hi all,
just wondering how long can fish survive in bags if being transported from one tank to another,the reason being ive been looking on the classifieds and there are some fish i wouldnt mind buying but not sure about transporting them.
cheers in advance
tez

A lot depends on how exactly it's done. I've bought (and sent out) fish by overnight courier many times, for instance and never had a death in any of them. I did have some arrive very unwell though because of poor packing by the seller and of the six I bought only 3 survived the experience

It also depends partly on the size of fish you want to transport. Larger adults are better transported in a bigger container. Last year I picked up two adult Angelfish from another member 130 miles away and transported them in a food safe storage box wrapped in polystyrene and bubblewrap in the footwell of the car, near the heater. At the weekend another member brought 6 Clown Loaches of varying sizes up to me from well over 100 miles away in a waterbutt with a heater running off an inverter to keep them warm.

Smaller fish can be double bagged and then the bags wrapped in newspaper and wedged inside a "Cool Bag" to insulate them for a journey up to 3 hours, or a heat pack can be added and "Bag Buddies" used for a longer trip.

You could ask them if they have the facilities to pack with oxygen (unlikely unless coming from a trade supplier) or will they use kordon breatheable bags. Those bags are good as you fill them full so there is more water volume to cushion the fish and dilute waste, and gases can diffuse through the membrane.

hi noodle and cathie,
thanks for the reply.the fish im looking at are rotkeil sevs and are around the 6-7 inch mark ..a male and female and the distance is around a 3hour trip maybe a bit more so the advice is really appreciated.will probably go down the storage box method unless i can get some huge membraine bags.just out of interest what are bag buddies.
thanks again tho
tez

Bag Budddies are tablets that you drop in the bag. They dissolve in the water and produce oxygen and also neutralise ammonia. They're useful for journeys up to 24 hours and I use them when sending fish by courier.

Post some pics of the Rotkeils if you get them - I have five at the moment, but mine are juveniles between 2 and 3 inches.

bag buddies sound like a good idea.
i'll definatley post some pics if i end up getting them.the only problem ive got is finding the time to travel to get them as most of the sellers on classifieds wont do postage.lfs has juvies in but they are only around the 2 inch mark and they dont seem to have any colour to them.do yours have any colour?

these are the ones at my lfs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTZ8-9n5EwY

its only 20 mins away which would get rid of the travelling...just not sure about the colour of them do they look like yours?

Mine are all showing more colour than that, though none have the full Rotkeil colouring yet. The largest of mine is just under 3 inches and the smallest is 2 inches with the others in between. Typically Rotkeil juvies don't start to really look like Rotkeils 'til they're over 3.5 inches, approaching 4, but normally are showing red in the pelvic and anal fins and some blue in the face by 2 inches. The red neck comes later and the colours intensify. They look very much like Green Severums when very small. Those in the shop may just be very stressed, though normally they show stress by darkening, with the black bars on their sides becoming very black and well-defined. I'll see if I can get a decent pic of one of mine later and post it for comparison.

thanks i'll look forward to a picture so i can compare them.my freind was in the shop at the weekend and he did say they were very dark...hmmmmmm what to do lol

Here you go - just took these. Stress bars are showing a bit as the light's just come on and please ignore the fact that the glass needs a clean :







EDIT: You do normally expect to see the black bars to a reasonable extent on juvies, they tend to fade when they grow up and then only show when they're "on the alert". If they go very pale and show no colour at all it's a bit more worrying. That said, the shop tank looked a bit mucky and ovecrowded which may account for it, but they didn't seem to be showing any colour at all

I use a cool box, with a small filter running in it.
I have an inverter running the filter when in the car,
I have this one
Ring PowerSource 150 Inverter DC to AC power inverter