Unboxing wild caught aquarium fish from Brazil! This shipment contained 28 boxes. Follow us around our fish room and see what came in! Click the video below to watch!
We had been waiting for this shipment since late December. After two delays it finally arrived on January 11th, 2019. Delays can be stressful. Especially because this order contained so many incredible fish that we were so eager to see!
Unboxing wild caught aquarium fish and doing a live stream is always tricky. The well-being of the fish always comes first. We never decide 100% if we will do a live stream until we have all the fish out of the boxes and floating in their tanks. At that point we can see if they are in good condition and if we can take the time to do a live stream.
When we get the boxes home we haul them downstairs to begin unboxing. If there are any fish that are sensitive we make sure to get those boxes opened first. Those fish are put in a tank to warm up before the others. This time we got the Retroculus xinguensis floating in their tank right away. We then continued to unbox the rest of the bags and containers. Once all the bags are floating and coming up to temperature we clean up the mess of boxes and packing material and get it all out of the way so we aren’t tripping over it!
When we have a shipment this large we try to get someone to assist us. With shipments from Brazil each fish is bagged individually. That means 400+ bags to open! Unboxing wild caught aquarium fish from Brazil can be tedious but with an extra helper it goes so much faster!
Once the the floating bags are up to temperature and we have everything cleaned up we all get a bucket, a net and a scissors and start working! We do appreciate the fish being bagged individually because we can see every single fish as we open it’s bag and put it in it’s tank. I usually do the live stream now, while Jamie and our helper start unbagging. I know they need help so I try to keep it short but still include some awesome footage for you!
As soon as we’ve unbagged the last fish we clean the room again. We empty all the shipping containers of their water and set them up to dry out so we can reuse them. We get all the garbage cans emptied of the smaller bags that we can’t reuse and clear the floor of hundreds of broken rubber bands. At this point we do a quick check of all the fish. We look everything over and making sure there is enough filtration in all the tanks. As soon as we are done the fish room lights are turned off and we let the fish begin to settle in. Their trip from Brazil is long and stressful and they need to be left alone in the dark.
Now it is time for the new arrivals to undergo a two week quarantine. Over the course of the first week we try not to disturb or handle them. Our customers are always very eager to know sizes and prices, rightfully so! We hold steady and will not measure anything during this time. We can give estimates and sometimes we know prices for some of the fish. It is far more important that the new arrivals are eating well and adjusting to their new environment. Being medicated during the first week adds another level of stress for them.
After the first week we are usually done with medicating and now it is time to observe. If any had difficulty starting to eat our food they usually catch on by now, so we make sure to feed them well. We are always happy to see lots of poop in the tanks! Proof that they are eating. At this point we try to get measurements and a final price list so we can release the new stock list. If there was anyone on wait lists they were contacted in the first week. Because of this, many fish may be spoken for or have down payments on them already. A good amount of the fish we bring in never make it to the final stock list. They sell before QT is done, to wait-listed people or private buyers.
Once the two week QT is over we start to ship out the new stock. Of course if there are any that need extra time we inform the customers. Usually they are very appreciative that we care more about getting them a healthy, well acclimated fish and are happy to wait another week.
We hope you enjoyed reading about our process of unboxing wild caught aquarium fish and please feel free to ask any questions you may have. There is a contact form below, send us your questions or comments!
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