How long can I leave new purchases in the bag for transit?

[Jimmer12]

I'm heading to my in laws for thanksgiving dinner today and there is a large LFS that has a good saltwater selection near their house. I was hoping to pick up some more cleanup crew, some hermits and maybe a few more snails. Anyway even if I go right when they are getting ready to close, I may have the critters in the bags for 4 or 5 hours before we get home.

Is this doable or going to be problematic?

 

[tinfoilsoldier]

Less time in the bag is better than more, but whenever I get worried about how long something will be in a bag I remind myself that you can also order all kinds of stuff online and have it shipped and survive.

Tell the LFS your intentions, maybe they will give you a little extra water so the ammonia/etc buildup is slower. If you don't have an insulated box, the store might even give you one of the Styrofoam boxes they get shipments in.

If you were really concerned you might want to ask them about buying/adding something like seachem prime (but I haven't done that personally).

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[Jimmer12]

I usually bring a cooler with me when I get livestock anyway, I'll be sure to ask about larger capacity bags.

 

[gone fishin]

I would not sweat it to much. As long as they are packed in a cooler they should be fine. If temps are a concern then a hot or cold pack for the cooler will help out. Also, some LFS will have O2 tanks that they will shoot into the bag for longer trips. Good luck just my 2 cents.

 

[hkgar]

Fish ordered on line get about 18 hours in a bag. But, I think the fact that they are in a completely black environment is a big factor as there metabolism, I think (I don't know, so I will take correction if wrong) therefore reducing O2 demand. They also push O2 into the bag, even my LFS does this for even a short drive home.

As a note, and with Mathew causing havoc, when I was a aw rookie I lost power to Hurricane Charlie and everything in my tank was dead in 24 hours.

 

[Jimmer12]

Well wish me luck, I've got 6 crabs and 4 snails in bags for about an hour and a half now. Just finished thanksgiving dinner and should be on the way home in another hour or two. They are in a closed cooler, so totally black, hopefully that will help.

 

[Betaktical]

I moved my clowns and a six line wrasse about 5 hours away and didn't acclimate. As soon as u open the bag everything starts to convert. If your doing a trip more than 2 hours I would do a fast acclimation.


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[Jimmer12]

Well it seems like all went well. 6 new hermits are busy scurrying around, 3 trochus snails are slowly moving about and a new nassarius snail went straight underground when he hit the sand bed.

 

[Willyboz1]

You should be fine. I normally buy fish when I'm at work because the lfs is near there. They are usually in my office for like 4-5 hours with no problem. I do get worried sometimes and leave earlier to get them in my tank but you should be ok.

 

[ThRoewer]

I had fish spend a weekend in their shipping bags because FedEx screwed up the Saturday delivery before a Monday holiday - all were alive upon arrival, though 2 didn't make it through the first night.

Shrimp and crabs may last up to a week in a bag if packed with oxygen and kept warm enough.

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[gone fishin]

Well it seems like all went well. 6 new hermits are busy scurrying around, 3 trochus snails are slowly moving about and a new nassarius snail went straight underground when he hit the sand bed.

Great, I like to see posts where things worked out.

 

[A sea K]

I had fish spend a weekend in their shipping bags because FedEx screwed up the Saturday delivery before a Monday holiday

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I've also had a similar experience with fed ex, my overnight shipment turned into a 2 day delay due to a fed ex snafu. Surprisingly all of my fish made it through acclimation and survived long term.