best way to transport fish?

[surf city baby]

The time has come for me to give up fishkeeping for a while. I found two people here at work with well-estabilished tanks compatible with my own, and they will take my fish. One person is taking the two clown loaches, and the other will take the two tetras and one platy.

From home to work is about a two-hour drive. How can I best transport these fishies? I have ideas:

1. Ziploc bags?

2. Little styrofoam coolers? (size of a 6-pack)

3. Half-gallon lemonade pitchers, only half-filled w/ water?

I don't want to harm or shock these fish. Any thoughts?

 

[Cearbhaill]

Big plastic bags from the LFS- you can trap lots of air inside them and pack the bags tightly in a cooler to avoid sloshing and temperature fluctuation.

 

[anonapersona]

Bag then box

Double bag, inverting the second bag to keep from having any corners to trap fish. Then transport in small cooler for temp stability. Not many fish per bag, particularly if the fish are larger

 

[surf city baby]

Thanks to Anonapersona and Cearbhaill.

Next question: these fish might sit in the bags all day. I imagine that might be a bad idea. Am I right?

 

[StreetCypher]

I'd bet that the ammonia/waste levels would rise quite fast if left all day in a bag. Sort of a PITA, but could you do water changes at work?

 

[kevinhaeb]

When a fish is shipped to you, it could be in the bag for over 20 hours, maybe even more. I wouldn't go over 10 hours without some kind of oxygen producer in the bag. So, you should be alright. Make sure you don't feed the fish a day or two before you transport them. The food will produce excess waste once they are in the bags. If you wanted to let them sit all day, you could get the oxygen tabs and definitely wrap the bags in newspaper or something dark.

 

[rubydoo]

transporting fish

I would suggest you use a insulated box. Double bag the fish as suggested above and put a cool pack underneath the bags with a layer of newspaper over the cool pack. I ship fish across the US and use that method. In the winter time I use a heat pack instead of a cool pack. My fish have made it 3-4 days that way with none dying. In the bags I only put about 1/3 tank water and 2/3 air. I also secure bags with rubberbands.

 

[Cat]

I recently had to transport 30 large fish in a lorry for 3 hours. My LFT lent me the boxes they get there deliveries in. They were large polystyrene boxes with lids, that you part fill with water from the tank, (not to much just about a third full) That way they got a lot more oxygen then in a bag and not the stressfull invisible bag walls.
In fact we had a crisis were we got held up in traffic and were not able to drop them off at the LFS who were going to look after them while I got the tank set up and cycled so they had to stay in there boxes for nearly 24 hours before I could take them in next morning. All 30 fish survived the journey and the wait.
Plus if you have to leave them in boxes for a long time you can always syphon out some of the water and put in some fresh de-chlorinated tepid water.
Try asking your LFS if they can lend you some. My LFS used then to get their deliveries all the way from singapore on a plane! so they are designed for the job!