PlanetCatfish.com

Hi, I wanted to ask whether a fish will be allright on a 2 hour journey from the store??

Cheers

As long as the fish are packed accordingly, yes. I have transported fish for 5-6 hours without any notable problems. Carrying the fish in a polystyrene box would help, and keeping the car warm will certainly help.

Packing fish for transport isn't very hard, but making sure "not too many in a bag" and "larger bag" helps a lot...

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Mats

I have road triped for as much as 3 hours and I use a bucket designed for keeping live bait when fishing. It is 5 gallons, has a lid, and has a battery powered air pump that hangs on the side. I paid $20 U.S. and found it at a local bait & tackle shop. Never had a problem with keeping fish alive during a journey.

I've not had a problem with 4 hour journeys. The shop I went to was kind enough to give me a polystyrene shipping box to transport them home in. I would (depending on the size of the fish and/or bags) ask that they pack them one fish per bag. Make sure that in the poly box, cool box, bucket, or what ever you transport them in, any empty space is filled with air/water filled bags to stop the fish getting knocked about too much.

I have had discus in bags for near on 16 hours, as long as they are bagged right, a bit of prime or ammo lock helps and they are kept warm they do quite alright. Look at the fish getting freighted around the world, it all comes down to prep work by the shipper really.

There little water needed in a bag - air space is far more crucial for longer than 0.5-1 h trips. If the size of the bag is picked right for the size of the fish and the air space is used to the max allowed by the bag, your fish should be good for at least 2 hours but usually 4-6 h. IME, 8 h are still fine but this is really pushing it.

Your responsibility is to keep the temp constant and keep moving so that the water gets mixed up in the bag - stopping for a 1 h lunch on the way would not be advisable, the water need agitation.

When pure oxygen is used on top of the water, in place of air, the time can be extended by 5-6 times to about 24-48 h because the concentration of O2 in the air is only 18-19% vs. obviously 100% for pure O2. Then ammonia becomes a concern and the (especially big) fish better had been on a fast before a long trip. Also, the amount of water starts to matter more, obviously, because it dilutes ammonia. Ammolock is good.

Bag-buddies are also very good and are claimed to replace the need for pure oxygen (I do not understand how) - they have chloride salts, sodium/pottasium and calcium, if memory serves, and often a small amount of an anesthetic.

You need enough water that:
1. The fish is fully submerged.
2. There is enough water to keep the temperature reasonable stable.

The latter is often as important as the first.

But there should be at least 2/3 air in the bag. More water than 1/3 is not meaningful.

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Mats