How to ship a large Koi from MI to FL?

Question

Details for shipping a Koi approx. 26 inches. It would be shipped from SW MI to Panhandle FL. Any service that would do it for you?(package, etc.,)

Answer 1

Air freight in large plastic bag liners in polystyrene boxes

Answer 2

the best way to ship koi is through air.

items needed thick plastic for koi, rubber band, styro box, box carton for final packing, packaging tape, then oxygen tank.

kOi keeper & goldfish keeper

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/world...

http://www.geocities.com/koiphilippines/...

Answer 3

here's a pretty decent "how-to" for you: http://tropical-fish.net/shipping_fish.h... although I do things a little differently.



example, instead of using newspaper to insulate (which doesn't protect the box from water and doesn't really do too much in the way of actually insulating), buy sheets of styrofoam at a home improvement store and cut them to fit the box youre shipping in (so basically you're making a home-made "cooler" for the fish). then put styrofoam peanuts or crumbled bits of the styrofoam sheets in the box between the bags.



also, how you bag the fish will be different depending on what type of fish you're shipping. smaller gill-breathing fish seem to do very well using "breather bags" - you don't have to have this giant bag filled mostly with air, you just bag water and the oxygen comes through the bag itself. for labyrinth fish (bettas, gouramis, paradise fish), you'll want to not use breather bags, and fill the bag with just enough water to cover the fish no matter what way the bag is tipped, and then fill the other 2/3 or so of the bag with oxygen (again, don't blow into the bag, pratice until you can close the bag quickly enough to catch atmospheric oxygen).



if the weather is cold you'll want to add heat packs and probably ship overnight or express. if the weather is hot you definately want to ship overnight. if the weather is alright and the fish are pretty hardy, sometimes priority mail is fine but there's always a risk that it'll take longer than 2-3 days with priority, or that the fish will be left somewhere hot/cold while enroute. priority is the cheapest way to go by far (it would usually cost  between $3.85 to $10 to ship up to 8 bettas) but it's also the most risky.