How long can you transport fish

Have you ever had to slam on the brakes because some bad driver cut you off? Well, if your fish is in the car and being transported in a bucket, the bucket may spill or tip over, causing your fish to be deposited into your car, which will kill it.

With that said, transporting your fish in the car, inside of the tank, or a bucket is really not recommended due to many issues that can and often do arise. The only good way to transport a fish in a car is by using a good old plastic bag.

Simply fill up a strong and clear plastic bag halfway with the tank water and put the fish in it. Be sure to use the aquarium water that your fish has been living in to do this, as it will have the right parameters to keep your fish alive during transportation. Keep in mind that fish can survive for about an hour or a little more in a plastic bag due to limited oxygen, so if the trip is going to take longer, you must get pure oxygen to put in the bag so the fish can survive, which can be found at any aquarium store.

Transporting fish short or long distances, with or without a car, is notoriously hard and dangerous. Like we mentioned before, fish often suffer big-time stress and may die, even on short trips, so ideally, trips should be kept as short as possible.

The best way to transport a fish a short distance is by using the plastic bag method which we discussed above. Keep in mind that water is heavy, so anything over 2 liters runs the risk of exploding the bag and causing your fish to fall out and die. Be sure to use aquarium water to fill the bag, and do not place more than 1 or 2 fish per bag.

Remember that the more water there is, the more dissolved oxygen will be present, but the more fish you have in the bag, the more oxygen they will need. If you are traveling a short distance and happen to have a wagon of sorts, and are traversing flat and even terrain, you could drag the whole aquarium along or put the fish in a bucket on the wagon.

Just be sure to be very careful when doing so. The less jostling and water movement there is the better. If you do not have a bag that is adequate for transporting your fish, you really only have 2 options. These options include using a bucket or transporting the fish in the aquarium itself. There are a few things to remember here. You cannot feed your fish during transport, either.

Scoop your fish out of his tank with a fish net and place him in a bag. Do not put multiple fish in the same bag; each fish needs his own. Tie off the top of the bag and then place that bag inside a second bag. Tie the second bag closed as well. Double bagging helps prevent leakage. Place your bagged fish inside a sturdy, insulated container and use bubble wrap to fill in the areas between the bags and the walls of the container. You don't want your bagged fish rolling around inside your container.

If you expect temperatures to drop below the temperature where your fish can survive comfortably during your trip, you'll also need to include a heat pack that you can activate on the way to keep your fish warm. It's possible to keep your fish alive on a long trip, but it's not easy. Mistakes that seem minor can cost you fish his life when you're traveling.

Temperature changes should be gradual, and as you're moving them, they'll have been through some change already. If your home temperature will be generally warmer, your tank heaters will have less work to maintain the same temperature. Not Helpful 1 Helpful You'll know when your fish is stressed or upset as it tends to breathe faster and stay still. Fish are covered with a protective slime coating and if they get stressed, they make less and become prone to infection. Added to that, stress makes their immune system weaker.

Once back in their home, you must keep the lights off to keep them calm and reduce the amount of noise and movement in the fish room so they can recover. You can also add some fish anti-stress remedies, though I'm not sure how effective they are.

Not Helpful 2 Helpful Use a bucket with a lid to transport it. If it's extra big, it might cost a little to move it, using a whale hammock, a truck, and a lot of aquarium water. It depends on the airline regulations. If the fish is not allowed on the plane, which is sometimes the case, you can mail them to yourself. Not Helpful 0 Helpful It really depends on the way you take care of your fish while the transport occurs. If all you do is stick it in the bag and leave it there for two days, it will mostly likely pass on.

However, if you check on your fish regularly and ensure that it has everything it needs, it is more likely to survive. Yes, just don't keep it in the bag any longer than necessary, and make sure there is plenty of air in the bag it shouldn't be completely filled with water. Yoelvis Pedraza. Use a closed bag. Make sure to transfer the fish to the tank as quickly and smooth as possible when you get home.

I have an insulated lunchbox to transport my fish in. Will these methods work for bringing my fish home from the store if it is an hour away?

If only an hour journey, they should be fine in the bag provided by the store. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 3. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Related wikiHows How to. How to. More References Aquarium Care Professional. Expert Interview. About This Article. Co-authored by:. Co-authors: Updated: September 16, Categories: Fishing. Article Summary X If you need to transport fish, make sure no chemicals have previously been in the bucket you plan to use.

Italiano: Trasportare i Pesci. Deutsch: Einen Fisch transportieren. Bahasa Indonesia: Mengangkut Ikan. Nederlands: Vissen transporteren. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read , times. I'm going to put around 12 fish from my 26 gal. It will be in the passengers foot space of the truck, to avoid to much sloshing. And I'll be able to regulate the temperature. More reader stories Hide reader stories. Did this article help you?

Cookies make wikiHow better. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Make sure you close the hood on the edge of the bag to prevent water spilling out. Sit back and watch how the fish reacts for about an hour.

Do not feed the fish with food immediately after transferring it into the tank — feed it after a few hours when you can see that it has fully adjusted to its new environment with no negative reactions.

In order to protect your fish inside a bag during transportation, you need to ensure that the right temperature, dissolved oxygen, and carbon dioxide levels are maintained. You need to keep in mind that nitrogenous wastes such as ammonia compounds are toxic to fish, even at low levels. Since fish excrete ammonia from the gill membranes in order to eliminate ammonia compounds, you need to reduce travel times. Ammonia waste can also negatively affect the pH and temperature of the water inside the bag.

Ammonia will increase the alkalinity of the water inside the bag, and that could be catastrophic to freshwater fish. It is also important to keep the water temperature low while the fish is inside a bag in order to reduce its metabolism. Ammonia in the water will increase the temperature, and an increase in temperature is known to speed up the metabolism in fish — meaning they may soon get hungry.

The type of bag you use must be at least 3mm thick for the ideal seal and to prevent damage. Make sure you avoid the pillow-slip bags because they can create sharp corners when filled with water. Sharp corners can become a trap for a fish, meaning that it might choke and die. If you have to transfer the fish in a pillow-slip bag, you can square up the bag corners by simply folding them up and then tapping to the sides to prevent square corners. Some fish bags may come with square bottoms so that they can sit flat at the bottom of a transporting box.

Fish bags can be punctured during shipment or transport and this must be avoided at all costs. When you are transporting a fish that has a sensitive, sharp spine, you may need between 2 and 3 extra bags to ensure that at least one bag remains watertight at all times. Once the bag has been filled with clean water and dissolved oxygen, it must be sealed carefully.

If you have to transport the fish bag in boxes, then the boxes must be insulated, in order to keep temperatures inside the bag constant during transport. Do not add antibiotics into a fish bag during transfer — such medications can do more harm than good.

Remember that the fish is nervous inside the bag, hence it may use up more oxygen. You need to ensure that you add more than enough oxygen that will last beyond the duration of travel inside the bag.

It is recommended that the fish bag contains no less than half of its volume in Oxygen. And in fact, many pet stores seal the fish bag with two-thirds of oxygen inside.