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i was wondering whether i could buy fish from a fish shop 2 hours drive away and drive them back home without problems?
the fish are keyhole cichlids by the way

As long as the bag is large and has plently of both air and water, theres no reason they shouldnt make it, but it will help to float them at destination for around 20 minutes to half an hour, so if you havean airstone you can drop into the bag while the fish are waiting, it will help a great deal. If your worried, ask the fish shop if they do breathable membrane bags, or get some before you go. Some fish shops may put extra oxygen in the bag too.

I would suggest taking an insulated cooler if your weather is in an extreme to help maintain the temperature. I often get fish from a LFS about 2 hours away (ok, I guess it's not that local, but their stock rocks!) I never have problems, even in the middle of winter here.

I often get fish and drive about 1&1/2 hrs drive. I will not do this during the colder Melb winter months. During the warmer months I will put them in a cooler bag and certainly not in a hot part of the car. In other words out of the sun. Tell the LFS you have a 2hr drive and they should put them in a bigger bag for you.

As soon as you get them home float the open bag for at least one hour. While this is happening I will add some of my tank water to the bag about ever 10-15 minutes and just a few drops of Melafix (for stress) I have never had a problem. In fact some days it has been close to three hours drive home. Marg can not go past a good garden nursery.

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Keith

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ok thanks.
it might be a bit over 2 hours. dad said i should put them in a plastic container with the battery ait pump in it, is that a ghood idea? idont think it would work very well 2 be honest

Grab yourself a broccoli box or polystyrene fish box (ask your LFS on a Wednesday or Thursday when the shipment comes in, they usually just turf the boxes) or if its only a small purchase, an Esky. This provides a dark place for them to travel that is insulated against temperature extremes.

Get the shop to bag the fish individually so you don't get anyone thumping into one another or beating each other up while in close quarters. Make sure that they don't do the old 3/4 water trick either, if the bag is big enough you want about 1/2-2/3 air if they aren't bagging with O2.

Pop them in the esky quicky so the water doesn't lose too much heat, and stuff the space between the bags with scrunched newspaper so they don't bounce around or fall on their side and have to travel laying down (the water probably won't be deep enough for them to move comfortably with it laying that way)


The container and air pump is probably overkill for such a short distance (that is exactly what I used to get 150 shrimp from QLD to NSW, and house them for 7 days while we were there, not a bad setup!) plus it would mean that all the fish travel in the one space, and that you need more water. The problem that I have with this setup for fish travel is that larger amounts of water slosh about and take the fish with it. This can mean that they crash into each other or the sides of the bucket/container, or find themselves in the air with nowhere to go but down. For on-site storage or long highway miles with oxygen-needy things OK maybe, but I honestly think that the fish would be more comfy and less stressed travelling in a box in a bag.


(every once in a while I get together with a bunch of locals and go on an LFS crawl around the city, from about 11am til 11pm. We just instruct on packing and pop the fish in a polystyrene fish box in the boot. They stay quite toasty all packed in together and the fish purchased at the first shops are still perfectly fine by the end of the day. We also send them via overnight courier occasionally, and there has been the odd time the fish have shown up 4 days late. Providing they are packed well and are healthy to start with, 2 hours is going to be fine enjoy the trip!)

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

The best store here is 1 1/2 hours away. I just make sure the vehicle hasn't sat too long while I'm getting fish so it heats up or cools down quickly and then stick the bags in a cardboard box on the floor. The only issue I've ever had is a loach that punched a hole through 2 bags and was nearly out of water when I could finally got off the interstate to do something about it.