Traveling with Fish 10 hours?

[Birdhawk23]

Hello friends, I live in Evansville, Indiana. In a few days I am traveling down to Panama City Beach Florida which is about 10 hours of driving in our car (maybe a little less if my foots heavy) lol
But I was hoping to get some new fish friends because they seem to be cheaper when further down south.. right? haha anyways..
I wanted to get your guys opinion about traveling with fish 10 hours in a car. I was told by a local reef guy that I should go in two days prior to leaving and purchase the fish that I want but ask them to hold them for me until the day I leave. He also told me to ask them not to feed them for the two days prior to me leaving so they dont defacate as much in their bags causing waste. And they should be able to provide a bag buddy to keep them oxygenated and such...
Has anybody ever done this?
Also, what do you guys think I should purchase

And what if I can catch some wild saltwater fish? is that even allowed? thanks guys

[manhorsedog]

this is "my theory"

Fish get shipped across the world in plastic bags, spend at least 24 hours in bags on boats or airplanes. I dont think 10 hours will be a big deal.

Every time I have moved i just pack them up like im shipping them to somebody and they always live. I do try and keep it as dark as a can but they all just go in plastic bags with whatever air is in there.

good luck


oh and im sure catching fish and bringing them with you is not allowed but if you dont get caught then it is people will give you hell but dont worry about it. everybody likes to complain about something and that is to small of an issue for it to change anything. Best advice on that subject is just dont tell anybody unless you know for a fact they are not a fish nazi.

[Birdhawk23]

Right on haha that is basically my theory! If somebody can do it, anybody can do it.
I'm most certainly not trying to break any laws but how can it be that fish stores sells wild caught clown fish, but I can't catch and keep a clown fish? Pretty much seems the same to me but I didn't want to get myself a big whopping fine for rehoming a fish that would cost me a couple bucks at the store!

[manhorsedog]

Basically you have to pay off the government of certain foreign countries to have the right to farm. There are people that take a different path but everybody is still taking coral and fish from the ocean. Of course like anything else you will have people that like to be "better" than other people and thus they will give you crap about it even though they have a chunk of the ocean sitting in there living room.

[TaNuki]

^I really don't care, but I am sure the stores sell wild caught by buying them from a distributor who has a license to catch them for commercial sales. The govt probably restricts the number of licenses as well as number of fish that can be caught with a license in order to keep the fish population from depleting.

I guess the only other way is by going into intl waters and poaching them there. Wasn't there a whole thing about people taking it on themselves off the coast of Guatemala to sink ships doing just that? I can't remember.

As for moving the fish 10 hours, just control the temperature is all I would do.

[manhorsedog]

I know they have licenses, but what type of license allow you to pull hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of coral/fish/rock without getting any of it? There is a price to pay no doubt.

However companies like walt smith are around so not everybody does it the same way.

[SkullV]

Keep in mind that when these fish are shipped for 24 hours they are put in bags with larger water volume and PURE o2 for the air.

[Birdhawk23]

Whats your suggestion to controlling the temp in a plastic bag inside a car?

[jhentr]

If I do it, I would get a car inverter and air pump for ciculation in the big 5 gallon bucket or battery operated air pump in those buckets that carries bait fishes.

[aday2remmbr]

if i were you i would purchase a large cooler and just put the fish in that, it will insulate and have greater volume than a bag, this way you could put in a little powerhead or airstone

[sporto0]

+ 1 on the cooler, went from Florida to Pa, 18 hr drive with livestock in cooler with battery operated air pump

[kissman]

I had a 7 hour trip from myrtle beach and then a 2 hour drive from lynchburg to waynesboro along with unpacking and repacking my car so it was about 10 hours in a cooler. Now the other thing is I had a coral not fish

[coralreefhq]

You may want to bring an air lifter, just to provide air for the fish (ORP)
Believe it or not, fish do drown if they don't receive sufficient amounts of Oxygen.

They receive oxygen from your tanks at home because powerheads and pumps are constantly mixing with the air around.

