Traveling With Fish

[zombryn]

Hey there everyone!

I'm looking to get a 60L tank (Juwel Rekord 60) which would eventually be home to pygmy corys, tetras and such small fish (which I'll probably be posting about soon before I make any silly decisions). Anyway, before I'm even going to consider buying anything to do with keeping tropical fish I wanted to know if it's possible to travel with fish and if so, for how long. I go back to where my parents are once every year for the summer and come back again. Basically I am where I am for 8 months at a time and then I travel 2 and a half hours/3 hours back for the summer (4 months roughly). Would it be possible to successfully transport my tank with everything in it (obviously not full of water ) and the fish without risk of injuring them?

If it is possible how would I go about doing it? If it's possible I thought bagging them and keeping them in a freezer bag (as some of them keep the warmth as well as the cold) and keeping a plastic bottle filled with warm water in there with them. The only thing is I only have one tank and unless it's possible to reuse the water I had I would have to cycle my tank again when getting back to when I get my parents. Which kind of scares me, because I don't like the idea of cycling with fish unless there are easier ways to go about this?

I really hope what I've said and what I'm asking makes sense. Obviously I'm very new to all this but I've been soaking up as much knowledge as I can over the past few days so feel free to correct me if I've said anything silly.

Thanks a lot for any help/replies I get from anyone. They are very much appreciated.

Take care.

 

[lokkochaa]

Hey there everyone!

I'm looking to get a 60L tank (Juwel Rekord 60) which would eventually be home to pygmy corys, tetras and such small fish (which I'll probably be posting about soon before I make any silly decisions). Anyway, before I'm even going to consider buying anything to do with keeping tropical fish I wanted to know if it's possible to travel with fish and if so, for how long. I go back to where my parents are once every year for the summer and come back again. Basically I am where I am for 8 months at a time and then I travel 2 and a half hours/3 hours back for the summer (4 months roughly). Would it be possible to successfully transport my tank with everything in it (obviously not full of water ) and the fish without risk of injuring them?

If it is possible how would I go about doing it? If it's possible I thought bagging them and keeping them in a freezer bag (as some of them keep the warmth as well as the cold) and keeping a plastic bottle filled with warm water in there with them. The only thing is I only have one tank and unless it's possible to reuse the water I had I would have to cycle my tank again when getting back to when I get my parents. Which kind of scares me, because I don't like the idea of cycling with fish unless there are easier ways to go about this?

I really hope what I've said and what I'm asking makes sense. Obviously I'm very new to all this but I've been soaking up as much knowledge as I can over the past few days so feel free to correct me if I've said anything silly.

Thanks a lot for any help/replies I get from anyone. They are very much appreciated.

Take care.

Not an expert on this but as far as im concerned the main issue is oxygen in the bags, i have purchased fish a good 2 hours away from my house and they were placed in a polystyrene box to keep them warm, they did ok in the transit. I have also had bad experiences when moving house (ive got 5 tanks), a few of my fish (silver dollars) became quite exasperated and one was upside down, after being in an oxygen rich tank he was fine and still got him 3 years on. It a difficult one to answer really due to the oxygen, not sure if it would be possible to put an airstone in each bag for a while to oxegenate the water fully befoer setting off

 

[zombryn]

Thanks for that lokkochaa!

I've made a note of the polystyrene boxes and airstone idea. It'd be great to hear some advice from others if they have anything they can add to help.
Thanks again!

 

[ollyhtafc]

I kept the filter media in a bag of tank water too...all was fine 2 hours later.
I just bagged the fish, then put all the bags in a bucket surrounded by towels and they did fine!

 

[zombryn]

I kept the filter media in a bag of tank water too...all was fine 2 hours later.
I just bagged the fish, then put all the bags in a bucket surrounded by towels and they did fine!

Thank you ollyhtafc. Did you keep any of the tank water apart from the water the fish and the filter were in or is that unnecessary?

 

[zombryn]

Also, would live plants be alright travelling for a couple of hours? I'm sure they would but I thought I'd ask anyway. Thanks so much to those who've helped me so far and to anyone that can help me in future. This forum has been the best source of information for tropical fish keeping so far. Thanks again!

 

[Tolak]

Fast smaller fish for 24 hours before bagging, larger ones 48 hours. 1/3 water, 2/3 air, in a styro or cooler to maintain temperature. I buy & sell fish at auctions all the time, bagged for 12-24 hours. The same applies to plants or filter media.

Out of over 700 items at an auction on Sunday, which does include things other than fish, but multiple fish per item, I recall one fish that wasn't looking too good. Thousands of bagged fish, for several hours or more, with one swimming erratically.

 

[shaz-killie]

i've drove 4hrs with fish in bags. also not sure if you have access to something similar but when i've moved house i've used a large plastic tub with a secure lid and put all the fish in that. put it in the passengers footwell and jammed it in with the seat so it doesn't move. I've moved house four times and never lost a fish. also if the fish are inside the car the heat of the car stops the water temp dropping too much

 

[JustKia]

You don't cycle the water. You cycle the filter.
Once the filter is cycled and it comes to summer and time to move, put the filter (or at least the media) in a bag of tank water so it keeps wet and you should be fine, you might get a mini cycle but will probably be OK so long as the media doesn't dry out.

Set up the tank at your parents place, fill with dechlorinated water to about the same temp as the fish are accustomed to, then put your filter in (can go in first but make sure you don't get tap water that hasn't be dechlorinated in the filter as it will kill off bacteria), then float your fish bags so they acclimatise any temp difference etc.

What you might find problems with is if your parents water is a significantly different pH or hardness, I'm not sure how easy it is to acclimatise in those conditions, but I'm sure someone will be able to help out there

 

[zombryn]

Tolak: Thanks for the reply, although I don't understand what you mean by "Fast smaller fish for 24 hours before bagging, larger ones 48 hours." Thank you very much for your help and advice!

shaz-killie: Thanks you for your reply. I'd already thought of doing the same so you've just backed up my idea and told me that it works. Thanks again!

JustKia Hey JustKia, thank you so much for that. That was extremely helpful. Well this year I'm going to be at my girlfriends house, her Dad already has afew aquariums so I can ask him what the water's like in the area so that I'll be prepared. Thank you very much and thanks for clearing up my mistake about cycling.

Thanks again everyone who's replied. I really am very greatful for all of the replies so far!

Take care.

 

[Schmill]

To aclimatise the fish at the end of the journey I would do just as you would if you were taking new fish home (taken from a shipment of fish recently received);

After filling tank with dechlor water, temp being about right, heater, filter etc all setup:

- Keep the tank lights off.
- Float the bag in the tank, (still tied) for around 15 minutes to allow the water to gradually match temperature
- Open the top of the bag, and roll it into a collar so that the bag floats on the surface with the top open.
- Over a period of about 20 minutes gradually add water from the tank every 5 minutes, taking the bag from 1/3 full of water, to 2/3 full of water.
- After another 20 minutes carefully net the fish out of the bag and into the tank, DISCARD the transit water.
- Keep the lights off for a day, and the fish probably won't feed for this time either.

To be honest I think the 'biggest' problem won't be the fish, but the live plants being disturbed from the substrate every 4 months or so. You might find it tricky with them, or all might be fine, all you can do is try

Needs must and all that!

 

[Tolak]

Fasting=not eating, don't feed them anything for that length of time. I travel 2-3 hours to outside auctions, with fish, on a regular basis.

 

[zombryn]

Schmill: It'll be every 8 months then 4 months etc, if that makes sense? But you're right, and try I shall!

Tolak: Thanks for clearing that up, makes a lot more sense now!