Have a Shipping Question?

All fish are shipped via UPS Next Day Air for a flat rate of $29.99 for our Oregon and Washington customers, and $39.99 for all other states.

Shipping live animals may seem complicated, but The Wet Spot has been shipping fish for more than 14 years! Our first-hand knowledge and experience allows us to ensure your fish make the journey safely.

Once your order is submitted, we’ll ensure the fish are healthy and look beautiful before confirming the order. Once the order is confirmed, we will catch the fish, add oxygen and a piece of filter to their bags, and double-bag them for safety. Fish are placed into their boxes, which are lined with absorbent paper and insulating Styrofoam.

Fish are then triple-checked by our crew for correct species, health, behavior, and appearance before wrapping them up. Heat packs will be applied as needed at no extra cost. At the end of the day our shipper picks them up, in most cases delivering them the following day.

We ship to all states within the continental US, and to most of Hawaii (provided that a valid permit is provided by Hawaiian customers). We cannot ship to APO, PO Boxes, or mail forwarding services. For the safety of the fish, during colder months we may decline shipping of livestock to cities which are outside of one-day delivery zones and below our 20°F shipping minimum.

While we do not currently ship to Canada, we can ship to an address near a border crossing. Our invoices include full scientific names to facilitate easy border crossing when paired with your import permit.

Most shipments reach their destinations without any trouble, but unforeseen circumstances do occur. In the event of an issue, dedicated parcel monitors immediately alert our team and work directly with us to re-route your fish and get them to you as quickly as possible. Shipments affected by mechanical failure, inclement weather, or missed flight delays may still be delivered on the estimated day (albeit later than planned), but are more often delivered the following day.

Our Live Arrival Guarantee only applies to packages that are delivered on the date projected by UPS. If the package fails to arrive on the projected date of delivery and shipping insurance was not purchased, we are not able to provide any credit for DOA fish.

For those with busy schedules, we do our best to accommodate any requests for a specific delivery date. If you have particular dates which work well for you, please let us know a few days in advance so we can finalize your order and ensure that we have space.

We always have an eye on the sky, making sure your weather stays within approved temperature ranges (max of 100°F and minimum of 20°F). Should we determine the weather is not suitable for shipping, we reserve the right to hold the package for a future delivery date. Inclement weather, while unfortunate, does not negate our Hold Policy.

We can ship to convention centers and hotels, given adequate notice and with specific restrictions, but we are unable to hand-deliver fish to attendees.

Shipping insurance is an extra feature that we offer our customers that extends our Live Arrival Guarantee should UPS fail to deliver your package on the estimated date of arrival. UPS does not cover the loss of “perishable” items, so we have a special insurance policy with them that we can apply to your package for a fee.  If you choose to purchase this feature, any fish that arrive DOA beyond the estimated date of arrival will be covered by us and we will issue a credit for the DOA fish provided that proper documentation is given to us (see the Live Arrival Guarantee section). If you choose not to get shipping insurance and UPS delays your package beyond the projected date of arrival, we will be unable to submit a claim on your behalf to issue credit.