Fish transport question

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Huro

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Messages
607
Location
Asheville, North Carolina
Hi everyone,

So I am wondering if fish would survive a 8-11 hour drive, someone at a lfs told me that with a large bag filled with oxygen that it may be possible but I have never tried before and would like to know what you guys think?. I ask because these fish cannot be shipped from the store.
 
I travel all the time with my fish, I move a lot because of my job. I usually travel from Ohio to Maine and back to Ohio, a 1200 mile trip, usually 2 days.

I travel with a regular cooler filled with 1/2 their water from tank and 1/2 new clean water.

For species that are delicate ( can't withstand bumping) I have them in small (1 gallon) plastic clean trash cans. These include my Pea Puffer and bumblebee gobys in 1 trash can. My bristlenose plecos are in another small trash can because their hard fins can cut other fish during movement. My shrimps that can jump are placed in large, padded mason jars with holes punched out for air exchange and are covered with a lid because they can jump out.

The movement of the vehicle will give you oxygen exchange with the water. When I stop overnight at a hotel, I place air lines in each container in the hotel room.

I also carry a thermometer and check the temperature every time I stop for gas.

I have traveled in the winter and summer months. During all my travels...I only lost 1 fish and I assumed it was because he was old and the stress got him. I have traveled with newly hatch fry also with no problem.

I hope this helps, Don't hesitate to ask me any questions..as I have a large amount of fish of various species...I have 4 aquariums with various environments.
 
I ship fish all the time on 2-3 day trips. If your fish bags aren't crammed with fish, they should be fine.
 
Thanks for the input guys I am starting to feel more comfortable with the idea. The trip itself is only 500 miles at most but because I am here on business I have none of my containers and will be relying solely on the bags provided by the LFS. Should purchase a conditioner at store and have them add it?
 
Also how is water temp maintained for example I am thinking of placing then inside a backpack to help reduce stress? But I have no way of maintaining their temperature and I don't imagine the LFS will sell heat packs
 
Put the bags into a styrofoam cooler. You can buy one pretty cheap, of course, but many LFS's have more of these than they know what to do with and will gladly give them away. If you were local I'd give you at least 5. LOL
 
If the store does not use oxygen to fill the bags with, I had the stores use a larger bag than normal, filled with room air, tied off with a rubberband (no knots!!!) and I brought fish from NJ down to FL by keeping them in a cooler and styro box ( gotten from the store) and I just opened the bags every 3 hours, squeezed out the old air, replaced it with new air and kept on driving. I did this exact same thing with fish when I moved from NJ to FL back in the 70s and again last year. No fatalities either trip. I also asked for a spare bag of water so that I could do a water change should the fish "poo" too much in the bag or in my case, the fish were living in the bag for a week before I drove home so I did water changes even before I left. If the temp in the car is above 70-74 degrees, the cooler temp will actually slow the fish down and make their oxygen needs less and you can stretch out how often you need to open the bags.
There is also the new(?) breather bags which are supposed to be better than a regular bag. I've heard different reviews on them and I have not used them personally but you may want to check into them as well.
If this is an overnighter, you will want to buy or bring an airpump with you along with a gang valve and airstones to use in the opened bags over night. Keep the bubbles low to avoid creating too much oxygen in the water.
On a professional level, as a wholesaler, we packed fish to travel around the globe so with oxygen and a lighter pack ( qty of fish per bag), the fish should be good for 48 hours minimum.
Hope this helps
 
Thanks Andy, yeah they will be adding oxygen to the bags and thanks to Severum mamas advice I called the LFS and they are setting aside some containers for me.
 
Thanks Andy, yeah they will be adding oxygen to the bags and thanks to Severum mamas advice I called the LFS and they are setting aside some containers for me.

Great, just have the store spread out the fish as much as possible. Less fish per bag = happier fish on the trip. (y)

Happy trails to you....:D
 
*Update*,

Just found out that I will be staying for another week :(....Will update

You may want to take that time and visit your LFS and see what you might be interested in so you will know whether they are new fish or the old ones when you go back at the end of your stay to buy them.
I did that with some Angelfish I was interested in and it was a good thing I did. The sales clerk didn't know who I was so he was giving me the "buy it now before they are gone" speech but I wasn't leaving for the week so I wasn't biting. I went back in a few days later and the fish didn't look too good. Went in a couple days later and the fish were gone. I was told they had died. Had I not waited and saw them only the once, I would have had them die on me and I was too far from there to return them. When given the opportunity, I never buy the first time I see something ;)

Just a suggestion :whistle:
 
Just wanted to give an update I finally made the trip back home (MD to NC) today and my SAE arrived happy and safe thanks to the fine folks at Congressional Aquariums in Rockville MD who took the time to make sure he/she was properly prepared for the trip, acclimating him/her now and will post pics tomorrow.
 
As promised the newest member of my family :)... Thanks everyone for your advice, encouragement and help.
 

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