How to Properly Ship Salt Water Fish

Whether you are buying new fish or moving the ones you already own, shipping fish can be a great way to relocate them. Although the thought of shipping fish can be daunting, fish that are properly prepared and packaged can do quite well during the shipping process. If you ship healthy fish the proper way, you can be confident that your fish will arrive at their destination safely.

Things You'll Need

3 fish bags per fish
Fish food
Bag Buddy tablets
Syrofoam cooler
Cardboard box
Magic marker
Overnight shipping service

Instructions

- 1
  Place the fish and some water from the aquarium in a plastic fish bag. The bag should be 25 percent full of water. Each fish to be shipped should be bagged individually.
- 2
  Drop enough food into the bag to last 48 hours.
- 3
  Put a Bag Buddy tablet in the bag. These tablets are used to help oxygenate the water in the bag and to keep the fish calm during transit. Most fish stores carry Bag Buddy tablets.
- 4
  Close the bag by tying a knot in the top of it. Make sure to leave air space at the top of the bag.
- 5
  Place the sealed fish bag into two more bags so that the fish is triple-bagged.
- 6
  Put the fish inside of a Styrofoam cooler to protect it from temperature fluctuations. If necessary, place some packing material inside the cooler to keep the fish from falling or rolling around in the cooler. Although you should not place more than one fish in a bag, you can put as many bagged fish as will fit in the cooler.
- 7
  Place the Styrofoam cooler into the box it will be shipped in. If the box is much larger than the Styrofoam container, place some packing material inside the box to keep the cooler still.
- 8
  Address the box and write "Live Animals" on each side so that the shipper knows to be careful with the package.
- 9
  Ship the fish using an overnight service. Never ship fish if they cannot be delivered the next day.