Bristlenose coming out my eyeballs.. shipping advise.

[Bunnie1978]

I have many breeding pairs of bristlenose throughout my fish room, which are secondary to my primary program - breeding angelfish. My supply has long outgrown the local demand so I've gotten myself set up for shipping, and posted an ad in the sale section on another forum. So, great news! My first "order" is a HUGE one that will almost clear me out of juvies and adults. About 10 adults (pairs) and 30 large juvies plus a few extra smaller ones to compensate for any DOA and because I'm nice.

My shipping supplies on hand are as follows:
8 inch 3 mil bags (case)
2 inch 2 mil bags (about 50 left)
Bag buddies
Oxygen
Many small insulated boxes from when I've purchased fish (not big enough for this order)
40hr heat packs

Here's my problem -
This is my first time shipping fish. I am a little apprehensive about how I should pack them. I will be shipping overnight, and will have to pack them the day before, so probably about 1 1/2 days in the bag. How many fish is it safe to put in each of these bags and how big of a box should I need. Oh, and they will be fasted for 48 hours, is that sufficient do you think? Thanks for your help.

[Shane]

Hannah,
Sounds like you are on the right track. My recommendation would be to stop by one (or even more) of your local fish stores when they get a shipment in so you can see how they are packed, handled, etc.
How many fish you can pack per bag is really a question of overall mass. A large male may need his own bag, while the same size bag could hold 10 juveniles.
When you check out the shipping at a local fish store offer to buy some standard fish shipping styros. Since most fish stores only receive shipments they are often buried under styros and happy to part with some. 10 adults and 30 juveniles will require about two standard styros to ship.

Here are a couple of articles on the subject

http://www.cichlidforums.com/knowledgeb ... art-I.html

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/tra ... There.html

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthrea ... .-A-primer

-Shane