Raising Freshwater Angelfish

8/8/07 - Greetings! This is my first blog about this batch of angelfry. The parents just laid a bunch more eggs. Dad is a White Koi Angel and Mom is a Chocolate Leopard. I'm thinking Daddy is going to be moved to my other aquarium for a bit. They need to stop doing this for a while. But this time I've got the eggs out, I know they were laid today, so it'll be cool to actually see everything from the very moment of coming into being:)

8/11/07 - The new eggs just started to hatch this evening. My goodness they are tiny! Just the size of a grain of sand!

8/19/07 - Babies are now free swimming and eating 3 times a day. Everyone so far seems happy!

8/24/07 - Everything's doing great! The little ones are doing great! I think the 50% every other day water changes have been helping big time. Shoot, now I want to win the lotto or something and have a room of fish!!! :)

8/27/07 - Everyone so far doing well! The babies are growing. I've got videos now if anyone's interested. It's silly I know, but fun:) I'll upload them from youtube to the below mod.

9/3/07 - Okay, I started to think that the 5 gallon was getting too small, so I moved babies into the 10 gallon. The regular filter that I had is too strong for the little ones, so the sponge filter is back in there and all are doing well. Today, I'm going to Home-Depot to get 2 pieces of plexiglass cut. I'm going to set up my other 55 gallon up here and section the tank in thirds. Then the older and any younger babies can all be in the same tank and it'll be eaiser to keep them all. Once they are large size and until I can sell them, I still have my 75 outside (got to get it cleaned out) and we'll be good to go!

9/11/07 - More Videos! Now, I've got the 55 set up with the divider all in place and ready to go, only problem now is, the dresser that I was first going to put the tank on, isn't strong enough to hold that much weight. So now I'm in the market for a big strong but cheap dresser:) But everyone's doing well!!!

10/8/07 - Sorry for the delay. We still don't have a strong enough dresser for the 55, but couldn't wait any longer as the ten gallon was way too small and getting to hard to keep clean. So I put the 55 on the floor by our bed and put the babies in there. I counted as I went and OY! we've got 102 baby angels!!! I'll get some new pics up soon as they are so pretty, as I was transfering them, I noticed a few have a blueish sheen on them, so pretty! The bigger ones are about dime to nickel size in the body now. Almost time to start finding homes for them. But everyone is doing well. I don't make the brine shrimp as much for them anymore. They are eating frozen bloodworm and cyclops and crushed flake food. Way too fun!!!

One thing that I've learned is that most people who raise fish cull them when they are young. They take out any of the fry that have deformities. Now, I totally understand that as we don't want those to enter into the breeding population of fish and it is nature that these wouldn't live that long anyway. (Nemo wouldn't really have lived, sad to say) But I missed this and by now thes guys are way too large for me to feel good about doing this. Luckily for me, I've only one out of that many fish that has a problem. I'm calling him Nemo because of that reason. He's got a notch in his head. He's perfectly healthy otherwise, just a strange bump. He's too old for me to "get rid of" though, so I'm putting him in my adult tank.

10/20/07 - We've now got several that are ready for their new home. I have a nursing home that I'm going to donate a few to once they have their new tank set up and acclimated. Then there's a petstore a bit down the road that will buy a few.

10/24/07 - Sold my first 4 babies to a lady. I'm very excited and hopes that she keeps in touch about them...lol I know silly. My Nemo fish has amazed me as I realized that I did an experiment without knowing it. Since I've put him in with the adults he's grow 2xs as fast as his siblings. I took him out and put him back in with the others today as I wanted to clean out the adult tank and was shocked to see the difference in size! Must find out about that.

12/3/07 - Okay just a bit that's gone on with these guys. There are about 35-40 left...no not because of die offs, actually I've only had one die that I know of because the poor thing jumped:( Otherwise, a local petstore Frank & Pegs in Charlotte has been buying them from me in exchange for frozen fish food...they are offering a great deal on the exchanges, so I'm quite happy. Then I've sold 5 to a lady that found my post on Craig's List (also link to the side) And there's 2 other pet stores interested in them. So this is good!

