Pygmy cories

[Inchworm]

The tank you see is a 20 gallon that I cloned from one of my bigger tanks just to quarantine them. It's bare except for the essentials so I can observe them closely, but I'll put in some plants once they seem to have settled down. Of course, this won't be their permanant home. There are two box filters in there that generate a lot of surface movement to give the water a high oxygen content and the temperature is 75.5 degrees F. Both these factors, plus frequent water changes, will do a lot to keep the level of harmful bacteria down.

They are looking much more colorful and playfulness is a good sign. All in all, they are beautiful fish and I'm sure you will be happy with yours too, provided they arrive safely.

 

[jollysue]

Yes, I am thinking, "Well, what's 12 dollars?"

OH! They look great! I'm glad they are reviving well. You just lost the one pastazensis?

I think Bryan makes the effort to individually pack because he feels it is better and safer for the fish. Who knows? It would take a lot of experimenting to know for sure which had the better odds. One thing that wouldn't happen in individual packs, a fish being in a bag with another dead fish for 24 hours or more.

I'm getting 5 Pulcher, 5 leucomelas, 5 virginae/sangama, 1 Melanl Copper HM/HMx fem named RoxyRoxana. She will be a cory lover.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi jollysue,

Yes, the only fish that died was the one pastazensis. Well, that's so far. Like I said, the others are still at risk because of the stress they have suffered.

This is the first time I've seen corys shipped in individual tiny bags, and I have to admit to being shocked by it. Every other shipment I've received from cory sellers had much larger amounts of water. The reasons for shipping this way I've outlined above. What I didn't mention was that corys are social fish and each one must have been terrified the entire time it was bagged up.

As far as being in a bag with a dead fish, if the fish is in good health when they leave, there should be no dead fish on arrival. Should one die en route, I would think it would be most likely to happen toward the end of the journey. For whatever it's worth, I've bought quite a few fish online and this is the first time I ever had one die or arrive near death.

Another thing too, since shipping is still an issue, is that I paid a total of $62 to ship these fish and the package weighed less than 11 pounds. The post office told me that an 11 pound package would cost only $39.20 to mail Express. He could have afforded to mail a little more water, IMHO.

 

[rollntider]

hey guys where would you recomend getting some pygmaues or habrosus. I want to purchase around 10. I prefer the habrosus, those to me are the best cories. Hi inch, long time no see.
BTW i saw the links to the sites earlier, wondered if there were anymore...

 

[BlueBettaUSA]

Let me chime in hear being that I am the one being spoken of ! I always find it interesting that people like to question 25+ years of experience in shipping fish when they have only received fish or shipped a few !

That being said, have you ever received a bag of 10 corys that was dead ? Happens when one fish will take his spines through the bag and all the water leaches out. If I had shipped all 22 fish in the same bag and it came in dry and they were all dead then you'd be asking me why I didn't ship them individually !I've received shipments of 150 corys from Ecuador just the same. So to lessen the chances of that happening the smartest thing to do is to ship them in individually bags, which by the way is done quite frequently from our quality export shippers. I just received 150 C. Weitzmani this way and I am glad they did ! It also only takes one dead fish in a bag to blow the ammonia level through the roof and then all of them are dead.

Now as to the amount of water, this has been determined over many, many years of shipping to be the "perfect" amount of water when mixed with Ship Right to provide them the optimum necessities to travel. Also by using the small individual bags as well as minimal water with Ship Right it keeps them calmer to help prevent them from blowing out the bag with the spines or getting too distressed. Could we use more water, sure but for what reason ? This is a specimen being shipped, not kept in this bag !

As to the cost of shipping, do you think that just paying USPS for their service is all of the cost ? Unfortunately, the answer is no ! That styro box you see there costs us $5.61 as it to is derived from plastic which is derived from oil. Each fish has 2 bags, Ship Right cost $263.85 per gallon, tape, ink, paper, time, etc, etc all add up ! Oh yeah, don't forget it costs money to drive to and from the PO as we hand deliver every package by 11:30 AM to make the 1:00PM pick up to be sure they make it on the first truck to Miami to be on the first plane out of town.

So while I am sure from the outside looking in it seems all nice and easy but until your doing it day in and day out I wouldn't be so quick to judge !

 

[jollysue]

Hi, Inchworm,

I really don't know that much as you know. Coming up with the "best" way to ship is a problem I don't have.

I started this before Bryan's response, but since it is my thread , and this is partially my concoction, I feel obligued to be involved.

I have not once in my limited interaction with Bryan or Inchworm questioned either's ethics or motivations. I know a horsetrader when I 'm doing business w/one. I do not believe that is the case with Bryan. And I am positive that Inchworm has her fish's concerns at heart.

I know that my fish from Synirr are spending an extra 24 hrs in a box because Synirr didn't understand fully the ways of USPS. (That is not an acusation against Synirr. She's doing a lot for little.)

