Travelling with fish

[Laura22]

I'm going to be taking a road trip 4 hours away to a fish/ pet store and I'm planning to bring home at least 2 fish and some coral...my question is , how do I do this without killing my new little guys or causing huge amounts of stress? I was thinking on using a cooler and wrapping the bags they will be in with newspaper or a towel to try to keep the temp stable. Does this sound ok?
Thanks

 

[lpsouth1978]

I don't see why not. Fish and corals are shipped all over the world on much longer trips. A cooler with the bags the fish are in wrapped in paper, or towels should do fine on a 4 hour drive.

 

[hkgar]

You want to make sure that the bag is inflated with O2. My LFS always pumps o2 into the bag to insure the fish have enough O2.

 

[Frost_Hydra]

I once accedently left a goldfish in a bag in a room that was 120 degrees for about 10 hours. it survived, and 4 years later is still doing perfectly. Granted the common goldfish is a pretty sturdy fish, but I think your things should be fine as long as they have oxygen in the bag.

 

[Tripod1404]

I didt many times, some +8 hour trips. Just put the animals in an insulated box and make the bag doesnt tip over.

 

[Bella reef]

I have done 12 hours trips I just use a bucket and add a heater and you are set n ver had anything happened to my fish or coral


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[Laura22]

Thank you all for your help ! I feel so much better about doing this now. Appreciated!

 

[WVfishguy]

I have special fish carriers which I believe were originally made for bait buckets.

They are 6 gallon buckets lined inside with styrofoam inserts.

For long distance trips, I drilled two small holes in the lids, and placed a airline with an airstone down one of the holes. I then duct taped a battery-powered air pump to the side of the bucket and connected the airline to it. The other hole permits the release of air so the lid does not pop off.

I always kept at least one in my work van at all times.

Now, this is a story which will get me branded a liar, but it happened:

One day I noticed the carrier was heavy - too heavy to be empty. It did not have an air pump attached, so I couldn't figure out why it weighed so much.

I took off the lid and, to my surprise, there was a pair of gold severums in the carrier, in about two gallons of water.

I checked my schedule for the previous week, and found the severums had been in the carrier for ten days! I took them out of an account and forgot they were in the van.

This was in the summer. I was a particularly hot summer, with temps getting to the 90s on several days. And my van is a dark blue, so it gets really hot.

The severums were fine. I placed them in another account and they lived for years.

True story.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Over 8 hours, I'd use aerated and heated buckets with as much water in them as you can manage to help with stability.

Under 8 hours, I'd seal the bags and keep them in a stable container, ie a cooler.

For the fish, determine the salinity that they're held at in the store ahead of time and have water or a QT tank set up that matches. When you get home, stabilize the temp and move the fish immediately upon opening their bags. In other words don't let the fish sit in their bag water any longer than you have to.

Corals can be drip acclimated but ideally you'd move them quickly to matching water too.