Nemo has found a forever home. of course I didn't sell him, but gave him to a very nice lady for free (wouldn't be right for me to sell a fish with a deformity) but she loves him andhe's now happy with 2 of his siblings in a 45g with a few mollies (live food!!! but we won't go there...lol)

2/2/08 - It's now Feb (duhh) I've got 10 of these babies left..well not babies anymore! They are quarter to half dollar size now. I've learned in raising this bunch that keeping them all together as I've done, even though they are in a 55g, makes their growth slower. The larger ones put off a pheromone that slows the growth of the rest of the young. So they aren't growing nearly as fast as the few I put in the adult tank. Strange eh? So that's why my Nemo fish grew so large compared to his siblings. The ones that I am keeping are perfect in shape and coloration and so I will use them in future breeding projects. I have them in with a few others of their size that I bought from other places. One german blue blusher, a platimum and a gold marble are in there as well. To keep the tank on the cleaner side I also have 3 black kulli loaches and an albino algae eater. For now till these are old enough to spawn, I will post about others of my fry.

5/9/08 - Wow! things have been happening in the angel household! I now have 15 tanks set up in this house totaling 299 gallons! (yes our house is about to fall down from weight) My goal now is to turn the garage, at least a good portion of it into a fish room. I've got three pair of breeding angels in their own tanks...so far only one will semi parent raise, the other 2 are egg eaters, but still young, so they may grow out of it. I have a 10 and a 5 on my kitchen counter with newborn fry and a bit older fry. I've learned a few things that I've changed with my babies. I hope this'll help you...I'm going to set up a new module here on how I set up my egg hatching/rearing/grow out tanks. As for the above babies, I've one left that I will keep, the rest were all sold! My parents have 3 that when they are interested in egg laying, I will take back and give them some younger ones (they help me grow a few babies at a time out) Lots going on here!

1/1/09 - yes it's been a while. I have all but one of these left and she's laying eggs, but no mate (silly thing) But I had to say because this is so darn cool, I entered her in the American Cichlid Assoc.'s fish show last June. Out of 14 or so angels in the angelfish division, she won 3rd place:) I've got a great award to show for it and of course will be keeping her forever! If you are a total fish geek as I am and can ever make it to one of these shows......GO! they are awesome:)

as of 1/1/09 I've hatched and raised angels both ways. For me, parent raising is the most awesome way of bringing up babies.

For some angel pairs this isn't as easy as it sounds...angels that are domestically raised generation on end tend to forget what to do and end up being egg eaters. But don't loose hope if you've got a new pair that do this. A lot of times it'll take 3 or 4 or 10 times before the parents get it.

With mine, it took 4 times. Each time they let the eggs go a few more days and a few more. First they ate them right away, Then fanned them for a few days. The 3rd time the eggs dissapeared and I thought they had eaten them again, but when I was looking, they had moved the now wigglers to a different spot, these actually made it to free swimmers before the parents freaked and ate them. But the 4th time the swimmers made it to just starting to look like angels and then I moved them to a grow out.

It was awesome to see the parents take care of their little ones. I still fed them as said here in this lens, just from farther off. I used a med dropper and didn't get my hand near the tank as these sweet mom and dad angelfish turned into...well a momma grizzley has nothing on a mom angelfish! lol I'd have to wear gloves when I'd do water changes.

The parents also keep any of the unfertilized eggs from fungusing so I didn't have to worry about that having an effect on the babies.

So if you decide to let your angels parent raise, have fun! you'll love it, it's so cool!

What you'll need.....
~ 5 gallon tank
~ medicine dropper (I use old ones from my kids infant tylenol)
~ sponge filter and workings
~ wine cork
~ java moss
~ fishing line
~ jr heater
~ suction cup from heater of other
~ Marimo Moss ball(s)

I keep 5 gallon tanks around the house that I have set up and ready to go. I have 2 different kinds both of which work equally well for me.

