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Live marine shipments

Joined
Oct 14, 2004
Messages
8
i was wondering: how is it that things are shipped from places like Marine Depot Live? and how long does the animal stay alive in its transporting vessel?

im from alaska so would shipping vary?
 
Well, it is really up to you as to how the animals are shipped...I prefer Delta Dash, though that is more expensive (they have a great track record though)... you probably want to talk to your supplier, and ask them what their opinion is...they ship all the time, after all.
Containers vary from shipment to shipment...most animals are bagged in plastic with oxygen, and put into styrofoam containers, inside a cardboard box with the appropriate labels....
good luck on your new arrival!!!
greg
 
is Delta Dash the way Delta Airlines ships things? Alaska airlines is the only airlines that flies here and its pretty cheap so i think it will work. have you ever ordered from octopets or somewhere similar? was it worth it?
and i have about a 38 gal tank, is that big enough for a bimac? I also have a 14 gal "refrigorater" for the octo that i hope to purchase.
one more thing, would a filter/protien skimmer work instead of one of each? thanks for the info
 
from all that I can gather, and personal experience, octopets does a fantastic job...no complaints.
a 38 might be a little small for a bimac...what are the tank dimensions? regarding the filter/skimmer unit, as long as the water parameters stay ok, you are fine...what brand is it?
you might want to check on alaska airlines live animal delivery...it usually costs around 75 bucks to ship overnight via air...perhaps fedex might be a better option for you?
Keep us posted,
greg
 
I'm assuming that Delta Dash is similar to Alaska Airline's Goldstreak (items go on the next available flight). If you are ordering from a city that Alaska Airlines flies to, you could get it shipped air freight. I can't remember the exact cost, but it is a flat fee up to 100 pounds (I think it was $45) and then a per-pound rate after that. The ideal would be to find a flight that was direct to Fairbanks, but most likely it would have to go to Anchorage first. I used them to get a couple of boxes of salt a few months ago. I was looking at getting some live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater a few months ago, and the owner recommended air freight as the shipping method, since there is a direct Alaska Airlines flight from Tampa.

Whatever method you end up using, I would be interested in hearing the outcome. I live just outside of Anchorage and I am planning on ordering a bimac from Octopets sometime in the next few months.
 
Perhaps the two of you should coordinate shipments...save some money, and get to meet up?
 
eagle river is quite a journey from fairbanks and i think that coordinating an order and delivery would be more time consuming than worth it. im only 16 so school and b ball is keeping me kinda time sapped.(no school today tho) ive been searching around and the filter is one of the ones that rests on the back and has a "waterfall" into the tank and i think i can make it octoproof, unless its hellbent on getting out, then it can chew through the fiberglass mesh( screen door material). my plan is to have the whole top of my aquarium covered in the screen stuff. the holes are about 1/16th inch. then on top of all that i will have some plexiglass that i can cut to fit the exact size and velcro down. there will be some duct tape work to be done but im sure it will work. the tank is 12 inches thick (front to back), 18inches tall and about 36 inches long. it has a wierd back compartment that gives it what it needs-gallon wise. ive shipped fish from here to cali on goldstreak, so mabie it will go the other way too. i cant wait to get everything set up and workin properly. my tank has matured for 2 and a half months so by the time everythings set so will it!
 
Yeah, suppose I tend to forget just how big your state is...good news on the tank though...sounds great. Waterfall units work fine, though they are a bit hard to octo proof...I'm sure you will figure it out.
keep us posted,
greg
 
I hate to be the one to knock octopets, but I recieved my order from him yesterday after 3 proposed ship dates, I kept getting a story about his email being down and the box company he used went out of buisness, which is understandable, but when you say you are going to ship on a certain date and the customer who has expressed this concern had to make arrangements with work to be home, and at 8am when the shipment is do at 1030am that day you havent recieved any emails or phone calls, you start to wonder if its coming and then you call and are told that he didnt get any box's yet, well it would be nice if he told the customer, at any rate this story happened 3 times with the same result, I missed 3 days of work well total of 4 to recieve one very nice healthy bimac, product is great, customer service sucks
 
Sorry that you've had difficulties. It's not typical, but those things do seem to happen to all companies. The worst of it is that you had to miss work unnecessarily.

The two places that most of our TONMO.com bimac keepers have ordered from are Octopets and FishSupply. Most people have been quite happy with Octopets and have had no problems, and the same is true of FishSupply.

With something as important as an octopus, you might want to call the day of shipping to make sure the order is going off and is OK - I order all manner of things online online and always check on things that are important to me. For instance, FishSupply was late shipping to me because they accidently sold the little bimac they were holding for me and had to wait to get another. (This was before captive bred.) I didn't mind, because I phoned and made sure what was going on. Then I tracked the shipment online.

Nancy
 
octopets doesnt seem like like a totally bad company, and I wouldnt say not to use them, just like nancy said stay on top of the shipment, I might have been able to avoid the loss of work if I had called the night before, but I was waiting for the confimation email with a tracking number, and until now I didnt know when I should have recieved that email, I have used fish supply with no problems, but most of the companies I have ordered live from, ask what date and time you would like to recieve, octopets does not or at least did not ask me, it took me 4 days after my order, with 2 emails and 3 phone calls to request a ship date
 
but I will say that my new baby "dexter" is doing really well, and ate a couple of snails the first night, and has been actively hunting my hermit crabs, like I said before great product!!!
 
Well, you got dexter at last... make sure you add details to the octodatabase :smile:
 

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