new gig and intersting shipping procedure

[anemoneguy]

so i saw a gig on a certian web site and thought it looked like it was or would be a multi colored one even though the posted pics of it were really heavy on the blue. so i waited and it was still on there yesterday so i bought it and got a fed ex notification a little later. it came today and was in this really small box. the nem was listed as about 5 inches so i thought it must of been smaller than 5 and maybe more like 3 by the way my wife described it. so asked her to float it til i got home and she said it wouldnt float it sank to the bottom. so im like ok must not be a lot of air in there. when i got home i saw a bag with very little water. like all nem with enough water to keep it all surrounded. the nem was at least 5 inches. the bag was not tied but it was like vacumed sealed. i must say the nem arrived in excellent condition and no mess in the bag. i just thought this was cool and may catch on and may be the way to go when shipping nems. i always heard the less water the better anyway. the first pic was from the site and the other 2 are just after a couple hours in the tank.

 

[silverarrow27]

Nice gig, I've been eyeing that gig for the last couple weeks. Almost pulled the trigger on it two weeks ago, but found two local so I went with the local ones instead even though they weren't in as good of a shape as that one. Congratulations!

 

[Pinkskunk]

i once bought a very very large green gig onlne and it was shipped to me the same way you described. it's the HEALTHIEST gig i have ever recieved.

 

[D-Nak]

so i saw a gig on a certian web site and thought it looked like it was or would be a multi colored one even though the posted pics of it were really heavy on the blue. so i waited and it was still on there yesterday so i bought it and got a fed ex notification a little later. it came today and was in this really small box. the nem was listed as about 5 inches so i thought it must of been smaller than 5 and maybe more like 3 by the way my wife described it. so asked her to float it til i got home and she said it wouldnt float it sank to the bottom. so im like ok must not be a lot of air in there. when i got home i saw a bag with very little water. like all nem with enough water to keep it all surrounded. the nem was at least 5 inches. the bag was not tied but it was like vacumed sealed. i must say the nem arrived in excellent condition and no mess in the bag. i just thought this was cool and may catch on and may be the way to go when shipping nems. i always heard the less water the better anyway. the first pic was from the site and the other 2 are just after a couple hours in the tank.

Many wholesalers ship nems this way. Not only do they believe that without water to foul during shipment, they also save money on shipping fees (water is heavy!).

I'd say the jury is out on which shipment procedure is better. Many places -- as I mentioned -- ship with only enough water to keep the nem moist. Other places, like Live Aquaria, choose to ship their nems with a lot of extra water.

For me, I used to be in the "ship with a lot of water" camp, but I think if I were to mail order another gig, I'd ask them to ship it without any water. The last gigs I received were in cloudy water full of muck. It was terrible.

If you look at photos of gigs (and many other species of nems) in the wild, they are often exposed to air during low tide. How long they can live without being completely submerged in water is not known, but they can definitely handle a few hours as evidenced in the photos. I definitely think that they can survive an overnight trip.

Good luck with the gig. We've experienced a string of bad luck recently so hopefully yours and a few others who have posted their new acquisitions will be fine, and turn the tide in our favor.

 

[joshky]

I've heard about this shipping method and always found it fascinating. Thanks for sharing and good luck with the continued good health of your gig!

 

[geckoejon]

i have a lfs that told me the same thing. i bought a huge lt nem form them. they said it came in the day before with just enough water in the bag to keep it moist. their rational was that with more water the nem sloshed around and got beat up more in transit. not sure if that is true or not. i know that the massive lt has been thriving since day number one though....

 

[joshky]

i have a lfs that told me the same thing. i bought a huge lt nem form them. they said it came in the day before with just enough water in the bag to keep it moist. their rational was that with more water the nem sloshed around and got beat up more in transit. not sure if that is true or not. i know that the massive lt has been thriving since day number one though....

I don't think that's why they do it, I've read that they ship them almost dry because anemones get stressed out in shipping and cause a large ammonia spike. But who knows, maybe it's a contributing factor to their stress?

 

[geckoejon]

i'm not sure. if there was going to be ammonia released, seems like it would be the same amount either way. seems like if it was ammonia, then having more water to dilute it would be beneficial. just tossing theories out there

 

[joshky]

i'm not sure. if there was going to be ammonia released, seems like it would be the same amount either way. seems like if it was ammonia, then having more water to dilute it would be beneficial. just tossing theories out there

I'm not sure it can absorb the ammonia without water present, but I don't know a whole lot on this shipping method, only what I've read. I didn't even know it was still practiced tbh.

 

[D-Nak]

My theory is that anemones can sense osmotic pressure. When exposed to air at low tide, I suspect that they essentially shut down. It also means that they know that they can't expel anything into the water column, because no water exists. However, the drawback to this approach is that the nem holds on to anything they would've expelled. I also suspect that if left too long in this condition, bacteria builds to unsafe levels, which causes the infections we commonly see.. Again, just my hypothesis.

 

[geckoejon]

My theory is that anemones can sense osmotic pressure. When exposed to air at low tide, I suspect that they essentially shut down. It also means that they know that they can't expel anything into the water column, because no water exists. However, the drawback to this approach is that the nem holds on to anything they would've expelled. I also suspect that if left too long in this condition, bacteria builds to unsafe levels, which causes the infections we commonly see.. Again, just my hypothesis.

now that is interesting... i hadn't ever thought about that. you might very well be correct. that would explain a lot.

 

[anemoneguy]

So I wanted to update this thread. My gig is doing great. Actually all 3 of my original nems I had in 93 are all doing good in their new home. I also did something today that I thought I'd never do. I bought another anemone. I found a very nice Mertens. I asked the shipper to ship in very little water. He did and the nem came today and the water was crystal clear and it is doing good. I will now have my mertins, a hadoni, a gig and a Ritteri all in my 200 dd tank. I'm do scared of adding another anemone, but when I saw the pic of this mertins, I had to try it. I'm gonna attach a pic. Not the best quality. I can't get this picture taking thing down. I'll keep this updated.