Neptune Aquatics

Shipping coral?

IOnceWasLegend

IOnceWasLegend

Frag Swap Coordinator
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So, my wife found a kid putting together their first reef tank on a FB group who was looking for some easy corals. We want to give him some zoas, but we'll have to ship them.

I've never shipped corals, so I'm asking you all: any tips/regimens you follow, or know any good guides to make sure I get it right my first time?
 
IOnceWasLegend said:
So, my wife found a kid putting together their first reef tank on a FB group who was looking for some easy corals. We want to give him some zoas, but we'll have to ship them.

I've never shipped corals, so I'm asking you all: any tips/regimens you follow, or know any good guides to make sure I get it right my first time?
Click to expand...
Bag with adequate water vol. Cold pack for these hot days. Insulated packaging...ie, reuse coral boxes from past buys...

Drop off as close to pick up time as possible...

Best to use shipping consolidator, to keep cost down. Otherwise, $100 ship
 
NanoCrazed said:
Bag with adequate water vol. Cold pack for these hot days. Insulated packaging...ie, reuse coral boxes from past buys...

Drop off as close to pick up time as possible...

Best to use shipping consolidator, to keep cost down. Otherwise, $100 ship
Click to expand...

Thank you! What's a shipping consolidator?
 
IOnceWasLegend said:
Thank you! What's a shipping consolidator?
Click to expand...
Service that pools shipping from lots of folks for volume discount... they charge a nominal fee for the service.

You wind up paying or charging $60 or so, versus $100+.

For zoas, you can roll the dice with USPS depending on destination. $30 -50 based on shipping weight but no 24 hrs guarantee.... really more like 30+ hours. Lol.

Zoas can take a beating so that's a viable path
 

Mark Levinson talks about tips in this video. Lots of it is don't ship when there is extreme weather, then pack it with as much water as you can.
 
Depending where he lives, maybe call a LFS and pre-pay for some zoas? Maybe cheaper and no risk of shipping delay.

$100 can buy good amount of zoas.

This won’t work if the kid doesn’t have a LFS close by.
 
When I used to breed and regularly ship reptiles, I would only use FedEx and, very importantly, specify "hold at location", so the receiver has to go pick it up at their local FedEx spot. Eliminates the most unreliable part of the trip, and potentially saves several hours of bouncing around in the back of a truck.
 
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