The little 5g glass rectangular tanks I put in a smaller corner triangular sponge filter in one corner of the tank.
Generally when you get a small heater, it comes with a suction cup, I use this cup on the bottom of the sponge filter so that the sponge isn't laying directly on the floor of the tank...this way babies won't get stuck and smushed.
Then I use a JR heater that you can get at your local fish store (lfs) or walmart. It keeps the temp pretty well perfect for the babies.
Now here's where I do things a bit differently than anything I've read. I've got tons of java moss in my other tanks. It's great for growing tiny food for fry/shrimp and the like. I use a wine cork and fishing line and tie a bunch of the moss to one side of the cork. This makes the plant float and trail down into the water. Yep, there's a reason for this which I'll get into shortly:)
and toss in a few marimo moss balls (you can get them on ebay or aquabid.com) and let them hang out on the bottom of the tank.
That's it for setting up of this tank. (course use water conditioners if you don't already have well water)

Now for my other 5g tank which is the Eclipes brand, it's basically the same as above, but I do keep the filter going when there are no fish, or just eggs which haven't hatched yet. I keep a round sponge filter at the bottom of it instead of the strainer thingy they generally have on it. everything else is the same as above.

Okay! Your pair has spawned and now you've got eggs! I use a cup or pitcher large enough to fit whatever the parents laid the eggs on into. Now my fish are mean and I expect to get attacked while transfering the eggs...it's scary, but doesn't hurt:) I try to scare Dad into a corner with a net and leave it sitting there while I'm moving the eggs. Then keeping them in water the whole time, I move them into the hatching tank. Either place the eggs over the sponge filter so the bubbles can run past them...not with any force though, you don't want them getting knocked off! If you can't situate that, then run an airline with a bubble stone so the bubbles go just by the eggs, you want to keep the water moving by them. Then you wait a few days.

Once they hatch, (it's awesome to see those little tiny wigglers!!!) this is where the java moss and med dropper comes into play. The unfertilized eggs will have turned white by this point and probably covered with white fuzzy stuff that's gross.
~ Side note...A lot of breeders use a meth blue med to keep that fuzz away. I can't find it here at any lfs, I know I can buy it onlinne, just haven't yet. But haven't had any problems doing things this way.
I turn off the bubbles so that I have a clear view of below the water. Then using the med dropper I suck up the babies one or a few at a time and squirt them out into the java moss. They'll stick there with whatever that stuff is that on them. Try not to get any of the white stuff or white eggs. You may get some, this is because the stubborn little fish won't let go, that's fine, jsut get as little as possible. Keep at this really gently until the whole egg area is clear of wigglers. Now your java moss should be looking like there's sand all through it, PERFECT!:) Then you can take out whatever the eggs were laid on, rinse and return to M&D. (mom and dad).
Generally at this point, I do a bit of a water change as well. I use an airline tube and suction the bottom as even in a perfectly clean tank, there always seems to be "stuff" on the bottom and this'll clean up the water. Just make sure that you suction the water into a pitcher or clean bucket where you can see the bottom. If you happen to suction up a baby, no worries, use the med dropper and squirt it back in the moss.

Now maybe you're freaking out about the med dropper bit, no worries...after watching my one pair and how they suck those babies into thei mouths and spit them back out, the med dropper is no different. Just be gentle and you're good to go!

I keep the moss in there even after the babies are free swimming (in another 4-5 days) as they will graze off the plants in between feedings...least mine do:)

I keep them in this 5g for about 2 weeks after free swimming doing a water change every day or so with the airline tubing suctioning the bottom into the pitcher (great for watering your plants!) Then they need to go in a larger tank!

Alrighty then! Really this tank isn't much different than the egg hatching tanks. I keep a sponge filter in these, but add a rear filter. I know a lot of people don't use the carbon filters anymore, I'm still learning about that and do myself. But I change out the carbon about once a week or so. I attach a sponge filter to the bottom of the rear filter as well so not to suck up any babies. and I only turn this on about an hour after their feedings. During feedings I turn it off so that they can get the most food without that being sucked up and wasted. Java moss and heaters all the same. Just a larger tank!:) In my really big ones (for me that's a 55g right now) that I put the fry in once they are pea sized, the only other thing I add is a clay pot with aquatic plants in them. I keep all my tanks bare bottomed to keep the cleaning down and easier. So the pots are my way of still having plants and a graveled spot for the good bacteria, without my having to gravel vac each time I cleam! (yay!)

