Canreef Aquatics Bulletin Board - We need a sticky on fish transport

As many of my friends on the forum know, I had a hard go with things the last few months, which resulted in no choice, but to sell off my beloved fish and shut my tank down. People that know me, also know this was the very last thing I wanted to have do. Before putting the fish on canreef, I went to my personal friends and mentors this forum to see if they wanted them. One moderator knows how bad I was hounding him to take one of my babies...Luckily a couple of my fish were put into new homes before the rest had to go up for sale.

When I put my babies on the forums to offer them up for sale, I had to go through endless private messages and creep their posts to figure out the best homes. Believe me, I am not very popular on the forums on the private side. People don't really appreciate being told they cannot buy my fish for whatever reasons I found. I wanted my fish to have better place then my own tank and I eventually found people in the hobby that fit the criteria... although I was worried, I felt I had made the best choices for them and they would live a happy long life.

On Friday morning, I sat in front of my tank for three hours sobbing, until the first round of them had to go home. I could not even help with them being caught, as these fish trusted me enough to let me pet them and would eat from my hands. I just could not stand to watch it all go down. I had some concerns with how they were transported, but because of who these people were, I felt they knew what they were doing and the fish would fine... Later that day, the rest went home, so I thought.

I contacted one person yesterday only to discover my poor baby died in transport... I was totally beside myself, and know he suffocated on the way to Calgary. I am not saying which fish or who did it, but I felt this person could be trusted in how the transport was done, and this was a tragedy... If he made it to his destination, he would have had an awesome life.

I emailed about the rest of the this morning and found out over half of the others had died in transport as well. Again, I felt these people knew what they were doing, and have been sick to my stomach and bawling my brains out all day over this.

What I am asking from this forum is for there to be a sticky written by members on how to correctly transport fish for both the buyers and the sellers. There should be a check list on what to bring, how many fish should be in a pail (if a pail is used), and the best way to package them.

One thing I can say for sellers is do not always trust how long someone has been in the hobby and who they are... It does not matter one bit. I do blame myself for this, since I should have been a bitch and when I saw how things were not being done, I should have pulled the plug on everything, regardless of how far someone drove to get them. Just because we know someone, how long they have been in the hobby, or if the owned/managed or worked in a fish store, is meaningless when it comes to our beloved pets. My fish paid with their lives for this. I was their voice and I did not speak up for them...

I was not going to say anything, and I am not calling anyone out, or trying to start a peeing match. All I am trying to do is ensure, that my fishes deaths did not happen in vain. I know many people might view fish as just livestock, but my fish were my pride and joy. I grew from little babies and they trusted me enough to swim into my hands and allow me to pet them and take food from... now most of them are dead.

Watching my fish go the other day was one of the worst things I have ever do in my life, aside of putting my sick dogs to sleep when it came time. I now have to live with the fact that they never made it to their new homes and never had a chance. I am completely beside myself right now.

I ask all the members to help make a guide on how to transport fish with the least amount of stress and causalities if you can. My fish were fat, strong healthy and simply amazing... and they died in transport and never had a chance.

I also do not want to be asked which fish, who killed them, and have people say they would have bought the fish and they would be a live right now. I really do not need to hear that crap right now.

Thanks to anyone that can contribute in advance.

Diana