From Shop To Tank, How Long

[pauloh]

hi, sorry if this has been asked before i had a look through and couldnt find anything, its a silly question i suppose, whats the maximum time fish could be left in the sale bag after purchase? i ask because, long story short, i wont go to my local aquatics shop, and other than that its pet store which is very limited and the staff have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever so the nearest place which iv been told has much better knowledgable experienced staff is around 14-18 miles drive but i dont really like to leave them in a bag for that long! what do i do!

 

[fishprotector]

Fish that are bought online may be in a bag for over 24 hours. Apart from this, the longest I have personally kept a shop bought one in transit for was for around 10 hours. It was my Severum and he was fine.

 

[Wills]

Don't worry about it - I have traveled over 2 hours with fish with no problem - just tell the store you have a little distance to travel and they can do a few things like add more oxygen to the bag with a pump or add oxygen tabs and give you a poly box or something to keep the bag warm which is quite important at this time of year.

Wills

 

[pauloh]

ah, cheers guys, im going to a good center next week, the likleyhood of the fish being in the bag around 3 hours if i was to buy anything!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No big deal... just drop them into an insulated cooler. They won't need anything other than the standard oxygen they put in for a 3 hour trip. Just keep the temp as constant as you can... Hence the insulated cooler.

 

[creeker]

I agree with Wills that one thing you might do, if your fish are to be in the bags for a while, would be to place the bags in a styrofoam cooler or even just a cardboard box for insulation. If they are going to be in the bags for just a few hours, my concern would be temperature fluctuation more than ammonia buildup. Remember though, when you add the fish to your tank, net them out of the bag. Don't add that bag water to your tank. Under certain circumstances, I have had to keep fish in bags way more than three hours. Like Wills said, just let the staff know you are going to have them in the bags for a bit. They will probably use a bigger bag. Just make sure the staff has experience and knows to put more air than water into the bag.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'd add be sure to leave the bag to float longer in the tank. The temp would be the bigger issue than the ammonia. Most of the time they add Prime or Stress Coat to the bag as well, which will convert the ammonia to a much less toxic ammonium.

 

[Mikaila31]

Average for me is around 6 hours. Longest is a few days in the mail.

 

[TropicalLad21]

Only an hour with me... not far from my LFS.

 

[CezzaXV]

My LFS adds oxygenating tablets if there are alot of fish in the bag. If you're travelling a long way it might be worth asking them to do this, even if you have to buy the tablets.

14-18 miles isn't that long for the fish to be travelling in though, I wouldn't worry about it.