Charlie,

There are these great bags on the market by Kordon that
breath allowing the ammonia to dissipate out of the
bag. There is also a product called BagBuddies that
works well at releasing oxygen into the water and
binding the nitrites.

I get fish all the time from the coast and send fish
via USPS Priority mail. You get a sturdy box and go to
HD and get some sheets of styrofoam and cut the sheets
to fit on the inside of the box. If you can't get the
Kordon bags just use some heavy plastic bags from the
LFS. Leave plenty of air on top of the water.
Probably one fish per bag. Like the other gentleman
said, do not feed the fish for three days before and if
you want fed it peas or spirulina four or five days
before and this will help clean the fish out. If you
can get oxygen fill the top of the bag of water with
O2. Call your post Office and find out if their mail
is shipped out in the morning or the evening. Then go
to the post office as close to this time as you can to
make sure the fish will be in the box as short a time
as possible. Just before you leave for the PO put the
fish in the bag and fill with air. Put the bag in the
box and fill the extra area with styrofoam peanuts.
Put enough in and around the bag so it doesn't move
around. Close the box tightly and get the label on it
and it helps if you have a picture of a fish on the
box saying it is live fish. Usually I mail in the late
afternoon because here there is a truck that comes in
at about 1700 to take the mail to the city. The box
should arrive on the morning of the third day, which
includes the day you mailed it. It is best to mail on
a Monday.

Anyone that tells you that this will not work has their
head stuck in the sand. I just received 40 fish this
way including Philly Veils, so it does work and it
works all the time. If you want it to arrive at his
home earlier you can use the Express Priority Mail,
which would probably work for your since you are in
Chicago and he is in D.C. Where I live in the boonies
it doesn't make a difference where it is Priority Mail
or Express Priority mail it all arrives a the same time.

HTH

Tom L.L.
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charlie wrote:
Hello everybody,

Here's my problem:

I have a 20gl tank with one GF in It. He has definitely out grown the
tank. The local pet store has a buy-back policy, which is fine. The
fish is quite a handsome fellow and it wouldn't be long before he would
be sold. I fear that someone not so knowledgable would buy him, and he
might wind up in some sloppily maintained 5 or 10gl tank. I would not
wish that upon him. My brother has the solution to the problem. He
keeps GF and he always maintains his tank well. He has a 100gl tank
with just 2 GF's in it and is eager and happy to take my fish. The only
problem is, I live in Chicago and he lives in Washington DC.
Is there any way to bag and box up a fish and send it through the
mail, let's say by one of those overnight, express, next day delivery
services? Does any manufacturer make a kit that can be purchased that
would achieve these ends? Has anyone of you folks done so. If yes, then
how? I know fish are delivered to pet stores in water tight box
containers by carriers. I went to the pet store and made some inquiries
as to how they did it, but they didn't have a clue as to how a hobbyist
would do it.
Thanks for any help you might offer.

charlie