Proper Shipping and Transporting Techniques of Marine Livestock

As dedicated and conscientious marine aquarists constantly searching for new additions for their tank or trying to sell or trade livestock, more often than not, ideal shipping techniques are critical to the success and health of the animal during transport. The fact that many life forms associated with the reefs live under some of the harshest conditions is a tribute to these animals and their evolution. Variables such as intense sunlight, exposure to air for hours for extended periods, temperature and salinity variances and pH fluctuations are all part of the norm for many of these reef animals. Mucus coating, tough epithelium, collapse and contraction and protective pigmentation are just some of the defense mechanisms employed by reef animals in the journey to cope with life on the reef and thrive. These factors should help to ensure, that when we ship and transport living animals, they will have a fighting chance at seeing their future destination.

Their are many means of shipping livestock, whether it be via plastic bags or containers to Styrofoam boxes and buckets. The real question is how to ship or transport the best way possible regarding the always changing ambient environment as well as type of animal being shipped. The terms dry method and wet method are used consistently in the aquarium hobby to describe the shipping processes employed throughout the trade. You will run across different scenarios when one way does not always represent the ideal way of transporting livestock with optimal results, so careful planning and research will be necessary for the health of your livestock.

As for live rock and plants life, these are the easiest to ship, in my opinion. Live rock requires the use of wet newspaper to wrap around the live rock and place in a suitable Styrofoam box. Depending on the temperature of where you live and that of where the rock is being shipped to, the use of a heat pack or cold pack may be in order. Placing one of these packs in your shipping box will help to stabilize the temperature inside the shipping box to that of the ambient environment, outside of the box. Plants can be shipped either in a zip lock bag or similar alternative, or even wrapped in wet newspaper as well. The ability to package the plants correctly to avoid damage to the plants from poor handling or being crushed by other contents that may be included with the plants has to be considered.

For fish life, it is crucial to stop feeding the fish being shipped for 24-48 hours ideally. This is very important in reducing the amount of defecation produced by the fish. The more waste generated by the fish, the quicker the fall in water quality in the bag or container will be, ultimately affecting the fishes health both initially and over time. Fish can be shipped in a bag or plastic container half filled with water... tops. Ideally, the fish should have pure oxygen inserted into the bag before sealing the bag to aid in decreased chances of suffocation and the rapid change in alkalinity brought on by the elevated dissolved carbon dioxide produced in the shipping water. A bike pump or air compressor works great! If you don't have these at your beck and call, many pet shops have oxygen cylinders that could possibly assist you. Proper placement in a Styrofoam container with newspaper strategically situated to avoid complications from the fish moving around during shipping and handling. Again, depending on the temperature and size of the shipping box, the employment of one or more heat or cold packs is essential to maintain an optimal temperature inside the shipping container. Double bagging is a good idea with fish that have spines, most notably the Lion fish, Tangs, Foxface, Triggers and Puffers especially.

As for corals, alot has to do with the type of coral that is being shipped. Soft corals such as zoanthids can be shipped wrapped in just wet paper towels. The same can be said for many species of Acropora and other corals that are out of water during low tides in their natural environment on the reefs of the world. Simply packaging them in wet/damp newspaper or paper towels is enough. This is not to say that you couldn't ship the corals in a bag with shipping water, it is just that you are reducing the stress placed on these animals once the water starts to depreciate. If you decide to ship the coral with water in a bag, I would definitely use a piece of Styrofoam attach the Styrofoam to the base of the coral and fasten it using a rubber band and place it upside down in the bag. This aids in reducing damage to the corals often times fragile and delicate branches from getting damaged or broken during the shipping process. Again the employment of heat and cold packs and adding pure oxygen to the mix will go far in ensuring that your contents gets to its destination in good shape.

Invertebrates such as shrimp, crabs and the plethora of various other unique invertebrates should be shipped in BREATHER bags. Kordon makes breather bags that can be purchased often times at your local pet shop. Fill the bag with a small amount of water(8ounces) and add the shrimp. It is a good idea with fish and invertebrates to employ a couple drops of Prime(Seachem) to aid in the reduction of ammonia and nitrites from accumulating. Invertebrates, more-so with shrimp, are especially sensitive to high ammonia and alkalinity and pH fluctuations. Double bagging is a good idea with many of these invertebrates since they have sharp appendages and exoskeletons causing bags to leak! Temperature issues are not as detrimental with invertebrates as they are for corals and fish but care should be expressed with the shipping of inverts. Tightly securing and packing these animals within a box or container is a good practice to instill for the health of the animals.

One of the most delicate and hardest animals to ship are the flowers of the sea...THE ANEMONES! These should be shipped in the dry process format. That means that when bagged, the anemone should be bagged when and only when it has completely deflated itself of water. This step is very critical to ensure that the anemone makes it through the shipping stage and maintain proper health of the anemone. Think of low tide...when you have low tide/tide pool, water replenishment is at a premium and water parameters on the reef start depreciating as nutrient levels become elevated at alarming rates for many animals. If you add an anemone with the water still inside its body, or ship an anemone in a bag of tank water, what you are doing is setting the stage for failure and the death of the anemone. Anemones are very delicate and proper water parameters need to be met for them to thrive along with ideal lighting. Anemones need to be shipped dry , NOT in SHIPPING WATER in a bag. Shipping anemones in water is one of the biggest No-No's in the marine world. The fouling and polluting of water housing anemones is so substantial and happens at the drop of a hat. By shipping an anemone wrapped in a moist paper towel as opposed to in a bag of water ultimately will ensure the success of the ship of an anemone as well as maintain the health of the anemone.

Shipping, ultimately is a big deal, as we want to ensure that our animals we ship make it to their next destination healthy, as we want when we order a living animal. Taking a few minutes to dot our i's and cross our T's will go a long way in making the transformation from one tank to the next as easy as possible and alleviate as much stress as possible for our marine life.