When we ship your fish you will receive a call or e-mail letting you know that they are on the way. We will also give you the tracking numbers so you may keep track of the progress your fish are making in their journey. When we package fish for shipping we try to take into account the weather, the length of the journey and then try to prepare the fish for the trip to see that they make it to you safe and sound...even if there are delays. Despite our best efforts and using all of the modern tools available for shipping fish, the unforseen does happen and DOA's are an occasional fact of life. Before the fish arrive it is best to have a cycled in tank set up specifically for these fish, a "quarantine tank" if you will. The fish should be housed in this tank for at least a couple of weeks, preferably a month before being moved into a tank with other fish. When your fish arrive...please make plans to be available the day they are scheduled to be delivered. If you have to be at work, let us know and we can ship directly to your place of work...Dim the lights in the room, just think if you were stuck in a completely dark box for a couple of days and somebody suddenly turned on bright lights. Carefully open the box and inspect the bags for DOA's. If you suspect DOA's immediately take a picture, preferably a digital picture of the fish and e-mail or call us immediately. Some times a fish that may appear to be dead may not really be dead, just in shock, and we may be able to help instruct you in various methods that may save it's life. Check the temperature of the bags...if they seem excessively cold, you will want to relatively quickly return them to room temperature. Once you've inspected the bags, and verified that they are close to room temperature, carefully open them and gently pour the fish and water into a clean pail capable of holding at least twice to three times the volume of water in the bags. Then take a long piece of airline tubing and either attach an air valve to it or tie a knot into the tubing. Start a syphon from the tank into the bucket and adjust the flow to about 1-2 drops per second. Allow this drip to continue until the volume of water in the pail has doubled. Dip out about 1/2 the water from the pail and allow the drip to go until the volume of water has again doubled in the pail. At this time gently dip one of the fish out of the pail and release into the tank (NO LIGHTS ON IN THE TANK) and observe it's behavior for a few minutes. If he seems to be doing fine then release the rest of the fish into the tank and discard the water in the pail. If the first fish released appears to be struggling or laboring, repeat the drip procedure, then try releasing another fish and observe...continue repeating as necessary until the fish are safely in their new home. If there are DOA's and you have photographed them in the bag and contacted us within 4 hours of the first delivery attempt, you may be entitled to a refund or replacement of the fish that were DOA. If so you may be instructed to "salt" and return the dead fish to us. We will instruct you as to how to do this when you contact us regarding the DOA. Once your fish are safely in their new home let them settle in without the lights on for at least a few hours. Then when you turn on your lights observe the fish and I recommend that you allow the fish to decide if they should be feed. If the fish come to the surface or rush to the front of the tank, then I say it's time to feed them. Feed them lightly the first couple times and soon they will constantly be begging. Now is the time to start enjoying your healthy new arrivals. |
Receiving and Acclimating Your Fish
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