I'm moving 1700 miles (25 hour drive non-stop) and want to take my fish with me, how do I keep them alive?

Question

Two of the fish are blood parrots and the other is a placostomus (sp?). My boyfriend gave them to me so I want to keep them but I'll be driving for about two days. Is there any way I can get them to my final destination alive or do I have to give them away?

Answer 1

Ask your local pet shop, what they generally do is put them in a carry bag and fill it with oxygen and seal the mouth of the bag, the fish will last for about 36 hrs and are easy to carry as you can put the bag in a container. Clean and neat way no mess

Answer 2

all pet fish have been shipped at least once in their lives. Shipping fish is no problem, you just have to do it right you can check with your local petstore for help on that. You could also take the fish yourself as long as you drove the 25 hrs straight. Fish can survive weeks w/o food so that's not a problem. Pick up some transport bags from your pet store (like what you take the fish home in) put one fish per bag with water from their tank. you can buy oxygen tablets from most pet stores to put in the bags to help oxygenate fish during travel, if not just leave a lot of air in the top of the bag. Place all the bags of fish in a Styrofoam cooler that you can buy for like $1 (this will help keep the water temp the same the whole trip.) remember to use the lid when using the cooler. Be careful when packing the fish and traveling (you have live cargo). And remember when driving time is of the essence. Fish can survive about 30 hours or so when packaged this way properly.

Answer 3

I moved a bunch of fragile fish 1000 miles. Two answers for you. A 5 gallon bucket with a battery operated air blower works well for 12 hrs or so. I would suggest bagging them and adding an oxygen tablet to them. Then after 12hrs, rebag them and add another tablet. Use your aquarium water and make sure your fish don't get to cold or warm. THis is how imported fish come. You can go to your local pet store and get the tablets or go online. I would suggest www.bigalsonline.com for any filter, media, treatment, or food. they are a ton cheaper than anywhere i've ever found. Good luck and i'm confident this would work no problem!

Answer 4

Oh boy, you can do it, but it will be a bit difficult.
1st, you need to have them in a tank that has a flat bottom. No roundish tank.
Before taking them on the trip, make sure their water has been cleaned, and theyre fed.
Lay their tank close to you so you can watch them, and PUT THE TANK ON A FLAT SURFACE, so their water does NOT splash too much. If you put them on the floor of your vehicle, make sure you have put towel underneath their tank. That will make the trip less bouncy, and juggling for them, give them a cushion. Take many breaks from driving. Pull into a rest area, a restaurant, truck-stop, as often as you can. Keep them out of any heat! If you need to lay a soft thin cloth, or towel over the top of their tank to keep out any sun, or heat. You have a long drive, if you cant stop, then just keep them cushioned, the towels or soft pillows underneath their tank should break a lot of the pressure of any bumps you might hit on the road. You can do this, fish have been traveling around from country to country on airplanes and the like for years. Good Luck!

Answer 5

What I did when I moved (7 tanks worth of fish, 7 blood parrots and 2 plecos in that bunch, 900 miles in April)was get some of those 20 gallon plastic bins from the store. Rinse it out well. Fill it up with the tank water. Put the fish in one, any decorations,sand, gravel, filter media, etc. in another(be sure to keep the filter media and stuff wet to preserve your beneficial bacteria). Buy a battery operated air pump & tubing to hook up for the fish(I'll give you a link for a cheap one online), and cut a hole in the lid of the bin and stick the tubing in. Don't know if they make one, never seen it, need to figure out something to heat the water-it's cooling off at night depending where you're going. Also, bring a couple gallons of treated water, and after you stop the first day do a quick water change. We put our fish in the back of a pick up truck, not sure if that's what you're planning, if you're keeping them inside the car with you, that'll help keep the water warm. Just be mindful when you go over bumps-the water can splash out :) Good luck!!


Air pump-do a search for battery operated pumps
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/sh...

Edit: I wouldn't feed them, they'll be fine without food for 2 days. It'll be a smaller container with no filtration, less waste=less ammonia=less stress.

Answer 6

Easiest is to put them in large plastic bags like when you buy them, Get one of the battery pumps or a regular electric one because you can get a converter for your cigarette lighter. Put the bags in to Styrofoam boxes up close to each other so they stay up right and I did it twice a day and I don't know if it was necessary that often but I opened each bag and pumped in fresh air. I also fed them very sparingly for two days but get your tank set up first thing. I also kept all the gravel and filter substrate with the bacteria in a plastic box that only had enough water to cover it. Enough stays alive to get it going easily again. Remember to keep them warm enough. We had them in our car. If you are going by truck the Styrofoam will help insulate so keep them wrapped in blankets. good luck and it isn't really that hard except the worrying on your part.

Answer 7

An easy suggestion
Buy a 50/100litre (acc to the size of fish) plastic/fiber barrel (pic - http://www.fencing-farm-ranch.com/plastic-barrel.jpg ), wash it, clean it thoroughly, add the water 3/4 to the size of barrel (with maintained ingredients of the aquarium, i.e salt level, PH,etc of the water ), place ur fish in it, cover the open end of the barrel with a net(or thin cloth) & tie it. Place it firmly at the back of ur pickup truck
If possible tie the barrel somewhere (so that it does not roll over & the water spills out) and get going.Feed ur fish at proper time during the drive.
I wish u GOODLUCK & a happy journey

Answer 8

hmmm.u can put them in a waterproof box.u know those big white box whereby the fish monger use.or u can visit fishing shop and purchase a bag whereby they keep prawns in it.u can attach a air pump at the side.it works on battries.so u can actually keep the fish alive and u just have to change the batteries if the air pump die off.so in this way.i guess your fish will survive till the end of the trip.

Answer 9

I don't think fish travel well they need to have a filter going at all times unless they are a beta and can stand being in unfiltered water for a while. But even them they there will be water all over the place and maybe even the fish might end up out of the tank instead of in. To hard on them and to hard on you I would part with them and maybe you can get more once you get to your new destination

Answer 10

that's lacking-in spite of the shown fact that, alot of stuff would reason this-vacuum leak, undesirable plugs,wires,coil,dist cap, undesirable or grimy intake, MAF, MAP sensors, undesirable Throttle place Sensor. All of those will reason the vehicle to omit each and all of the time. in spite of the shown fact that, it seems such as you have a grimy or undesirable MAP, MAF, or TPS. till now you spend any funds on maintenance purchase a MAF or throttle-physique purifier [STP variety], verify for vacuum leaks [maximum in all threat reason]. another element it may be is your Torque Converter.If the vehicle constantly stalls once you come to a stop, it may be the torque converter, ie new transmission.