How do you safely ship Live Aquarium Fish?
How do Live Aquarium Fish travel?
Shipping Live Fish is a delicate process. Fortunately, we are very experienced and have been sending fish across Australia for decades.
Firstly, our experienced team selects the best fish for your order. The fish are gently caught and placed in bags with fresh water. Depending on the fish type, the water may have a blue tinge or be clear. A tiny amount of methylene blue is used as a natural preventative to help reduce stress during travel. It is not a treatment and does not indicate that the fish are unhealthy for travel.
The bags are sealed and filled with oxygen to ensure they have plenty of air for the trip. The amount of "air" is just as important as the water.
Your fish are rested to ensure they are ok before carefully packing them in eskies for the journey. In winter, heat packs are used where appropriate to keep them warmer. It looks like a small bag of sand, which will most likely be cool by the time it arrives. The heat pack can be discarded.
Tape is applied to the eskies to notify all of the parcel handlers in the chain that they are carrying live fish so the best possible care is taken with our precious cargo.
You may have noticed that a mistake was made when the "tape suppliers" created our customer sticky tape. Sadly, the logo says "The Fi F". We decided to use the tape anyway to save 400 rolls of perfectly sticky tape from going into landfill. (The first week I carefully wrote it on with a Nikko pen, but that was unsustainable for my sanity 🤯)
Our team of friendly courier drivers, pick up your fish and carefully rush them to your door. Depending on your location, they may travel with StarTrack of DirectFreight.
All fish are sent as quickly as possible so that the stress is minimised. Many locations are an overnight service and some take two days.
The vast majority of our fish arrive in great condition and happily transition to a healthy life in your aquarium. They may be pale and a little hungry when they arrive but give them a while to settle in (Following our acclimatisation instructions) and feed them some great food and over the days and weeks in your well-maintained aquarium watch them colour up, grow and thrive.
Unfortunately, occasionally, terrible things happen in transit. If your fish arrive dead, please take clear photos and send me a friendly email. Depending on the extent of the issue we will replace, discount or refund.
Our aim is for all our fish to safely travel to their new homes so they can bring joy and colour to your aquarium.
