Shipping fish in Canada

Paccula

Paccula

AC Members
Dec 14, 2004
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Vancouver, BC, Canada
Well, I never imagined it would be this difficult. I want to ship them from Saskatchewan to BC, my mom went to Canada post to ask about it and they said she needs a special shipping permit & a permit from Canadian Wildlife Service!! Purolator just plain does not ship living creatures, she says. Whaaaat!?
Has anyone else come across this problem? I'm thinking she should just package the heck out of them and ship them as a regular package, by ground. should only take a few days to arrive, I have breathable bags and the weather is stable so they won't get any shocks that way.
 
a few days???
DAM my LFS, says there only good for 3 hours MAX in a bag, and they will only honour there warranty if you have it into your tank within that time, I don't know if they can tell or not but still....a few days seems a little unhealthy for the fish to me....
 
Canada post does indeed require special permits to ship live fish, although you can get away with it if you package well and ship Expresspost (and do not tell them it is fish, although you will not be able to make any claims if they arrive dead or the package is damaged). ...the same is true for FedEx...however, neither option is particularly cheap (expect a good $25- for the Expresspost). You can go Greyhound, but it takes a while, and again, you cannot claim them as fish, or they will not be accepted.

Your third option is via air freight, WestJet is cheapest, and will likely run you about $60-$70 from airport to airport...with air, you can ship them as fish and make claims if there are delays, etc.

If you go with the post/courier options, be sure to ship early on a Monday to avoid the fish sitting over a weekend at a postal depot.
 
jaymasta said:
a few days???
DAM my LFS, says there only good for 3 hours MAX in a bag, and they will only honour there warranty if you have it into your tank within that time, I don't know if they can tell or not but still....a few days seems a little unhealthy for the fish to me....
Click to expand...

my uncle had some that survived for 6 hours in a bag.. don't know about days though :huh:
 
Fish that are shipped are not packaged the same way as the fish you get from your LFS. The bags are injected with pure oxygen before they are sealed for shipping. Many specie are shipped with methylene blue in the water to keep them calm and ward off fungus.

After 24 hours in a bag, six 1-1½" baby rainbowfish will produce enough ammonia to read 2.0 on a test and many will be covered with columnaris.

There's also the temperature to take into consideration. The hotter it is, the more prone to fungus and death. Fish shipped from CA to VA in the winter arrive in VA at approximately 72*.

After 48 hours they will probably be dead or close to it. That's rainbowfish, YMMV.

I would never ship fish anything but overnight express. You are taking a lot of chances if you do this.

Roan
 
Canada Post does ship live animals... I do it all the time and they are well aware of what the package contains...If you are going to do it you MUST send it Priority overnight... Be prepared to pay 30 bucks or so...Also, fish must be double bagged in proper fish bags atleast 2 mils thick... Not sure what kind of fish you are shipping, but 2 mils will suit just about most fish...These fish will be travelling via plane and will need strong bags to prevent rupturing. Breather bags MUST be completely fill and have no air for them to work properly... Bear in mind water is HEAVY and can add alot to your shipping cost. Dont bother paying for extra insurance as CP will not guarantee live arrival of animals. One thing I have found handy is a product called ammo lock 2 It dechlorinates water and renders ammonia harmless.. Very handy for shipping.
 
I would love to bring them on Westjet, but they don't take fish!! I've asked several times. they said the change in altitude will kill the fish, said they would explode! they won't take them, period.
That's why I'm shipping ground. everyone says that putting them on an airplane will kill them. But, don't pet stores get theirs delivered by air? how do they survive?

I also won't feed them for 2 days ahead of being bagged.

Would amquel in the water help? I've heard of people doing that



Toirtis said:
Canada post does indeed require special permits to ship live fish, although you can get away with it if you package well and ship Expresspost (and do not tell them it is fish, although you will not be able to make any claims if they arrive dead or the package is damaged). ...the same is true for FedEx...however, neither option is particularly cheap (expect a good $25- for the Expresspost). You can go Greyhound, but it takes a while, and again, you cannot claim them as fish, or they will not be accepted.

Your third option is via air freight, WestJet is cheapest, and will likely run you about $60-$70 from airport to airport...with air, you can ship them as fish and make claims if there are delays, etc.

If you go with the post/courier options, be sure to ship early on a Monday to avoid the fish sitting over a weekend at a postal depot.
Click to expand...
 
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If you are going to ship ground you might as well kill you fish now...I routinely ship fish and snails all over Canada and have never had a problem with CP... I have never been asked for any kind of certificate or document... Not sure what is going on in Western Canada...I have also taken fish on planes within Canada in my carry on... No problem what so ever... That was years ago though on Air Canada... Not sure what the policy is now...
 
Paccula said:
I would love to bring them on Westjet, but they don't take fish!! I've asked several times. they said the change in altitude will kill the fish, said they would explode! they won't take them, period.
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Strange....I have picked up dozens of commercial shipments of fish via Westjet in the past few months...all of which were quite plainly labelled and entered as live tropical fish shipments. Perhaps because you are not considered a 'known shipper'.
 
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