Added - 1/1/09, Okay another thing I've learned through trial and much error, I use ghost shrimp now on the bottom of all my fry tanks and grow out tanks...bascially any tank where the fish aren't big enough to eat the grown adult male shrimp (as the male is smaller than the female...lol) These guys are soooo much better at bottom cleaning than snails ever were! They create less mess as well and keep the fry up off the bottom (read below for why that's a good thing to do) and they eat any left over food the fry miss so there's less bacteria growth on the bottom of the tank. 3 added bonuses with the shrimp, they are fast, so when you do your careful water changes, you'll not be so likely to suck them up. 2 they are cheap so evern if you do...go buy a few more, no huge deal. and 3, when the fry ar ea bit bigger and the female shrimp lays her eggs....free fry food! :) So I'm totally in love with these little guys, plus they are fun to watch as well and some of them are darn pretty! lol

I hope this is helpful!

Alright, I've found a few different things that work and what I've found that doesn't.

With my first batch of fry in the above I raised the baby brine shrimp (here on called bbs) and fed them only that. This is great and really the best food that they can get from everything that I've read, heard and saw. Problem with me and my set up is now I have so many babies all over the house, but because there's no official fish room (a big huge yet) I don't have room to build a multi bbs hatchery. I know there are great plans out there and I plan to use these in the future. However, now it's just too much to raise and keep the bbs going (plus I'm slightly on the procrastinator side and have 3 little boys) So I started to experiment.

First thing I tried was microworms (more on these in another section) They worked great, but I wasn't rinsing them well enough and the culture got it the fry tank and killed everyone.

Then I tried the jarred bbs that you can get a local fish stores (lfs). This is a tiny jar full of a soupy mix of bbs. (dead of course, but just hatched and still has the good stuff in them for feeding to fry) Problem is, I found out too late, first the stuff isn't cheap ($16.00 at my lfs) and you have to keep it cold and use it in 7 days. Now if you've got a room full of fry, 7 days'll go fast, I'm not there yet and wasted a lot of it.

There's also fry starter foods that I've just gotten into and so far, this is my favorite.

Then as a last thing to try, I got off Ebay a few tubes of decapsilated bbs. These are bbs that haven't hatched yet, are on the verge of hatching and the person does something to them (I'm not sure about how to yet) that it dissolves the egg shell and leaves the bbs. It kills them of course, but if they are dried right away, they are still good to feed. The good thing about these compared to hatching your own bbs is if you get too many unhatched eggs or egg shells in your fry tank, the fry can eat those and it can kill them.

So! below I'll tell you now what I do for feeding that has been working greatly for me and my fish.

Morning - use a shot glass (my preference, can be anything) small amount of water and a pinch of the decaps bbs. leave it sit a bit so the bbs get re-hydrated and then use a dropper and feed (fish go nuts)

Mid morning/afternoon - Microworms, rinsed the right way (as stated in a different posting, or will be soon) Again, fish love them!

Afternoon/early evening - Fry starter with a bit of spirolina powder mixed in (Check my links below for Angel's Plus...he's got the best fry starter foods for angels!!! YAY STEVE!)

about 30-1 hour before I go to bed - any of the above.

Works great!!!

Alright! I know there's tons of info on the web about Microworms and the care of them and all the how tos which is awesome as that's how I learned. So here I'll put my own version of these white slimy things...well slimy isn't the right word.

Okay, of course you will first need a starter culture. I got mine first one off ebay. You can try your local fish club (if you've got one) or craig's list and see if there's anyone near by that wouldn't mind setting you up with a starter.

I use a friend's method of keeping care of my micros and they keep well enough so there's no smell and minimum losses (yes a culture can crash and die). (Thank you LadyOutlaw for the info!)

We use the smaller of the canning jars. poke a few holes in the lid. Then pour in 2 tbs of dry oatmeal, a pinch of brewers yeast, 2 tbs of water, and add the starter culture.

Then put in a lite, but not direct sunlite area.

You'll start to see white going up the side of the jar and your harvest is ready.

