How Fish Are Delivered To Pet Store

[MBOU]

It wouldn't do the people importing or exporting any good at all if the fish didn't turn up in as close to perfect condition! The exporters would have to refund and the importers would have dead or sick fish...
 
There are strict regulations in place in the airports as well you know!! The boxes are all spot checked and a certain percentage are opened and checked that everything is as it should be and no illegal species as well etc.

 

[Madjonny]

Wow, it looks bad but I can see why it is how it is...

Just means they're even happier when you take them home to a nice big in crowded tank!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Rule of thumb, mini air in bags is 50^ more is usually better. Not all fish can have pure O added. Labyrinth fish and corys are two examples.
 
Actually, the losses of fish between when they are caught or raised and when they reach the tanks of hobbyists is shocking. Fish basically fall into two groups- cheap nd breed easily and rare and more expensive and rare and harder to breed.
 
The average store markup on fish is 300%-400%.
 
I can buy  bags of rummy nose for under 25 cents a fish and I am down the chains some. What do they sell for in a store?
 
What is different is the speed with which the fish move and the cost. Airport to airport shipping is fast and cheap compared to FedEx. My guess is the box in the pic above was not being shipped far or long. It may have been delivered by the wholesaler making rounds to local shops since they was no styro.
 
The most fish I ever shipped was about 65 1.5 inch long fin bn. I did this twice with no losses. But I had about 20 fish/big bag, this method of packing save a lot of money on shipping but can result in whole bags of dead fish. Stores are often getting several bags holding many more more fish, DOAs are just a cost of doing business in the trade more often than not.
 
For the above reasons, I prefer dealing with smaller scale folks as, more often than not, they do care about minimizing DOAs and don't sell on fish until they know they are healthy.

 

[draxis]

So if delivery is delayed 1 day? They die?

 

[MBOU]

It also depends on where you are, obviously I am in the UK and so it would be different, much longer flights etc... but there are people that deal with the flights and exporters/breeders... a middleman so to speak.... if boxes get stuck at airport and cant fly out, they are taken back to exporters and everyone loses out.
 
Once in transit... there isn't much that stops it... there are often delays... the only person that it really sucks for is the person waiting at the shop late into the night waiting for the courier to turn up with the fish! A few extra hours rarely make too much difference to the fish...
 
Of course... there are many things that can go wrong and yes... to the uninitiated.. it would be heart breaking sometimes... it is heat breaking to anyone who cares... like if one sickly fish dies at the beginning of the journey.. can you imagine what it does to the water and the rest of the fish by the end of such a long journey? Not a nice scene... it really isn't... working with fish isn't for the faint hearted... its not like mammals where even one death is a terrible tragedy...  with fish... losing the odd bag full (<200 fish) is a 'pain in the backside and needs to be refunded and reordered the following week'... there is just no other way of getting fish in and out of the countries!!
 
Put simply... if you want fish as pets... you just nod and agree and understand the grief others go to in order to get you those fish! And appreciate your pets and do good by them!
 
TTA is right, the actual cost of fish isn't that high, though depends where you are... being in America is a bonus seeing as most fish are from there But 9/10, the packing, freight, oata charges etc cost anywhere from 3-10 times what the actual fish cost! So when you think of how much a fish is... don't think the shop is the one making the money, there are a lot of other people who need to be paid along the way! Part of the money is ensuring the fish is packed with good quality packaging and boxes... it all costs! the flights cost! the people handling the boxes along the way need to be paid! The longer the journey, the more people involved! and so on... think about that when you quibble over fish prices... just because it's your hobby, doesn't mean it isn't a lot of people's livelihood on the line! Who loses out? Probably the people catching the fish! They are dependant on you buying the fish to get any orders... but the laws and regulations and dams being built is more than our 'inconvenience' of not being able to get this fish we want when they cant get the food etc they need! 
 
I get so furious when someone has a quibble over a 'tiny little fish (neon) at £2'... out of that £2... how much do you think anyone earned!? How long could that fish potentially live!? I know people with Neons 8-12 years old... that's longer than you average pet rabbit at £15-£25 and you don't see rabbit owners insisting they pay £2!
 
Bah humbug maybe it was a few extra thoughts for you just from my own personal experience...

 

[snazy]

It wouldn't do the people importing or exporting any good at all if the fish didn't turn up in as close to perfect condition! The exporters would have to refund and the importers would have dead or sick fish...
 

 
That's not necessarily true in all cases.  It depends on the buyer/seller what agreement they've got. A lot of times any accidents/diseased fish//bad packaging/incorrect documenation resulting in stopping the package/bad handling during transport, etc.. is to the cost/responsibility of the importer/buyer rather than the seller and once the seller ships the package out, they don't care. Hence why buyers take care who to purchase their fish from.
If one decides to buy cheaply, then they can end up with devastating results every so often. But then the ones that survive can be sold cheaply too. And quality is a totally different matter that needs its own attention.

 

[haleem8777]

The LFS i buy my fish from never have fish like this they are transported how i take them home so they put into a normal bag with plenty water and wrapped in newspaper also they are put into a box, either cardboard to the other heat retaining one. i know as i have seen them unpack there fish many times. i have seen my fish i ordered come out the box in good condition.
 
Its not like the shops hide the delivery so you can easily go in and see the delivery.

 

[MBOU]

Siamese fighters come in small bags still most other fish don't would be daft to individually pack tetras *shudders at the thought* was bad enough with 200 individually packed apistogrammas and 60 individually packed corydoras (only occasionally are the packed individually)

 

[coolie]

This is pretty bad. I think we as fish keepers which are driving this trade should be taking note of this and issues such as where is the Mopani bog wood coming from,
and whether more can be done to promote local breeding of fish.
 
Also, I really badly want to know which companies were responsible for selling non-aquatic plants to us fish keepers for decades before it was blown wide open on the internet. I
don't mean marginal, I mean completely non-aquatic.

 

[haleem8777]

well we cant really find out which as different shops use different suppliers

 

[David J]

Well I've had my eyes opened on this. I had no idea and to be honest I never really gave a thought for how fish are transported. I can see what MBOU is saying. It's the nature of the beast and while its not nice it gives is all the more reason to snap up those fish and give them a good life in our tanks.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Well I've had my eyes opened on this. I had no idea and to be honest I never really gave a thought for how fish are transported. I can see what MBOU is saying. It's the nature of the beast and while its not nice it gives is all the more reason to snap up those fish and give them a good life in our tanks.

 
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