Long Distance Lfs

[This Old Spouse]

So the best LFS we know of is about a four hour drive one way. They're on the way home from my family, so we could ideally have a nice visit with the fam and incorporate a fish shopping trip as well.

I have a 5g acrylic tank that I had been using as a fry tank. I just retired it but I've kept the filter media and put it in the big filter in my 55g to keep it active. What I'd like to do is take the tank into the LFS and have them put enough water in it for the fish to swim in and the filter to work, then hook up the works in our car so the fish will have a nice filtered tank for the long drive home.

Think this would work?

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Unless i got wrong mate, just set up your tank at home, fish will be fine in bags for a few hours no problem

 

[micko]

A battery powered air pump will also work good.

I thought we had a long drive at 1 hour each way to get to a decent LFS

 

[Lufbramatt]

dont see why it wouldnt work, be sure that the tank is strong enough to handle the dynamic load of the water sloshing around, maybe a large cool box with a lid would work better?

 

[golfzzin]

dont see why it wouldnt work, be sure that the tank is strong enough to handle the dynamic load of the water sloshing around, maybe a large cool box with a lid would work better?

this

also what happens if you had to brake hard or something? 5g will be enough to cause some issues for fish, tank, car and passengers if you had to stop suddenly. Id just bag em

 

[This Younger Spouse]

We're specifically worried that 4-5 hours in bags will stress the fish due to ammonia buildup.

 

[fluttermoth]

Tell the shop you have quite a long journey amd ask them to double bag the fish (one bag, upside down in another so the fish can't get stuck in the corners) and put them in larger bags than normal.

Then put the bags in an insulated box or wrap them in some towels. Do all the acclimtatisation in the dark and nice and slowly as the water might be quite different. Don't rush things and they should be fine

 

[This Younger Spouse]

Tell the shop you have quite a long journey amd ask them to double bag the fish (one bag, upside down in another so the fish can't get stuck in the corners) and put them in larger bags than normal.

Then put the bags in an insulated box or wrap them in some towels. Do all the acclimtatisation in the dark and nice and slowly as the water might be quite different. Don't rush things and they should be fine

Thanks! We always put the bags in a cooler for the trip back, and we acclimate by floating the bags and adding water from the tanks to each bag a bit at a time. And then net the fish out of the bag so as not to add large dollops of strange water to our tanks. Doing it in the dark sounds good. I suppose it also wouldn't hurt to ask the LFS to use not only larger bags, but more of them so there are fewer fish per bag. Just means we'd bring along a bigger cooler.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Thanks, fluttermoth (and everyone). We're so concerned because the trillis we just bought are showing signs of ammonia burns on the gills and it will be awful if we lose any.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Either buy yourself some "Bag buddy" tablets in advance of the visit, or confirm with the fish store that they have these in stock to use for the journey.

At the beginning of May, I individually double-bagged 13 Lionhead Cichlids the night before a trip from Southampton to Oswestry via the British Cichlid Association meeting at Redditch, which lasted from 0930 to 1900ish. Each fish had half a buddy tablet in it, which sedates the fish while keeping the water aerated and toxin free to greater extent (I had also not fed the fish for 36 hours beforehand). The bags were then placed in a ~2 foot polystryrene insulated box. Almost 24 hours on, all fish arrived safely with the water still having a blue tinge (which meant water was safe).


I think it was Steve Chester who once sent a purchased fish in the post using these tablets and despite the parcel being "lost in the postal system" for almost a week, the fish arrived alive and well a week on!

 

[This Old Spouse]

Wow! I'll look those up right now. Hopefully I can get them in the US. Thanks!

 

[Wills]

I just wouldnt worry at all, I drive regularly 2 and a half hours to get my fish as there are no shops around me that cater for my tastes (American and rare )

Just make sure you have some kind of insulator like a poly box or cool bag, double bag them and make sure the bag is tied well so there is plenty of oxygen in there.

Fish get transported for days, sometimes upto a week getting from importer to store an hours drive is nothing at all.

If the Cories were showing red gills it could be Ammonia burn but it might be from the bag but I would imagine it was possibly something from the shop? Often after being moved fish go a little washed out so could it just be natural colouring giving them a blushing effect through light skin?

The Bag Buddies are great but I am just wondering if its really worth it for an hours drive? I just cant see it being a problem, I have been traveling as I said for quite some time for fish and not had issues arriving home with them. The only time I have had a fish die in the bag was from a chain pet shop in the UK and I lost a guppy in the bag but that was only a 20 minute drive so I suspect it was nothing to do with the journey

Wills

 

[This Old Spouse]

We always bring a cooler to transport and double bag. The problem is that it's a four-hour drive ... one way ... so they'd have quite a travel. That's why I was wondering in my OP about arranging to give them filtered water on the way home.

I'm still not sure about my trillis. Half have the pink gills and half don't. We purchased them on Friday, so I would think that's not from just being moved. If that were the case I'd imagine they'd all be the same color, right? The good news is that they all seem healthy and are snuffling around and swimming as usual.

 

[Harlequins]

My Tri's are different shades from each other,some are pale and like you say show the red gills more,whereas some are darker in colour and red gills not apparent...

Back last year when i collected my 6 gold & 6 black cories,it was roughly a 85 mile drive to bring them back which took nearly 3 hours in all,i wedged a plastic container in my boot so it couldn't move,put a cushion in the bottom to stop any un-necessary bumps in the road and put the bagged cories in here,made sure the bags didnt slop around, then covered the whole box with a towel and prayed...

Thankfully they were all fine and after a fairly long (2 hours) acclimatising them,they were subdued for the first hour after that it was great seeing them charge around

Has mentioned putting fish in a filtered tank is a good idea,but practically it may end up stressing the fish more with the sloshing around,especially if the filter becomes dislodged in the tank.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Here's one of the cories I'm worried about:

Compared to the others:

Am I just a worry-wart?