a car. It also cuts down on costs, a round trip of 300 miles costs £30 to £40 in petrol for an average car, you can have a fish sent from Cornwall to anywhere in the UK for £10. For those on a budget this is the far better option.

 

[OohFeeshy]

It is illegal to send live animals or liquids by the national post, fish arent sent by Royal Mail but by private courier firms via overnight next day delivery to arrive before 10am.

Sort of. Most people get around it by either not mentioning it, or classing them as fry, which, technically, many are. 'In addition the following may be sent to destinations in Zones 1 to 3: Caterpillars, Earthworms, Fish fry and eggs, Lugworms, Maggots, Mealworms, Pupae and chrysalides and Ragworms. To send any of the above, Parcelforce by 9.00am, Parcelforce by 10.00am, Parcelforce by 12 noon or Parcelforce 24 services must be used for Zones 1 to 3 and International Datapost for Zones 4 to 12.'

So it's not totally illegal. And non-courier delivery is generally reserved for bettas which can easily survive with little stress.

 

[black angel]

Ive had bettas sent via the royal mail in little more than a couple of inches of water and when I got the last one dead I thought no more. The females I got in the past always handled the travelling better but the males were always stressed.
Because they arent labeled as being fish, then you can only assume what happens to them through transit. They will be thrown around and even the word fragile doesnt help them.

I think personally the practice of sending bettas through royal mail to save you a couple of pound should be stopped. As CFC has said, couriers will treat the fish with care.

 

[CFC]

Anyone sending fish by royal mail should be ashamed of themselves, they can barely be trusted to get live food to you on time and undamaged let alone fish.

 

[iroc]

so to wrap this up


the issue here is that fish should be sent in a fish frendly manner, and most of the ppl that do not agree with sending them through the mail at all, buy their fish from an LFS which gets the fish (most likely) in a similar fashon or more likely a much worse fashon. All except for betta5 who has a friend that can produce any fish she wants bucuse he/she obviously has a better stock then any known fish store on the plant. My question to betta5 is this fish bearing friend of yours do they ever ship fish to other ppl via the mail? if so shouldn't you really be protesting them?

 

[Iron Man]

I think many people are just getting tired of the PETA extremist nonsense. I think the world is getting tired of extremists period.

 

[tophat665]

I think many people are just getting tired of the PETA extremist nonsense. I think the world is getting tired of extremists period.

A-Flipping-Men!

Death to all extremists.

(That's a joke, son. Irony.)

 

[ImperfectFaerie]

Honestly, I'm not so tired of extremists- I'm more tired of other people shoving thier opinion down my throat and telling me that it's the RIGHT thing. People open to a healthy debate, sure. People shooting out a statement without being willing to listen to other people's ideas and sides- can't handle it.

 

[QuotheRaven]

Extremists are fine just please stop trying to make us one of you!!! rawr (lame attempt a roar...)

 

[vancouver]

I wouldn't call this person an extremist...

I'd rather call them silly!