Transportation of Fishie!

[Loopyness]

unfortunatly i have to move at the end of March, and im moving about 100miles away (about 2 hour car journey) would my fish be okay or would i be better off leaving them at my parents house?

 

[marks69]

you should be ok.you can get a battery operated bubbler that'll help.also pack them is a cooler to help keep the temp constant.i would go a day or so without feeding them before the move.
gl
mark

 

[HeatherSweetness]

A 2 hour trip is a breeze. Fish that are shipped in the mail can be as long as 24-48 hours,so i wouldn't worry at all. Keep them from getting chilled and go to walmart in the fishing section and get one of the cheap portable battery operated air pumps and a small air stone. Try to keep them from getting bumped and spooked,keep them covered to avoid the bump in the road spills,and you should be A-ok. I would hold off on feeding the day before the big move.

 

[Bear]

We are in the same situation, although our move is about a 24 hour drive, assumming we don't stop!

We are going to make a mini-tank out of a cooler, and put a battery operated pump in there. We're also going to save the gravel (in some tank water) and the filter floss, so we can keep as much good bacteria as possible.

Petsmart will give you a shot of oxygen too for things like this. Just bring your fish there and they'll package them up all nice for you.

 

[CFC]

There is no need for the bubbler, the fish will be fine in a bag for a good few hours. When you bag them make sure the bag is only 1/4 full of water and the other 3/4 is as full of as much air as possible, obviously make sure the bag is big enough that when 1/4 full the fish will be completely covered with water, DO NOT BLOW INTO THE BAG! Pack the fish as one large fish to a bag, 2 medium sized and up to 5 small. Ask your LFS for one of the polystyrene boxes (or two) that their fish arrive in and pack the bags into the box/es in a upright position, use bags of water with no fish in to pack out any spaces. Seal the box/es up with tape and the fish will be fine until you get to the other end.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

I just want to add:

For a 24 hour trip I would take the fish to the lfs and have them bag the fish for me from their oxygen tank - this way the fish can last up to 48 hours in the bags.

I recommend not feeding the fish for a good 3 days before the move to keep the transport water as clean as possible.

A cheap styrofoam cooler will work just as well for insulation.

With small fish put one bag upside down in another bag, this will prefent them from getting crushed in the corners.

Use at least half new water in the bags, I use all new water for longer moves.

Bag the filter media using the same method as the fish to preserve the bacteria.

 

[Opcn]

I think that you should use the cooler mini tank method (24 hr drive) with something like ammo lock a small bubbler and maybe even get an AC sine wave inverter/generator and plug it into your cigarette lighter so you can run a heater. Unless your fish are aggro then that might be a bit risky.

Opcn

 

[Loopyness]

Thanks everyone im gonna try n get a box and take them that way. thanks for the help, i'll let you know if they all make the move in april sometime!