Now to feed...this is so darn easy, but not for the faint of heart...lol Once the wall of white starts to climb the sides, I wet my finger just a bit and run it along the inside of the jar, but not touching the culture it'self (then you are just getting worms and not the icky stuff). Then I swish my finger in the fry tank and watch the fun:) The fry love hunting these guys.

Now a little warning about them...if you feed too much (which is so easy to do, it's actually hard to feed the right amount) it's best to have something on the bottom of your tank to do the clean up work. Micros fall to the bottom of your tank which will make your fry go to the bottom to eat, if they stay on the bottom too much, it'll give them all sorts of problems...this goes for any fry, not just angels. I had a whole batch of betta fry that I learned this the hard way on...they all ended up without ventricals. So! keep your fry up off the bottom of the tank!

Now, to keep your culture going. Take the same jar as above, same ingredients as above, but run your finger around the old culture (without touching the culture, jsut get the worms) then pour the 2 tbs of water over your finger to wach the worms into the new culture. that's it!

Try to get a new jar for each week going. I lable the jars week 1, week 2 and so on. Then on Mondays of each week I rinse out the old of that week's jar, and redo a new culture with one of the existing. this way the cultures will never get old and smelly (and believe me, they can smell)! This way will also feed a vast amount of fry, so you'll never run out:)

Have fun!

Alright, here's a few things that I've found out not to do. Mostly and sadly these are mistakes that I made, but I wanted to pass them on so hopefully you all won't do the same:(

First thing I just recently learned, plan waaayyy a head! If you are starting with just one pair and will only have one spawn going at a time, no big deal. But I've gotten in slightly over my head here. I've currently (this is June 13, 08) got 3 pair and another forming. I've got a 55 with quarter sized and dime sized (Sunsets and Turqs all bought online), a 29 with pea sized (marble x silver and white koi x gold, spawned at same time, added together), a 10 with newly free swimming fry (there's got to be over 300 in this tank!) okay, yes to a large scale breeder this isn't much, but when these tanks are taking up more room than my 3 boys' stuff, then it's crazy. Well the thing I did wrong is left the pea sized that are now in the 29, in the 10 too long. probably 60% of what I've got in there are missing or have curly ventricals (the 2 long fins on the bottom) this is because they were over crowded in the 10 that I hatched them in. I'm hoping that at least the ones that haven't grown in yet still will after being moved into the larger tank, but I'm doubtful and yes I know I should cull them, but I have no large fish to feed them too and don't have the heart to do ther other means. So they will become my "nemo" fish and found non-breeding homes with *sigh* So, what not to do? DON'T over crowd, DON'T leave in a 10g too long! I'd say once they are even close to showing their "angel" fins, move them to a larger tank.

Alright! just figured out a new "what not to do thing" I feed with a lot of microworms. much easier to keep and raise than the bbs. I have a few different things that I feed instead of now, but micros are one of them. One of my fry tanks I fed 90% micros and 10% the other stuff. The thing I learned is micros fall to the bottom where they wriggle around for a good 24 hours before they die. The fry graze on these worms through out the day. good thing you may think? I thought do myself till I realized that I was teaching my fish from day one to graze on the bottom where all the not so good bacteria lives and eats on their vents. I was lucky not to have any belly sliders because of this, but figure that's a great way to get those (no not a good thing!) So, feed micros by all means, but have something else in the tank to keep the fry up off the bottom. I haven't tried it yet, but I've been told that dwarf cories or shrimp will work great with that. Snails are okay, but don't move fast enough to keep the fry up.

A little note on the above snails and shrimp...don't have them in your hatching tank. Even if you parent raise, do not have the snails in there. The shrimp, no biggy if parent raised as the m&d will just eat them, but if you are artificially raising, the snails or shrimp will eat the eggs like there was a neon sign above them. I've actually seen snails move at the speed of...well faster snail pace to get to some eggs and mom and dad can't stop a snail, they'll just keep munching. So! hatching tanks no, growout tanks yes:)

This is just the first, I'm sure I'll have more as I continue to learn and journey down this path! :(

The next question is of course, what the heck do I do with all these babies? If you've got great parents and well set up and done things right, in time you'll have like 46 million fish in your house! There are ways to sell them and here's the things that I did personally and had way too much fun doing so!

