Transporting fish for hours by car

Hi everyone

I am planning on buying some threadfins in Cape Town early in October and then driving them back to PE. Should take about 8 hours. Any suggestions as how to transport them? I was thinking of getting a cooler box, filling it with cotton wool or newspaper or something similar that can insulate and then leaving them in the bag in the cooler box for the whole trip. It would be dark in the cooler box so the fish shouldnt stress too much. Its more the heat loss that Im worried about.

 

@TheGrissom - Maybe you should get a battery air pump?

 

Here's what I would suggest. Get one of those Styrofoam boxes the fish are supplied in to the pet shops. The pet shop should have one for you. Having fish in the small bag from the lfs won't help much when oxygen etc plays a role. Small amounts of water gets cold quickly even though you want to put insulation in. Then there's also the chance of ammonia build up in that time with such small quantity of water. Get some oxygen tablets. These work well. You can wrap the box in black refuse bags and a blanket. This will keep temp much more stable. But be carefull if it's a very hot day. Then you don't need to wrap the box.
HTH

 

We use these for keeping live bait alive, which does the trick for an entire day's fishing, so should work. If you're getting from an LFS then their packaging method should be fine seeing as these guys overnight fish all the time.

Insulation from the cooler box should be good. And there are always knock-out drops...

 

@TheGrissom

I moved 27 Neo. Brevis from PE to Cape Town by car on a scorching hot day using relatively big plastic "fish" bags, with more oxygen than water, put the bags into one of those Styrofoam boxes. I also asked the owner to stop feeding them for a day or two before transport (so they don't shit the bag). He was good enough to to do extra water changes in the days leading up to transport. Good clean water, lots of oxygen and a stable temperature (due to styrofoam) and they should be fine. Most importantly I guess, make sure the tank waiting for them is a healthy environment.

Not sure about your species though, much will depend on the size of the fish I guess... though the method probably remains much the same.
Concerns about over-heating might be valid, I did put a block or two of ice in the styro-box during the worst of the heat.

 

TheGrissom . Are you buying your threadfins from a breeder.
I have been searching for a while for these little beauties

 

@spider: There is a lady that often gets them in. I dont think I can advertise as she is not a sponsor. I will pm you here email

 

Thanks for the replies. I will see if I can find O2 tabs. A friend of mine has given me an adress where I can get the boxes that spear fishermen use to keep their fish fresh so I should be sorted out. All I need now is for the shop that I am going to to have the threadfins in stock.

 

Good luck.:top:

 

Like @Reedfish said... Lots of air and a styrofoam container. Make sure that the container lid is closed properly because this will relax the fish and when the water starts cooling down the fish will go into a type of hybernation. Don't freak when you lift the lid and they look pale and dead... Just slowly increase the water temp to the new home tanks temp and feed them as soon as you release them.

 

Im not too worried about this. Usually when I buy fish I take 4 to 6 hours to acclimatise them. But then the bag is open to the atmosphere and the bag is floating in the tank so its a constant heat and air supply. Im only going in the 1st week of October so I still have 3 weeks to prepare.

 

this is probably one of the best ways to go, in particular note the "more air than water ratio, as the fish would potentially run out of oxygen befor ammonia poisoning starts to happen - so 25% of the bag should contain water, the other 75% should be O2. what i would add is that when they bag the fish, let them fill up the bag with pure O2 from an oxygen tank rather than just simply filling up the bag from an airline connected to a normal air pump. and also quite vitaly, add a drop or 2 of prime to the water, this should eliminate ammonia, nitrites and nitrates if they should occurr.

hoepfully the ambient temperature should also be slightly warmer by then.

 

@mydummyname is right. Use very little water in bag with pure oxygen. Does not need to be medical oxygen. Oxygen from your portapak welder is perfect. (Black cylinder.) Just be careful you don't burst the bag. Do not feed the fish for two days before packing. Fish bagged this way and transported in a polystyrene box, should be OK for 24 to 48 hours, depending on the size of bag and the number of fish. For longer times, you will have to treat the fish with sedatives, but that is way out of the scope of hobbyists.

 

Yesterday I moved 10 threadfin rainbowfish from Cape Town to PE. 6 females and 4 males. Just checked on them and there are 9 survivors. One female died. Hopefully thats my only loss. I have them in a tank filled with java moss for quaratine as well as to hopefully spawn in a few weeks when they are more comfortable with the conditions

 

Yaaay I know how you have been wanting these beauties!!

 

I brought 2 plants back as well. A grass like plant with verigated leaves. just googled it and it seems it is not fully aquatic. Damn it. It looks so nice in my tank.

 

hey guys could anyone tell me where i could get a battery pump in durban?