Best Way To Transport

juliehainsworth

Fish Herder
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Hi I'm planning on taking a few of my juvies to a friend of mine but the journey will be about 4 to 5 hours long, what is the least stressful way of packing them so they stay warm and suffer less stress!

Many thanks
 
when i've moved my bettas i bag them in fish bags, and packed them into a 3.5g kritter keeper (this is when i moved house with 4 bettas) with kitchen towel inbetween the bags so they couldn't see each other, and the tank was lined with newspaper and bubble wrap, with more kitchen towel and bubble wrap over the top. did the job and they all seemed fine.
 
Fish shipping bags, double-bagged just in case one leaks, leave at least half of the bag full of air (half with water), don't feed the fish for 24 hours before bagging. Set the bags inside a bunch styrofoam packing peanuts so they don't go rolling around too much, put all inside a styro box (like an ice chest--without the ice). Depending on how cold your 4-5 hour trip will be, if it's going to be cold then you'll probably need a heat pack; if not, just keep the lid on the box to retain heat. As soon as you arrive, get the bags floating in whatever tank they will be living in and release the fish as soon as is wise. I've shipped fish and they do just fine. If you've got hyper fish to begin with, you might want to add some Bag Buddies to the bag water (contains a mild sedative (smells like clove oil) and some methylene blue) but not necessary if fish are not the frantic type. Just keep them in the dark and don't delay getting them into suitable living quarters as soon as you arrive.
 
Thanks guys! Also how many fish can I put in one bag (females)? Should I put all six in one bag or 3 per bag? They are all still quite small! Another question is that I know the water is completely different where I'm taking them will that affect them too much?
 
I would probably do one per bag to be safe, but that's just me. You can get really small bags if space is an issue. They don't need much water.
 
Heya,

If it were me, i normally have a collbox around the house. But i normally get those plast Zip-Loc sandwich bags and place one per bag. I then put them all in the box and add a load of shredded newspapers and stuff on top to keep them warm. As said before dont feed for 24 hours before travelling and i normally place one drop from a 1ML pipette of methylene blue in the bag... :)

Bret
 
I wouldn't use Ziplock bags--too much chance the zip comes undone and then the water leaks out leaving your fish very unhappy (who needs to be worrying about that when you're traveling?). I'd either individually bag the fish or, if they are really small and young yet and get along without incident ever, maybe 2 to a bag if the bag is big enough (shipping bags come in various sizes). The whole idea of individual bags--one of hte ideas at least--is so if one bag goes bad (fish dies in the bag, all the water leaks out, bag gets squashed, all the horrible things you hope you'll never have to experience but that sometimes do happen), at least you have the others so you won't lose them all. You probably won't need the Methlyene Blue since it's not an extremely long trip and they are young still.

Assuming the new water is fish-friendly, do the slow acclimation thing with all the bags--float the bags in the new tanks so the temp evens out, add a little of the new tank water to the bags over 15-30 mins or even longer if you want, just make sure to check on the fish to make sure none are reacting badly, make sure the bags are secure so air can get in (bags have a bad habit of collapsing when you don't want them to) but covered with a lid in case an eager fish tries to make a break for it, so the fish can adjust to the new water mixed in with the old slowly. Maybe even have a new bottle of spring water handy (that you can drink if the fish don't need it) just in case the fish do not react well to the new water even after slow acclimation. They most likely will unless the new water is really bad. When the acclimation process is done, I always pour the water in the bag (with the fish) through a net so the fish gets caught, then I put the fish into the tank and dump all of the bag water although I don't think it's critical after only 4-5 hours but why put used water into the tank.
 

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