Long Distance fish transporting

[Trickster]

Well ive been wondering, when fish and all are shipped from florida... how do they do it?

Because i might be moving soon, from eastern canada all the way to the west (ontario to Alaska) and its about a 4 days drive. So i was wondering how i would transport the fish?

[t_chelle16]

What I would do (and what I plan on doing for a few of my fish when I move), is buy an insulated cooler (the sturdy kind, not just the cheap styrofoam ones) and a battery powered air pump (or something that will plug into your cigarette lighter in your car). Drill a small hole in the lid of the cooler to put an air stone in there and transport the fish in that.

Since it's going to be a few days, you could just really closely monitor the water quality and do water changes if the ammonia gets too high. The problem with that is you'll be in different places each day and you could get some pretty nasty pH swings. Plus, you would likely lose all your beneficial bacteria in your filters. Even if you kept them wet, I'm not sure if the bacteria would still be alive after 4 days w/o any food. So you'd basically have to recycle the tanks with the fish in them when you got to your new place.

So a possible solution is to keep the filters handy and the filter media wet. When you stop for the night, hopefully at a hotel, set the filter up on the cooler and let it run over night. That should get rid of the ammonia and feed the bacteria to keep it alive.

I also wouldn't feed the fish during that time period (or at least a day before moving).

-Chelle

[Fish Addict]

well tchelle covered it all

[Trickster]

So the air pump will keep the water full of oxygen?

And no, i dont think there would be a hotel.

y shouldnt i feem them?

Should all the fish go in same cooler? (Without terriotory war?)
^^^^
Specialy with the gourami and convicts stuck in there together.

Ill look into getting a power converter that hooks into car outlet so i can keep filter running and airpump.

[t_chelle16]

Yes, the pump will help keep the water oxygenated.

Not feeding means there will be less waste and less ammonia.

If they're large/aggressive fish, I'd use separate coolers. Or if the fish are relatively small, you could try separate buckets/containers within the cooler (you'd have to get a splitter for your airline so you could run an air stone in each container).

-Chelle

[Trickster]

Well my convicts would be 4" by the time i would be moving, so i guess the 2 of em would need their own seperate cooler


But otherwise thanks alot of ur help.