First thing I did was to have my own personal website with pics of the parents and fry as they grew (a lot of which are here) and had my contact info. I would put my website url into everything i did fish related. If it was a forum, put your website in your sig, if it's email, again put it in your sig, you never know who will look and want some. If you are looking to get a website (yes I do that too) check out mine and I can help you with where to go, how to do it and all that - http://www.angelfish.signsofyourtimes.us

Next, I took a lot of youtubes of my angels (as seen below) I get tons of responses on these. most are just questions from people wondering the hows (in which case I send them here) but I have sold some of my fish because of what they saw on youtube.

Then of course if your local fish stores (lfs). Now most lfs will only give you credit for your fish. in our area, I've only got 2 that'll pay me cash for my fish and of course I go to them first:) But once your babies are about dime to quarter sized (most lfs like the quarter sized better) start calling around. talk to the person in charge of ordering fish and see if you can work out a deal with them. Most of the time they'll just want half a dozen or so at a time, but that works. I've got 2 pet stores that offer me credit for my fish and that works too as I get my frozen fish food from them then, so the fish are paying for themselves, 'tis a cool thing:) Then just ever week or so call the lfs and see if they need more. bag them up and deliver.

Then I did a lot of online searching for forums that had to do with angels or my local area club. If you have a local fish club in your area, believe me, it's well worth the time and $$ to join them, not only for selling your babies, but also for the info they are give you! Then fish forums are great places to post your fish (and website) for sale. I sell a lot of fish that way...yes you have to ship:)

Lastly, I use craig's list as a last resort. Breeders really aren't suppose to post in the pet section, but I figure that's more for dog and cat breeders (and they do too) as we really don't have much a problem having an over population of fish in shelters. So I've posted my angels as adoptables with a fee. I sold many a fish that way too.

Oh yeah, can't forget aquabid.com *blush* I've sold many a fish through there as well! (as well as bought...lol)

This is a hard subject one of which I hate myself, but must be talked about.

I personally unless the fish is in danger to it's health don't cull that much. If it's a genetic thing like the pic to the side there, I'll make sure the new owner knows not to breed it, but I give away my "nemo" fish as I call them. The pictured fish on the side here has a huge notch coming out of the top of his head, but his health was perfect, his fins and coloration was also perfect, so I posted him on Craig's list as a nemo fish and found a great home for him. She still keeps in contact with me and sends me pictures as he's growing, he's an awesome fish:)

Now back to the culling...For the most part you'll be able to see what the culls are when they are still tiny. Things like missing gill plates or ventricals that are missing or crossed or bent (when it's not a bacteria thing as stated above) these are things that most breeders will cull for. A lot of breeders will keep a "cull fish" like an oscar or other large fish. Then the cull fry just become live food for the big one...just like in nature. Other people use various methods to cull their fish. I'm going to list a link here from the Angelfish Society that'll tell more about it since I've not yet had to. They've got pictures of things to look for too, so I hope that helps. And good luck on never having to cull! :)

http://theangelfishsociety.org/standards6.htm

I get asked all the time, "how do you get your fish to the buyer?" and when I tell them that I ship them through the mail they get the deer in the headlight look...lol yes, you can ship fish through the mail! :)

First things first, it's a good idea to make sure with your local post office or USP or Fed Ex or whoever you're going to ship with that it's okay with them. The first time I tried to ship mine through my local post office (I mostly use the USPS), they looked at me like I was nuts. They lady went to the back to get the post mistress and they decided to take it. I had already had fish shipped in through them (they at the time weren't aware of that I guess). I heard the lady whisper to the other that no way would the fish make it. They were being shipped priority as that's what my customer had paid for which means about 3-4 days in their bag. A week later I came back to ship another box, told them that the previous box made it perfectly all fish safe and then they changed their tune...lol The main lady started talking very loudly about how shipping through the USPS was the best and they even handled fish with such great care and everything. I must admit I laughed when I got back in the car:) So far I've shipped a few dozen times and not had a loss yet *crosses fingers*

Now know too before we get into it here, that no matter how perfectly you package your fish, losses can and will happen. Once they are out of your hands, they are literally out of your hands and there's nothing you can do but offer your customer new fish. Packages do get lost, heat or cold happen, drivers that have a hard time reading that the package is fragile and perishable...well yeah. So just be aware of that.

