Cold weather

[jmm]

I prefer to buy my fish from local sources where I can look at the fish before I choose it. However, some fish seldom show up locally and I have ordered from Divers' Den and Blue Zoo with great results.

However, I have had spotty results with FedEx and UPS. They don't seem to share my sense of importance with live delivery.

The wide variation of weather across the USA makes ordering something difficult since somewhere along the chain of delivery there is going to be bad weather this time of the year.

So the question is: Do you forego shipping fish this time of the year and wait for more favorable weather next spring or summer, or do you risk having a shipment delayed by bad weather and buy what you want when it becomes available?

 

[ichthyogeek]

I recently got in a pair of Diver's Den banggai cardinals, and they're doing relatively well in my tank. The anemone I ordered, was dead on arrival though(from the California facility). Since you and I live in relatively okay conditions(not snowing), I'd just go ahead and get the fish, especially if they're diver's den. If my birthday wasn't in December, I'd wait until spring or fall, when the temperature isn't blazing hot, or freezing cold.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Many shippers of fish and coral use cool packs or hot packs in with a lot of insulation (peanuts). I have the opposite issue as it's in the low 90's every day for 4 months here and I find the cool packs work quite well.

 

[jmm]

Many shippers of fish and coral use cool packs or hot packs in with a lot of insulation (peanuts). I have the opposite issue as it's in the low 90's every day for 4 months here and I find the cool packs work quite well.

The hot/cool packs only last so long. What worries me is the delays due to blizzards or storms that happen somewhere along the trip. The items are not shipped directly from the vendor to the customer. They go through the "hub" which doesn't necessarily delay the shipment that long, but increases the number of locations which might have weather bad enough to delay airplanes from flying.

 

[sde1500]

My new tank is cycling now, and while I'd love to order a few fish online I am honestly not going to risk it until late spring. That is, if I can't just get them from my LFS. The chances of a winter storm messing with shipments is just too great. I'd rather not open up a box with dead fish in it.

 

[Reef Frog]

I would imagine the last leg of the journey is the hardest on the livestock in cold or very hot conditions. Packages may have rapidly depleting hot or cold packs during the time spent most exposed : the airplane unloading, transfer to the distribution center on a tractor trailer, and then a multi hour ride in the delivery truck. And you may be the last house on the route. Plenty of time it seems to me for some temperature chaos. And some people worry about 3F changes in the display tank!

I would think your odds of success increase dramatically, especially this time of year, if you can be at a regional distribution center when a live package arrives and get it home right away, instead of riding around town in a cold or hot delivery truck.

NOTE: The description above on shipping comes from casual knowledge. Please post if it's not accurate. Thnx.

 

[ichthyogeek]

So LA was nice enough to send me another anemone...which was also DOA. For Diver's Den fish, I'd be okay with shipping anytime, since they each get put in their separate bag, and the box they're shipped in is huge (lots of insulation and water to keep the fish at comfortable temperatures. Maybe not with any of the other organisms offered, since they're shipped in relatively small boxes. Both times I opened the anemone box, the box was very, very warm from the heat pack too.

 

[Ron Reefman]

The hot/cool packs only last so long. What worries me is the delays due to blizzards or storms that happen somewhere along the trip. The items are not shipped directly from the vendor to the customer. They go through the "hub" which doesn't necessarily delay the shipment that long, but increases the number of locations which might have weather bad enough to delay airplanes from flying.

If you're that worried, then don't buy from vendors that have to ship, especially by air.