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im am moving soon. i need to know how long my fish will be able to survive without a filter its a long move and im afraid that the move may prove to be to stressful on my fish. Does anyboddy know how long a fairly large fish can surive without filltration

First, we need to know the fish species, its actual size, and the anticipated duration of the move.

One way in which you could alleviate the problem is this. If you have a working sponge filter and an air pump attached to it, then you could use that in the vessel containing the fish.

If you're using a car, try and obtain the following items:

[1] a low voltage air pump (the battery driven kind) with a socket for a mains adapter plug;

[2] An adapter that generates the required voltage from your car's cigarette lighter output.

Connect the 'battery' powered air pump to the adapter, connect up the sponge filter, transfer your fish, start the car, and your fish should be free of worries because it'l have some filtration to keep it ticking over.

You know, it amazes me that no-one has thought of using a similar system when air freighting fishes commercially. Doing something like that would cut attrition rates emormously because the fishes wouldn't be swimming around in their own ammonia. It's not as if the cargo version of a Boeing 747 is lacking in power to run such a system, and the air freight system has to keep the fishes at tropical temperatures anyway ... it's not as if an air pumping system and collection of sponge filters or similar substitutes is going to be a big power drain on the generators of a 747, which have to put out enough electrical power to operate a collection of flight management computers, activators for the hydraulic systems that keep the aircraft under control (flaps etc) and operate the landing gear. How much power does it take to drive hydraulic gear capable of supporting a 400 ton aircraft? A LOT more than it would take to run a filtration system for the fishes, I'll bet.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

thats a really good idea thanks. My fish a just commen goldfish about 8 inches long. The move may last as long as 48 houres so i think i will set up the portable filter you wrote about

In the case of a coldwater fish such as a goldfish, another way of easing the transition is as follows : drop the water temperature over a 24 to 48 hour period before the move, and try to arrange a supply of ice on hand to help keep the water cool. There are two reasons for this:

[1] Cold water has a higher oxygen saturation point than warm water, and so holds more oxygen for the fish;

[2] Colder temperatures will slow down the fish's metabolic rate and place it in a state of torpor for the journey, which will mean it is excreting less ammonia per unit time, and thus producing a smaller loading on whatever filtration system you rig up.

One good cooling system you can try is this. Fill 2 litre soft drink bottles about 2/3 full of water, freeze them in the freezer, then take them with you in a picnic cooler. Pop one bottle of frozen water in the container with the fish, and it'll help keep the temperature cool without shocking the fish. If you keep the water aerated at the same time, this will go a long way toward easing the stress of the move. Of course, you can do this because you're transporting a common goldfish (as opposed to a tropical fish or one of the fancy goldfishes such as a veiltail or fantail) and the system will work with any true coldwater fish (e.g., Golden Orfe, Blue Orfe, Green Tench etc) but of course, you can't use this technique on tropicals, which HAVE to be kept at around 22 degrees C or so for the duration of the move!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002