how long can fish survive in the bag?
by Aquaboy on Friday, July 16th, 2010 | 5 Comments
my buddy is moving and is giving me his fish( a few tetras and a molly) , he lives an hour away
i was planning on setting up a small 2.5 gallon tank and putting it in my car hooked up to a bubbler, will that work better than just a bag?
yes the car / transport tank will be temporary
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Yes, it is definitely better than a bag! But hopefully this is just a temporary thing, right? For just transferring? Because a car can get really overheated and can get cold also, so the fish wouldn’t last either way. If setting up a tank it too time consuming, then a bag may be a better idea. It’s not ideal to have them in a bag for so long, but if you must, I’m sure they’ll make it. I’ve had fish travel 40 minutes and they were just fine.
Make sure that in the tank/bag you have water conditioner!
An hour maybe pushing it especially if its hot. They may get stressed as the oxygen in the water gets used up. If you can pump air during the journey it would be advisable.
Fish can survive being shipped while they are in their bags for a few days. But then again, they are in insulated boxes. If they are kept at room temperature and away from sunlight they’ll be fine in their bag for 1 hour.
If it’s a one-hour trip, a bag will be better than a tank with a bubbler in your car. Also, with a bag, you won’t get your car full of water that sloshes out of the tank every time you make a turn or use the brakes.
Fish can live for 2-3 days in a bag, IF they were in good condition when they were bagged, and IF they were bagged properly, and IF the bag of water doesn’t get too hot. How do you think fish get to the pet store? They are shipped in bags packed in boxes, and they may be in those bags for at least two days.
So, set up the tank to recieve the new fish in advance, if possible, then fo go to your friend’s house, bag the fish, and take them home. If your car has air conditioning, use it– you don’t want those bags of water getting too hot. If you have a small ice chest or insulated box or bag, put the bags in that.
When you get them home, take the fish out of the bags and put them in a bucket with the water that was in the bags. Pour a cup of water from your fish tank into the bucket every five minutes or so. When there is more new water (from the tank) than old water (from the bags) in the bucket, net the fish out and put them in your tank. Don’t put any water from the bucket into the tank, because the bag/bucket water will be pretty dirty by then.
they can live in there for 2 or 3 days…but make sure no sunlight is on them…