The things you'll need are as follows:
(you can get these things from Ken's fish supplies linked above)
~ Shipping box - a bit bigger than you'll think
~ Styrofoam cut to fit inside the box (more on this)
~ 2 bags per fish / group of fish - I like the 3mil 10x22 ones from Ken or the kordon breather bags
~ Heat pack / Cold pack
~ Rubber Bands
~ Newspaper / filler
Optional:
~ Polyfiber (You can get these at most fish stores, Generally it's used in a filter to pull out unwanteds in your water like ammonia and stuff, I was recomended to by a fellow fish geek to use a small square of this in each bag as it helps during the shipping time to keep the ammonia out of the water).
~ Bag buddies (quote from Ken's site - "The first water conditioner with fish calmer that comes in easy-to-use, mess free tablets. Protects fish by reducing stress, promoting slime coat, removing chlorine, neutralizing harmful metals and adding beneficial electrolytes. Plus, with the added fish calmer, fish stress is further reduced. Just one tablet in fish bag water also releases oxygen into the fish bag and ensures fish arrive home safely, in quality condition and better overall health. This is a must when shipping fish!")

A little thing that I do to make this all easier for me is I go to my local fish stores and ask them what they do with their shipping boxes when they get their fish. A lot of the stores just toss them and if I'm there when they get their fish and can hang around a bit, I get them for free *grin* Otherwise you'll want to make sure to get strong boxes and either shipping styro or 1-2 inch thick styro you can cut.

First thing...you'll want to stop feeding the fish to be shipped 24-48 hours before you bag. This will get anything out of their system to keep the water cleaner and help them not be so stressed.

Now get your box set up with a piece of styro to fit along the bottom, all 4 sides and the top with a bit of room between where the bag(s) will be and the sides and tops (so bigger box than you may first think). Then depending on the weather in my area and what's going on in the customer's area will tell me if I need a heat pack or cold pack. (that goes in last though so no worries till everything else is in)

Okay so first bag up your fish. For regular bags read here...If your angel is pea size to dime size, three to a bag is fine, if nickle size, 2 fish to a bag, any bigger and I'd do one fish per bag. First fill the bag about 3/4 of the way full. Put in a bit of polyfiber if you choose to use it and a bag buddy. Then catch the fish and put them in the bag. Try to keep the rest of 2/3rds filled with air and right away tie it up. The bag buddy will start to turn the water blue and put O2 in the air. Keep as much air as possible while keeping the fish able to swim. Use a rubber band and tie off the end. Then carefully flip the bag upside down and put it in the second bag top in first. This way when you tie the second bag off, there are no corners for your fish to get stuck in and having the second bag protects even more against holes.

If you are using the Kordon breathers, still use the poly and bag buddy, but leave no air space. The breather bags allow air to pass through the walls of the bag to let the fish breath. There's no sloshing around either with these bags and you can still double bag them.

Now lay them inside the box and pad all around them with the newspaper. lay a thick layer at the top. Then take the heat/cold pack that's been wrapped in newspaper and tape it with strong stuff to the underneath of the top layer of stryo. this keeps it in place as you don't want it having direct contact with the bags of fish. Then tape the whole thing closed and address.

Now I've heard both sides of this part, some people write live fish all over the outside so that the shippers know to be careful with it. The problem with this (I've not come across it myself, but others have) along the way you can get a shipper that won't deal with the live fish knowing what's in there. Either the fish just stops and sits for too long or they'll send it back and either way it might not make it back safely. I put perishable and fragile all over mine. this way they know to take care with the package and that it's got a time limit, but not know it's a live thing and freak out. Up to you:)

Also little end note: make sure to have your customer add to the shipping cost, or you add at the beginning a confirmation request. You'll want to know where your fish is and when it gets there. You can do both with the conf. request. I track my fish online and see where they are and know right away when they arrive. This way too you'll know if the fish get there at like 3:pm but the customer tried to pull something saying a fish died but it's much later. Just gives you a safety buffer:)

I hope that helps too!