How to pack fishes for transportation?

Unlike many other pets such as dogs, cats, rabbits and parrots, transporting fishes is a different ball game all together. In case of other pets, we need to think about proper transportation kits, only if we are transporting them long distances. But in case of fishes, we have to take proper measures even if we are taking them to a local vet.

In this article, we will focus on and discuss various tips, tricks, and caveats when it comes to transporting fishes – be it for a short distance or for long distances. Any mistake or carelessness on our part may cause stress or harm to our fishes.

Kindly do proper research before sending your fishes on a trip. It’s essential. We hope this article will help you a lot in this. Read on!

Table of Contents

• Choose the right Fish Bag
• Proper packaging of fish in a plastic fish bag
• Keep in mind the Time limit
• Do not overcrowd
• What if the fish has sharp ends?

Choose the right Fish Bag

Closed Environment

The first thing to keep in mind while transporting fishes is to keep them in a closed environment. For example, a closed plastic container or a plastic bag that has been tied at the top.

We should avoid transferring fishes in buckets or bowls. Such an environment is not secure. The fishes may jump out, or you may accidently fall and pour all the water along with the fishes. Before you will gather water for your fishes, they will die.

Also, closed bag allows for the inner conditions to remain constant to a larger extent. You can control the amount of water and air inside the bag.

Note

Do not use those plastic bags that can be closed using a zip at the top. Zips are not very secure, and can open up, especially if they get wet. You must tie the mouth of the plastic bag with a thick thread. Make sure the knot is not loose. Even if you have bought a zip plastic bag, tie its mouth with a thread.

Also, make sure that the thread you are using is not very weak or thin. Weak strings may break during commute and very thin threads may cut through the plastic if you tie them very hard around the plastic.

You may rather use an elastic rubber band too.

Heat Bags

If you want better control of the temperature within a fish bag, you may opt for heat bags. For example, if you have tropical fishes that need around 22-27 °C of temperature, and its chilly outside, these heat bags will come handy.

Also, use the same water during transportation that those fishes had in their aquarium. It will ensure that there’s no drastic change in temperature in their environment.

Note

For short duration drives via your own vehicle, you may just place the fishes in a plastic or thermocol box. You may insert a portable fish tank heater through a hole in the lid of that box. Connect that heater to a power plug in your car, and you are set to go.

Proper packaging of fish in a plastic fish bag

Now, choosing a proper, good quality plastic bag is not enough. We need to keep a few things in mind while packaging our fishes in it.

Do not fill the bag completely with water. Fishes do not just need water to survive. They need air too. So, ensure that at least more than half the bag is filled with air. Ideally, there should be 1/3rd water and 2/3rd air.

And when we say that at least half the bag should be filled with air, we mean there should be air in that portion – the bag should not be deflated. The empty portion of the bag, above the water, must be stretched with air like a balloon.

This is how our bags should look like after packaging:

There’s one more point to be kept in mind. During transportation fishes tend to go to the corners of the plastic bag and get hurt if the bag rolls or moves.

So, ensure that you make the corners of the bag round. You may do so by wrapping a tape around the corners, wrapping the corners with an elastic band, or by covering the plastic bag with another plastic bag.

Note

You may buy these plastic bags online or at any aquarium shop near you.

Keep in mind the Time limit

Whenever you are transferring your fishes, keep in mind the time limit you have. That is, the safe time within which the fishes should be transferred to a more tenable living conditions.

During transportation fishes face the following major risks:

• Increasing Ammonia in water due to their waste
• Decreasing Oxygen in the air inside the bag.
• Temperature variations

In a typical plastic fish bag, a fish may survive for around 5 to 6 hours just on the atmospheric air. However, this will vary a bit depending on the fish species and the number of fishes you are putting in a single bag.

However, if you are planning to travel for much longer, then you can do either of the following things:

• Use a bigger size fish bag, that can contain more air. But carrying large size fish bags with you can be a headache.
• You may fill the fish bag with pure oxygen, rather than just air. If a decent size plastic bag has pure oxygen in it, then the fishes inside it may even survive for 18-24 hours, i.e. your safety time-limit will increase manifold.

You may go to an aquarium shop near your home and ask them to help you fill the bag with pure oxygen. Many of such shops have such a facility. Or you may use the oxygen pump at your home, if you have one.

Once you have transferred your fishes in the plastic bag with water, you may drain out all of its air by squeezing it. Then fill it with oxygen from your oxygen pump.

During transportation fishes do get a lot stressed. When stressed, they tend to poop a lot. This increases the ammonia level in the water, which can be very toxic to them. It can burn their gills.

As fishes may survive for few days without food, you may stop feeding your fish a couple of days before the travel. This will mean that they will not poop much in the bag. Less poop means less ammonia. This will increase your time-limit to some extent.

There are also some agents available that can convert the harmful ammonia (NH₃) in the water into some non-harmful or less harmful substances, such as ammonium (NH₄+). We can add these to the water while we are transporting our fishes.

Note

If a fish is stressed, it will poop more and so will create more ammonia. It will also swim around a lot frantically, increasing its metabolism rate and hence its oxygen consumption. Both may reduce your safe time-limit of transportation. So, ensure that the fishes are not stressed during transportation.

If we fill a large portion of the bag with water, it will decrease the concentration of ammonia in it. But it will mean there will be less space for oxygen/air above it. Too little water will mean high concentration of ammonia in the water. So, we need to tread a fine line between these two.

A thumb rule is to fill one-third of the container with water and the rest with air/oxygen. Too much water also makes the bag too heavy, which has its own repercussions during travel.

Apart from these measures, you may do some other minor things.

As soon as you take your fishes out of the aquarium, the countdown starts. So, if you are planning a long trip, make sure:

• You keep in mind any possible delays that you may encounter
• Take out the fishes out of the aquarium and into the travelling fish bag only at the last moment. Just before you leave your house. It will ensure your fishes are not under stress in the new and confined space of a plastic bag for long.
• As soon as you reach your destination, the first thing you should do is to transfer the fishes in an aquarium.

Do not overcrowd

Ideally you should not transfer more than 3-4 small fishes in a plastic bag.

In case of large fishes, it’s preferable to transfer them in separate bags. If you will place large fishes together in a single plastic bag, they may collide with each other a lot. It will not only be uncomfortable for them, but they might get hurt too.

What if the fish has sharp ends?

Some fishes have sharp ends on their body, e.g. spikes coming out of their head, or pectoral fins, etc. These sharp parts of the fishes may puncture your plastic bag.

There are a couple of ways to get around this problem, if you have such kind of fishes, e.g. Cichlids.

• Most of the times the plastic bags are punctures near their sharp corners. So, you can use a duct tape and reinforce these vulnerable parts of the bag.
• You may double bag the fishes, i.e. wrap another bag around the inner plastic bag. A backup plan of sorts. This is what I prefer to do.