It depends on where in the world you are located. In Australia most places use Australian Air Express.
A single fish shipped in a small foam esky is likely to cost $20-30AU for freight. A bunch of fish in a bigger esky can cost a lot more. Anywhere up to $100AU or more per esky. It comes down to weight and size, mainly weight if they are going by air. However, the freight price per fish is lower when you send a bunch of them in the same esky.
When packing fish for transit by air you have a small amount of water in the bag and lots of oxygen. Seal the bag with a rubber band. Put that bag inside another fish bag and seal it up. This is known as double bagging and is a prerequisite if you want to ship them by air. It also means if one bag splits or leaks there is more chance of the water staying in the other bag and the fish living.
Water to oxygen levels are usually 1 part water to 4 or 5 parts oxygen/air.
If you are shipping labyrinth fishes (gouramis & bettas) don't use pure oxygen. Just use air, or half air and half oxygen.
Once the fish have been double bagged they are put into a box or sorts. Most places use a polystyrene foam esky for insulation purposes. The esky is lined with a big plastic bag and the smaller bags of fish are placed inside the big bag. The plastic bag used to line the esky is used to prevent water leaking through the esky should a bag rupture. It's another prerequisite for air travel.
The bag used to line the esky doesn't have to be tied up or sealed but some places do put a rubber band on them.
Once the fish are in the bag in the esky you put the lid on and tape it up.
You put the sender and receivers name and contact details on the lid (usually on a courier dispatch form, and get the courier to pick them up or you drop them off at the airport/ depot.
Quite often it costs more for freight than it does for the fish. A lot of companies will try to sell other products (fish food, plants, etc) to the customer so the freight price is spread over more items. The other items are simply put in a plastic bag and placed in the esky with the fish.
Gravel, rock, wood, etc are not normally sent by air because they weight too much and cost heaps in freight.
Thank you!