I am a bit at a loss.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi rollntider

Good to see you again too.

I would not hesitate to recommend that you get them from Bryan (BetterBettas on AquaBid) if the weather is good and not too hot. I believe his fish are healthy; it's his shipping methods that I am not fond of.

 

[jollysue]

Interesting timing, rollintider.

I just purchased 25 pygmies from BlueBettaUSA/BetterBetta. They all got to me healthy and still seem fine a few weeks later. BetterBetta has them on aquabid as well as at the BlueBettaUSA site.

The habrosus are temporarily sold out. You can email through aquabid or the BlueBettaUSA web site.

 

[Inchworm]

I have not once in my limited interaction with Bryan or Inchworm questioned either's ethics or motivations. I know a horsetrader when I 'm doing business w/one. I do not believe that is the case with Bryan. And I am positive that Inchworm has her fish's concerns at heart.

Hi jollysue

Thanks for being a peacemaker, but there is no war being fought here. This is a forum and as such is a place where we can all debate issues, share our experiences and with a little luck, learn much. And, there is no need to come to a conclusion that makes anyone necessarily all right or all wrong.

Bryan and I are seeing things from different perspectives, that's all. Because of that we can both be right. The important thing is that we show respect for each other throughout the discussion.

As a mod of this forum, I won't let it be any other way.

 

[BlueBettaUSA]

I agree 100%. I wasn't looking for a fight or war. I am just trying to clear up some things as far as to the questioning of "why" we do some things the way we do them. Do they work for everyone, no, they work for us and that's why we continue to do them. But I felt it necessary to clear up the "why" when it's placed in a public forum such as this that may or may not question our reasonings or motives.

 

[jollysue]

BTW, when I purchased 3 Orange BN from DrsFosterandSmith, they were shipped in individual bags like Bryan's. The hatchets, which I murdered, manslaughtered, and the otos were in group bags. All three groups were wild caught Of course BN are not social like cories, still I see some precedents. Drs. Foster and Smith was proud of their record of live shipments. They knew their % of live arrivals. It wasn't 100%.

Thankyou Inchworm. I knew you were a fine Lady. And I agree that among people of good faith their is room for differences and room to learn. I of course have the most to learn here.

Hehe, don't tell Bryan, but I am looking at a Super Delta Melano Copper boy from inbs to introduce to Roxy.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi BlueBettaUSA,

Thanks for joining us today and for explaining why you ship the way you do.

Please don't think I was attacking you with my responses to jollysue; this was never meant to be the case. It was more that I wanted to help educate some of our members who rarely get to hear of these matters in the cory forum. Your participation has helped me do this in a much more rounded way. It will be of benefit to everyone who reads it.

The fish you sent me are lovely and, while they are perking up a lot, I'm still worried about them. I've written about the things I'm doing to help them settle in and avoid becoming ill in my tanks. If you can suggest anything else I could do for them, by all means, please do. I am always interested in learning good things to do for my corys.

 

[jollysue]

HooRah!! as my son would say in the Marines. We WON the war. Hehe! Haha!

 

[BlueBettaUSA]

Hi BlueBettaUSA,

Thanks for joining us today and for explaining why you ship the way you do.

Please don't think I was attacking you with my responses to jollysue; this was never meant to be the case. It was more that I wanted to help educate some of our members who rarely get to hear of these matters in the cory forum. Your participation has helped me do this in a much more rounded way. It will be of benefit to everyone who reads it.

The fish you sent me are lovely and, while they are perking up a lot, I'm still worried about them. I've written about the things I'm doing to help them settle in and avoid becoming ill in my tanks. If you can suggest anything else I could do for them, by all means, please do. I am always interested in learning good things to do for my corys.

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Hi Inchworm,

I am pleased to have helped in some round about way ! I just wanted to make things clear as to why we ship the way we do.

As for your fish, I wouldn't worry too much. Once you've got them in a tank and they are going they should all thrive pretty well. One thing I noticed is that your QT tank is not planted. If you want to stop any stress they may be having then I would either add some plants or some pots but either way give them somewhere to hide. Without be able to hide they will stress out even more. Also recommend you feed them some live blood or black worms and keep the lights dim or shorten the lighting periods to help ease the stress as well.

Hope that helps !

Regards,
Bryan

P.S. Sent you your refund for the DOA C. Pastazensis.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi BlueBettaUSA

Thanks for your good advice. I will definitely put some plants and a cave in there for them today. I'm a firm believer in feeding live food too, but my lfs was unable to get any good blackworms this week. They should have a new shipment in by tomorrow and I will be there first thing!

Thanks too for your prompt refund. I'll go to AquaBid now and give you a good feedback. I hope you will do the same for me.

Even though you joined TFF to respond to this thread, please know that you are always welcome here. I'll be happy to see any good advice you might care to give the cory keepers who post here.