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We are moving soon from Oklahoma to Indiana. Both of my daughters have a betta in a 2.5 gal tank. My question is this, Would they survive a car ride that long? It is a 12 hour drive. They don't want to give them up, but then again don't want them to die needlessly.
Thank you very much, Amy

Welcome to FishProfiles!

Yes, your bettas will survive the trip. You could put them in bags, but make sure that the majority of the bag is filled with air. You might also want to put them in a cooler, so that the temp will not flucuate.

HTH

Welcome!

If you're going to put them in bags, make sure you stop every few hours to open the bags and replentish the air in them. A cooler is a good idea. If you don't put them in a cooler, make sure you keep them out of the sun and try to keep the temperature in the car constant.

My sister routinely brings her betta back and forth to school (about two hours away) with no ill effects. She just drains his one gallon tank enough so that it won't splash all over the place and buckles it into the passenger seat in a box. (She kept the box the tank came in, so it's a snug fit.) Make sure you remove any decor that might fall over and squish your fishy friend.

Your three main goals are to keep the temperature in a comfortable range, to provide enough air for them to breathe and to prevent any accidents that might cause them injury. Keep in mind that these fish come from halfway around the world in packing conditions that would make most people who love animals cringe. With loving care and attention, there's no reason that your daughters' pets shouldn't survive and thrive for a long time to come.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Betta's tend to travel OK. The longest I've transported Bettas would be a 14 hour drive & one that was shipped to me overnight in the mail. Other than those I've had a few been bagged for 4 - 8 hours with no ill effects.

Best way to do it IME is to bag 'em rather than leave them in a 'tank'. Bags have squishy sides, just 1 less thing to hurt themselves on

As said, bag 'em with *enough* water, but mostly air. and a cooler is definitley benificial, both for the temp stability and the fact that it makes them easier to strap down in the car

One other thing that hasn't been mentioned, Don't feed them the day before they are due to travel (or that day) Just reduces the amout of potential ammonia buuild up in the bag... and as well as that, believe it or not fish DO get carsick.

All the best with the move. hth

So what kind of bag, like a ziploc. or the regular food storage bags, the ones that dont zip? The gal size ones, I would guess?? I also still have the bowls they came in from the store. It has holes in the lid, would that be okay? I've got a medium cooler I could use too. Thats a good Idea!
Thank you for all your help!! Sorry for all the questions, I just want to get it right, I don't want to hurt them.

Pretty much any sort of bag that's food safe is fish safe Although the best ones are the kind your LFS would use. You could ask them for however many you need, most LFS will give them to you, some will charge you like 10c per bag or something like that

I wouldn't use the cups they came in, if for no other reason than if they tip over in the cooler, they have holes in the lids so you'd end up with a rather dry & grouchy Betta

I just used zip loc bags in a pinch to move all of my fish 7 hours so they'll also work in a pinch.

I use juice bottles.... they work pretty well

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I wouldn't use the container from the store. Bags are softer in case they get bounced around at all.

Back when I only kept bettas and didn't really know what I was doing I did a 5 hour move with one. So I had him on the passenger seat (I did make sure he was out of the sun) in a shaker-like container (lid with holes). Poor guy, I'm glad-and surprised-he survived.



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