Why I Ship Fish EXCLUSIVELY In Kordon Breathing Bags
BEHOLD! THE KORDON BREATHER BAG! A MAGICAL MARVEL IN IT'S OWN RIGHT!
Unfortunately, there are some people in this hobby that are so entitled that they think they INVENTED the use of shipping live aquatic animals in Kordon Breathing Bags, and that anyone else who dares to ship fish, or shrimp, or whatever else in these bags is a copycat -- that is just asinine! That is like saying that you were the first person in America to put cream and sugar in your morning tea, and then accusing everyone else that ALSO puts cream and sugar in their tea of being a copycat. Its mental! Not only is this not true, but you sound delusional.
Sorry to tell you, Flip Aquatics, Zhaos Fancies, Aquarium Co-Op, and about a dozen YouTubers that have giving instructional videos how to use, and ship living things, LIKE CORALS in Kordon Breathing Bags -- who's videos were posted in 2010 and EARLIER, buuut...
Even if these accusations weren't entirely baseless, and properly qualified, like... who really cares? As long as enough people are buying Kordon's bags to keep them in production, so that I can continue to buy and use them, then, I really do not care who uses them. KORDON MADE THEM FOR EVERYONE TO USE, and continue to use them I shall.
Anyway... I can not find a specific date in which Kordon's Breathing Bags were developed and patented, however, I can find articles dating back to at least 2005 from people WAY older then I buying and using Kordon Breathing Bags to ship their fish in commercially.
What sparked me to start shipping my fish in Kordon Breathing Bags is due to one of the first significant fish deaths I have had, regarding one of the first fish I ever bred and groomed for nearly 7-months. He was a beautiful fish, and a Thai Giant. He was the sweetest, and gentlest fish I ever came to know, and he was the first fish that convinced me that fish aren't so different then other domesticated animals that we have in a traditional American household like a dog, or a cat.
He was giant for his age, about 5.00" from head to peduncle -- not including fins. I remember getting an extra large box, fully lined, and ordering a small batch of extra large square bottom polyethylene bags for him. At the time, I did not have access to medical grade oxygen, aside from not having a medical need for it, and getting a doctor to write me a prescription for an oxygen tank, I was unable to obtain any.
At this time, I was still pretty new to this whole breeding fish for profit thing, and figured that I could just get some atmospheric oxygen trapped in the bag, and thinking "He will be okay, he is not traveling very far, and he is being shipped via USPS Priority Mail, which is just 2 days, thats generally safe, right? right...?" and shipped him off.
Two entire days later the box arrived to the customer, the customer reached out to me informing me that my precious fish didn't make it... maybe he died to lack of oxygen? Maybe he died to the stress of being thrown around for 2 days in transit? Maybe the heat got to him? maybe a combination of all of these issues claimed him? maybe, maybe, maybe...? It is impossible to tell because I wasn't swimming with his fins, experiencing what he did that caused him to lose his life. All I know, is that I was not the same afterwords. I was very emotional, and mourned the loss of him for days after I had found out. Despite what agreements I made with the customer to get this rectified, my fish was still gone, and it was impossible for me to determine the exact cause of him perishing in transit. He was such a beautiful fish -- and to this day, I still think about him, and mourn him.
In hindsight, my fish probably expired in transit due to a combination of things, the most prominent of which is being thrown around in transit in a bag filled with oxygen, and because he was so much larger, his size made it that much worse, and more stressful on him in transit then it would have been had it been a smaller fish. The second issue being the depletion of internal bag oxygen, or the lack thereof. He was a very large fish, and large fish require a lot of dissolved oxygen.
These are the reasons why I do not ship fish in traditional polyethylene bags, OR ship any of my fish via USPS anymore. I do not have access to medical grade oxygen tanks to adequately fill each bag up with oxygen, AND I do not want my fish sloshing around in the shipping bag -- which will increase stress, and can lead to irreparable fin damage. The only solution to this when it comes to shipping fish, is by using the Kordon Breathing Bags. With that being said, by using these breathing bags, I am able to ship fish in smaller dimension boxes, and even take advantage of Flat Rate/One Rate/Fixed Rate boxes, when and if I am able because I will not need to accommodate the require space for oxygen in polybags.
Since I have made the permanent switch to the KBB, ALL of my fish have arrived alive, and since the switch, I have gained piece-of-mind knowing that all my fish will arrive to their destination ALIVE.
The way I ship fish has nothing to do with other people, and how they ship fish -- in fact, I really do not care how other people do things, and what others do with THEIR hobby, none of what they choose to do has no bearing on my life or my hobby, and I honestly couldn't care less. If you go to my Instagram, I follow very few people because I honestly do not care what others are doing -- and thats not a crime.
In short, I ship fish the way I do because it is the most practical method for me to ship MY fish because of MY particular situation. THE END.
Image credit goes to Kordon. You can read more about their Breathing Bag HERE.
