Stocking
Moving Fish
Written by Wednesday, 12 December 2001 01:00
Sooner or later - no matter how hard you try - you'll have to move your beloved fishes on a trip longer than that from tank "A" to tank "B". Chances are, you'll find yourself lost ... Of course I'm kidding, moving fishes is not that difficult provided you take the needed precautions. "Trips", in my opinion, can be classified in three categories:
- Short: such as from your lfs to home, or so.
- Middle: such as from your tank(s) to Your friend's one(s) (when exchanging/trading fishes).
- Long: when going to another city (to attend an auction) or moving them from one state to another. You may have to cross a continent or even an ocean
Short trips: when taking back fishes from your lfs the only wise thing to do is to return home quickly, to diminish their stress while relying on the "packing" you've got at lfs. Being fast in returning will not allow water temp to drop/rise (according to the seasonal conditions) that much. Once at home, simply let your fishes get used to your water temp by leaving the bags floating on top of surface for a certain time (i.e: 15 minutes; let - every now and then - a little water from your tank to flow into the bags) then release them; better in a "quarantine" tank for a further check. All chemical stuff has already been checked (for instance same pH level) before you go out to buy your fish. Thus, you will be sure that there are only SLIGHT differences between the lfs and your tank water parameters! Any way, as a further precaution - applicable for small trips, too - avoid having piscivores packed with their (possible) prey or big fellow with juveniles. Double bags should be used to transport fishes with long "pointed" barbels or spines. This should be enough.
Middle distance trips: the going gets tougher. Temperature drops/rises (depending on the kind of your trip) are more likely to happen, water quality diminishes with time, fish wastes (could) begin to float in the water, possibly you'll even have to deal with a drop of dissolved oxygen levels (mostly when traveling in hot climates) and more ... The longer the trip the harder it becomes. Rules of thumb are mostly the same as for long distance trips (see next page). The only suggestion I would like to add is: the longer the trip the more fussy you'd be. That's why I've decided to focus on this latter point: long-range trips. Then everyone can organize the task (moving fishes) according to his/her needs and the environmental condition he/she's facing.
Long distance trips: The following suggestions come from my experience in moving fishes home (in Rome, Italy) from Lake Malawi (Tanzania - 1997 & Malawi - 1999) and Amazon River (Peru - 2000). Those trips are way longer than the "average fish trip"; hence I do hope everyone will benefit from these experiences. Foreword: main points when moving fishes are having the right stuff at hand and guarantee them "good quality" water and proper oxygen levels, so:
- To carry them get Styrofoam boxes, or coolers (I used two of them when returning home from Peru, a bit expensive but they work great) then plastic bags (use two of them to house hyperactive specimens and/or catfishes with pointed barbels or fish with spines) and rubber bands.
- Drugs: if possible add the chemicals you commonly use to replicate the chemical values you have in the final destination tank(s). When handling wild caught specimens which you will be collecting from their original biotopes the case is a "bit" different. In this case, the water at the home tanks should have been prepared before your trip to replicate as closely as possible the water of the biotope you are visiting.
- Then you need a disinfectant and finally oxygen: either O2 tablets (used when coming back from the Amazon jungle) or oxygen gas from a pressurized cylinder (available, both times, in Malawi).
- In order to avoid a quick decay of the water quality I suggest you should starve your kids following the following formula : 2-3 days for adults (depending on their size) 1-2 for juveniles, 1 for fry.
- Please note: all suckermouth catfishes from Rio Orosa (Peru) got no food - at all - for a whole week, regardless for the size. Losses were minimal: 1 specimen.
- Packing them: fill bag(s) to 1/3 with water, add medicine/chemicals (see above) and oxygen (if adding gas fill the bag to its maximum). Check for possible leaks. By the way: Synodontis species are a bog trouble to transport ...
Tie the bags with rubber bands and put them in box(es). Put - in each box - as many bags as you need to prevent possible "random" movements ... In case You have spare room add bags filled with water to prevent any movement.
Lake Malawi (1997) - checking if the correct amount of Methylene blue has been diluted into water, before packing starts: our trip is on its way to end. Since no instrument was available the tester (fish!) was dipped into the solution. If nothing happens then the chemical in the water, is reduced to 25% of the initial and the "packing game" can start. That's what I call "real experimental method". FYI: we managed to add the correct amount at first try, the fish (Nyassachromis sp.) proceeded, then, to Germany.
Lake Malawi (1997) - how a long distance container should look like (bags are inflated to maximum size by mean of oxygen gas. Water level is -about - 1/3 of each bag size) when, still, partially empty.
You're done: packed this way my cichlids/catfishes had undergone trips as long as (1997) four days (of course in this case I had "some" troubles - namely losses - but I guess an 8 hour trip would be easily "handled" by all of them). Then here comes my list of packing tips:
- Adult/big fishes (over 3 inches) should be bagged alone.
- Avoid, if possible, putting two males (even if juveniles) in the same bag.
- Pack juveniles/fry divided by genus/species (i.e. all peacocks in a bag).
- For all fishes: if you know it label the bags with the precise name of the collection site. Of course, this is applicable when returning home with fish collected by you in the wild.
- If you happen to have bully fishes (such as Melanochromis sp. or Piranhas from Peru) you should also consider the idea of packing females one by one, too. Mollusks,
- Invertebrates, crabs (if any)etc can be bagged in smaller bags.
Personal remarks on packing: many of the animals mentioned above (in the last point) will not tolerate drugs usually added in the water; e.g. copper. Also, some catfishes could be "hyper-sensitive" to some drugs (that's why my Peruvian catfishes had almost no chemicals added to their shipping water). They were later "fully conditioned" once I came back home. Finally resist the idea of overstocking your boxes (no matter how hard it is!) for, at least, two good reasons:
- Too crammed quarters, during trip, will not result in "one more" fish at home, but likely in nothing at all. Each fish can rely ONLY on in his own bag's room!!!
- Collect fish according to the room (tank size) you've got ready at home. BE RESPONSIBLE!
Final Warning: moving fishes is always, in some way, a "risky business" but, all the same, I managed to do it satisfactorily on REALLY long routes, I wish you the same luck!
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