Transporting Fish

[Patrick]

Hi all, I have another question:

I was wondering what recommendations you all have that I should know/need to safely transport 5 mollies, 1 tetra and a snail? The place I will be picking them up from is about 1 hour away from my house, and that is with my foot leaning heavily on the pedal <grin>.

Patrick

 

[heresmike]

An hour trip is not much longer than I usually make with my fish, so there shouldn't be too much to worry about. Are you picking them up from a fish store? The method they use for packaging should be suitable, ie, securing the fish in plastic bags with plenty of oxygen. If you're worried about a temp change, you could place the bags in a cooler, like one of those styrofoam ones, for insulation.

 

[Patrick]

Are you picking them up from a fish store?

No it is not from the LFS, it is from my friends place. Thanks for the information!!

 

[clutterydrawer]

Hmm, a tricky one....


I would probably put them in those thick polythene bags that are used for storing food in freezers (you know what i mean...?)

fill them halfway up with water (needs to be plenty of air in there...) and put the fish in, then stand the bags in a bucket. Not too many fish in each bag. Maybe curl a folded blanket round the inside of the bucket to insulate it.


Is there going to be anyone in the car with you? Cos when I get my fish from the lfs I always have one person to drive and the other person to hold the bucket steady, if the bucket gets shaken all over the car I think it would stress the fish.

 

[Patrick]

I would probably put them in those thick polythene bags that are used for storing food in freezers (you know what i mean...?)


Is there going to be anyone in the car with you? Cos when I get my fish from the lfs I always have one person to drive and the other person to hold the bucket steady, if the bucket gets shaken all over the car I think it would stress the fish.

Thx for the idea on the freezer bags, will have to pick some of the Large ones up....As to some one else with me, no sorry to say but its only myself...just have to seat belt the bucket that I carefully place the bags into...

As a side note, I have been reading up on heaters and most of u have all suggested to pick up 2 heaters. Well I can now say from experience that you should ALLWAYS have 2 heaters. My thermostat went down some time yesterday and when I woke up this morning the tank temp was just over 90 degrease with no sign of slowing down...thank gosh I had no fish in there yet!

 

[heresmike]

As a side note, I have been reading up on heaters and most of u have all suggested to pick up 2 heaters. Well I can now say from experience that you should ALLWAYS have 2 heaters. My thermostat went down some time yesterday and when I woke up this morning the tank temp was just over 90 degrease with no sign of slowing down...thank gosh I had no fish in there yet!

Hi Patrick. I'm confused. Was the temp going up? If so, how would having 2 heaters solve this problem?

 

[clutterydrawer]

Patrick You could try duct taping the bucket to the front seat. Depends how much you vlaue the upholstry (sp?) on the seats tho Was that heater new or secondhand?

heresmike if you have one 100W heater and it breaks, it can overheat the tank very fast, if you have two 50W heaters, it is likely that only one would break at a time, and because it is half strength, it wouldn't be strong enough to overheat the whole tank.
.

 

[Matty]

As a side note, I have been reading up on heaters and most of u have all suggested to pick up 2 heaters. Well I can now say from experience that you should ALLWAYS have 2 heaters. My thermostat went down some time yesterday and when I woke up this morning the tank temp was just over 90 degrease with no sign of slowing down...thank gosh I had no fish in there yet!

Hi Patrick. I'm confused. Was the temp going up? If so, how would having 2 heaters solve this problem?

well, that was a really strong heater that did that. If you have two smaller heaters, they run longer and don't switch on and off as often, which causes wear to the bimetallic strip. And if one were to fuse in the on position, it wouldn't be able to heat up the tank as quickly, giving you time to save the fish.