I wouldn't risk the death of these beautiful animals at the cost of a $10 air lifter.

[cody6766]

I moved fish and coral from OKC to PCola in one go. I filled the bag with tank water and o2 then tossed them in a good cooler. I had a cooler full of bags and fish/coral completely filled by 11pm. We hit the road at 5am, got to PCola at 10'ish, and the fish were acclimated and out of bags by midnight. We drove in the dead of winter and the fish were bagged for around 25hrs with no losses. The cooler kept the water w/in 5* or so, despite being in the back of a uhaul.

I'm sure you'd be okay with fresh air over 10hrs, but use o2 if it's available. Drop the bags in a cooler or a box with styrofoam insulation that fish are shipped in and hit the road.

[Birdhawk23]

Are most coolers water tight? I don't think I'd be too delighted if I found my fish to be nearly out of water after 10 hours and the back of my van a newly made pool...

[HeisenbergReef]

Originally Posted by Birdhawk23

Are most coolers water tight? I don't think I'd be too delighted if I found my fish to be nearly out of water after 10 hours and the back of my van a newly made pool...

try lining the cooler with a garbage bag, or vise-versa, putting the cooler in a garbage bag. that way if it leaks, it will be contained.

I'm going to be doing a move like this in about a month so I'm brainstorming too!

[jr_casteel1999]

i have done it in a reg cooler with battery air pump and they were fine all the way from florida to ohio!! wow what a drive!

[cody6766]

Oh, I forgot to mention, Florida allows collection of many fish (inside a set of guidelines) for personal 'use' if you have a Florida fishing liscense. I don't know if out of staters can get one, but there's a website that explains it all somewhere. Sorry, I don't know what it is, but it exists.

One last thing:
If you're looking for a more quiet beach, head east to Mexico beach. It's about 45mins from PC beach IIRC. Also, if you're military, Tyndall beach is nice and calm. you can usually find a good amount of shells and the like on the there, if you're into that kind of thing.

[Eric the half-bee]

My experience. We moved from TN to MN in 2002 with 2 tanks of African Cichlids. I simply place them in a very large styrofoam container with 2 battery powered air pumps. 2 days of traveling and they all made it.

[PCFisher66]

Yes, you are allowed to catch aquarium fish here, you just have to fishing license to do so and follow the guidelines which are stated on our FWC page. Now on the other hand you will most likely see tropicals around St Andrews St park, they have a nice little snorkel area. The fish you will see are Sgt Majors, and Beau Gregories neither of which you will want in your tank, mean fish. Of course you can see blennies and misc. fish too. I have seen brittle stars and arrow crabs also there. Hope this helps.

Tod

[aday2remmbr]

Originally Posted by Birdhawk23

Are most coolers water tight? I don't think I'd be too delighted if I found my fish to be nearly out of water after 10 hours and the back of my van a newly made pool...

nearly all coolers you buy from the store will be water tight with few exceptions. unless your using one you have which might have a leak.

[Birdhawk23]

Okay so I have my heaters, a 300 and a 50 watt packed. (Gonna see which one will do the job) Gonna pickup a good cooler down there. And I have a powerhead packed. Luckily my van has outlets for plugins.

Another question, whats the best way to grab these little guys if I get a license? Snorkel set and a net?

[sassyfrassy]

I used to catch fish, seahorse, pipefish, along w/ crustaceans by using a cast net off the dock at a marina at night - and sometimes my husband & I would walk out as far as we could (chin deep) and then pull a sien net connected to 2 broomsticks (which got us a whole lot more fish, etc.) but was more work. You have to make sure the net skims along the bottom (it has weights). Throwing a cast net around the pilings under a bridge is a good hunting ground too. Catching your own fish is so much fun, and you appreciate the fish more. Good luck!
Carolyn

[Birdhawk23]

And now I have the cast net loaded up

[Caesra]

I brought fish 8 hours, insulated cooler, large bags of water, kept car temp around 77ish, they did fine. I took a little bit of time to accilmate them..they certainly were stressed, but all survived without disease or incident.