Advice on keeping fish alive while transporting overnight.

[Ratpack]

Next weekend I am traveling back to a place I used to live and they have an awesome LFS. Prices are as good as mail order and the stock is top notch or at least they have been in the past. Can't remember ever losing one of their fish that I bought. The problem is I will only have Saturday to visit the LFS but we are not leaving until early Sunday morning to come home. I have a cooler that I can place the fish in so that they would not have to be in bags and a cheap air pump at Walmart is easy to get. Maybe even a cheap heater, but would that be sufficient to keep them in good health for an overnight stay in a hotel?

 

[BigAl07]

Hiya Tim. I've had your exact same experience a couple of different times. Each time was handled a different way. ( Myrtle Beach SC).

A) The LFS agreed to keep my goodies for me and met me at the shop before I left town on Sunday so it minimized time "couped up" for the fish and coral. They were coming in anyway to feed etc so it wasn't a huge inconvenience for them. All of my goodies were held in a small tank so catching and bagging took only a few minutes. They filled each bag with air from an O2 tank but honestly for such a short trip home (maybe 5 hours) I don't think it was needed but I wasn't going to refuse LOL. I kept them in my cooler with the lid closed tight the whole trip home and everyone arrived alive.

B) LFS wasn't able to meet me on Sunday morning. We bagged everything last minute before they closed on Saturday evening and I used a Heat Pack in the cooler but not against any of the bags. Right before I went to bed I opened the bags and had a battery air pump and pumped in fresh air into each one before closing again. Next morning same routine before hitting the road. I got home with zero casualties.

I think the key both times was a cooler so they didn't go through any temp swings on the road (wife loves cold Cold COLD A/C in the car). Soon as you get home follow the suggested acclimation procedure and you should be good to go.

Take LOTS of pics to share with us what you get while you're traveling.

Safe Travels and Happy Reefing