Live pods+ cold climate+shipping =dead pods?

[Cope]

So I want to buy some live pods, but where I live it is quite cold and snowing. I'm not sure if I'll be here to receive the package and am wondering if the pods will make it? How long could they sit on the front porch in the snow?
What company's have you folks had good success with?
How was the packaging? ECT.
Thanks
Cope

 

[prickles]

well I don't know about who can sell em best, but my LFS actually stores them in the fridge, so they are pretty cold (close to freezing) there. I would assume as long as they don't freeze, they should be fine.

 

[Cope]

Thanks that makes me feel better knowing they can live and thrive in low temp. I have reed that some forms of pods live in the Arctic, just didn't think those were the ones we want, use?

 

[useskaforevil]

the pods should be ok, i just got some cheato from someone on RC and the water got pretty cold and there was barely any but the pods seemed fine (along with some aiptasia....)

 

[Cope]

Thanks...
I say thank you sai......

(off topic)
Do you see the face of your father?
Do you shoot with your eye?

Every time I throw darts I think.... I shoot with my eye, not my hand!

 

[greenbean36191]

Most of the bottled "pods" in the hobby are coldwater species anyway. As long as they don't freeze, being out in the cold for a while is no worse for them than trying to keep them at reef temps.

 

[GreshamH]

While most may come from colder areas the upper splash zone tide pools stay VERY hot duing the day for well over half the year (having visitted them routinely all my life). The ocean is cold where they are from, but they really don't live in the ocean. I've logged some of them in the 90's. I maintain my cultures at around 75 but only because it's rather difficult to heat such a large volume of water that has a major surface area. The cultures get much warmer in summer though as that green house can reach 120f for days on end in summer. The ones I send out are refrigerated to keep the metabolism down to aid shelf life. They do just fine at reef temps.

 

[GreshamH]

Re: Live pods+ cold climate+shipping =dead pods?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11933288#post11933288 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Cope
So I want to buy some live pods, but where I live it is quite cold and snowing. I'm not sure if I'll be here to receive the package and am wondering if the pods will make it? How long could they sit on the front porch in the snow?
What company's have you folks had good success with?
How was the packaging? ECT.
Thanks
Cope

Have the package held at the local FedEx/DHL/UPS office and pick it up from them if your worried about it sitting out in the snow Most shippers have no problem doing this for you, you just need to know the local offices address.

 

[greenbean36191]

From a physiological point of view, chronic and acute thermal stress are two totally different beasts with two totally different solutions. Many coldwater intertidal animals are very good at dealing with acute thermal stress which makes them popular within the hobby, research and aquaculture. They're very hardy, but that doesn't mean any temp is good.

Some mussels regularly reach temperatures of above 120 degrees. Different species of "margarita" snails regularly see temps in the 90s. Tigriopus are documented to survive to at least 100 degrees and can stand being frozen solid. Still, there are measurable signs of acute stress well before the animals reach those temps and even at sustained temps much lower than that survival drops precipitously. That's the norm for intertidal animals. Similar work has been done for sea stars and all sorts of mollusks. Even for animals with such high tolerance for acute stress, thermal stress is such an important limit in geographic distribution that you can predict with surprising accuracy where they will and won't occur based on the local temp profile.