| Never done it with koi, but have shipped eggs of other fish. The trick seems to be to get them on the plane as soon as possible - like the day they are spawned. The closer they get to hatching, the more delicate they seem to become.
Your packing sounds fine but you will have to ship them on whatever spawning substrate was used. Never heard of spawning fish on sphagnum, but I guess it's possible if you sandwich it in a frame. After being in the spawning tank it won't be sterile though.
The Aussi mentioned separating the eggs from the spawning substrate by dissolving the adhesive. I think he said acetic acid, but go check that thread to make sure. I have also heard that you can use sodium sulfite, but never tried it myself. However, having the eggs attached to the spawning substrate may be a benefit because it will keep them suspended and separated from each other to help fight fungus.
My preference would be to have them spawned on nylon spawning mat(s) and just ship the whole mat(s). There is nothing to decay and release organics during shipping. Use just enough water to cover the mat(s).
Temperature would be the largest concern. Koi spawn when the temperatures are changing rapidly so the eggs can deal with some fluctuation as long as its very gradual. If the ambient temperatures are reasonable, I would opt for an extra layer of foam in the box rather than heat packs or cold packs.
You definitely do not want them hatching in the shipping box because the hatching debris would kill them in such a confined space. It would be interesting to ship newly hatched fry and try to get them to their destination before they are ready to begin feeding. Gut instinct says that shipping eggs would be more successful. Once they begin feeding, they can not be shipped for at least several weeks or more because they could not go without food for that long.
I am really curious about how this turns out so please keep us posted.
-steve hopkins |