Mail Order Fish
Joseph W. Gardner
1998 Issue #17
Ordering fish or eggs through the mail can be exciting or scary. If you deal with the right people, it is a wonderful time of meeting new people and getting new species to try out. Dealing with the wrong people will be aggravating and costly. There are no easy ways of determining whether you will get ripped off or not but there are ways of reducing your risks.
First of all, though, why order fish or eggs through the mail? Ordering fish/eggs through the mail a) allows one to obtain a larger group of fish than what may be available in your immediate area; b) allows one to diversify the gene pool of particular species you may be working with and c) expand your number of contacts in the aquarium world. There may be other reasons as well. I know I am able to maintain contacts in areas where I once lived or continue with good friends. A small part of the reason I maintain contact with a friend in Chicago is because I can correspond with him and sometimes obtain fish I can not get in Paris, Mi. Granted, I would maintain my relationship with my friend anyway but the fish/eggs are a nice icing to that cake.
Some key ideas to mail order fish include: a) where to get fish from; b) the need to haggle (negotiate); and c) overseas or not.
Some good places to look for fish are through specialty club like the American Killifish Association, the American Cichlid Association, International Betta Congress, etc. Joining such a club allows one to obtain fish and/or egg listing. Members who advertise in the BNL (Business News Letter of the AKA) agree to follow the ethical standards of the AKA in order to advertise. Individuals who do not follow those standards are not permitted to advertise and notice is printed in the BNL stating the person’s name and that until things are made right, that individual is to be avoided, at least in terms of ordering fish and eggs.
Shippers in good standing are a good source of live species. I am in the process of getting F1 eggs of four types of Cynolebias from a gentleman in Argentina. The eggs are in Chicago now with my friend and will be delivered to me later in January or February. Since they are still in peat, there is really no problem with the delay.
The Internet is another place to look for fish. One day I was browsing through one of the links and found a listing for furcatus. I had been looking for furcatus for a while now, ever since I first saw one in a pet store in Kalamazoo. I e-mailed the sender to find what he could tell me about the furcatus, how much he wanted for them and when could shipment take place. As it turned out, he lives in Hawaii. Winter was just starting there and he a little concerned about the freezing weather there - about 69 F! Anyway, to make a long story short, we corresponded back and forth for about 3 - 4 weeks. I found out all about Pseudomugil furcatus and P. signifer. I found him to be very open and willing to share information. Based on the quality of the communication and the length of time we corresponded without any pressure from him to buy, I decided to place an order with him. I happened to mention his name to my friend in Chicago after I made my decision to order and he knew of the individual and had good things to say about him. This led me to another way of reducing the odds of getting ripped off - see if any of your friends in the aquarium world know the person. Again, to make a long story short, I ordered eggs of furcatus and signifer from a (now and new) friend in Hawaii. Originally, we were looking at shipping young fry but because of the weather and the long gestation period of the eggs (10-14 days), we opted to try shipping eggs. Those eggs are now in two of my tanks waiting (hopefully) to hatch out in the next week.
Other sites on the Internet such as Anchor Bay which deals with a large variety of fish or specialty shops dealing with Angelfish, Discus, Cichlids, Guppies, etc. are also good places to check out. Generally, they will list both available species and prices they are charging for those species. It is generally much harder to negotiate with businesses than with individual suppliers. But then the businesses need to make a profit in order to stay in business.
Some things to keep in mind when ordering fish/eggs are to be very clear to find out the conditions surrounding the sale. By this I mean, how much is each fish or pair or trio or eggs/dollar. How will the fish/eggs be shipped - Overnight, Express, Priority, UPS or airmail to a airport near by? Does the shipper need the shipping container back or will he simply sell you the container?
With regard to the fine art of negotiation, anything goes. Make an offer or see if the person will accept a lower unit price if you order in quantity. Be polite and courteous. Don’t be put out if the person chooses not to deal. They are his/her fish/eggs and if he does not want to deal, decide if the price being asked for is reasonable or not. If the price is not worth it, don’t buy them. Look around, you’ll probably find them somewhere else. Respect the fact that the shipper is an expert with that fish and is a source of good information relating to the maintenance, breeding and rearing of that species. If you have concerns or questions be sure to get answers. I paid in advance and this is probably pretty typical. Return containers if you’ve agreed to do so in a timely fashion.
With regard to overseas sources, a few pointers. Sometimes you may need to pay a little extra ($3-$5) because your check is in American currency, not in the currency of the other country. There is a fee to converting dollars into pesos, francs, marks, yen or whatever. Make sure that if breeding medium is being shipped, it does not include soil. Soil is forbidden to import because of the possibility of nematodes.
With mail order fish, be patient, be willing to communicate and be as honest, up front, caring and timely as you hope the shipper will be. Yes, there can be some pitfalls but the rewards are so good. There are no guarantees but with a little bit of caution and common sense, you can be successful and satisfied with your purchases. I do believe the Internet is a good place to find good deals and good people. Have fun.
The End