Would A Goldfish Be Ok Through An Hour Car Ride?

[Guest Moose]

Hi. (:

So, was wondering if goldfish can survive in just their bags for an hour in the car. They would be small, and freshly bought. Would that be ok, or should they be seperately bagged and such?

Also, since the petstore is sort of far away, would it stress a new cycled tank to add two or three small ones at the same time? I know you don't want to like overpower the bacteria but would that be ok? Would I need extra water changes or anything?

I'm knew to this all and sort of freaking out sooo, thanks for any help you can give. (:

[lynda441]

Yes, your fish should survive a one hour ride from the pet store to your home. Having each one in its own bag would definitely help with the oxygen situation.

And, again, yes, it not only would stress a new cycled tank to add two or three fish at the same time, but you should never add new fish directly to the main tank without quarantining them first. New fish should spend at least two weeks in a quarantine tank; for 2-3 fish, it would have to be a 20 gallon tank for best health, but a 10 gallon would be acceptable with daily testing and major water changes, doing a salt treatment of at least a 0.1% (if appearances are healthy, more if not) and prazi regime. Most fish come from pet stores with potential bacterial diseases and almost always, flukes, so if you don't pre-treat them for these things, you'll be adding all of these things to the main tank.

Once your 2-3 fish have gone at least 2 weeks in the quarantine tank and have not displayed any signs of illness, then you can add them to a tank of at least 20-30 gallons (10 gallons per fish).

Edited July 27, 2008 by lynda441

[kenny]

if you can put them in a styrafoam cooler or a small reg cooler standing up. do not lay the bag down. if you can, to take up room in the cooler and to give them the most possible o2, put them into seperate bags.

if the tank is fully cycled, it shouldnt bother it by adding small fish. but watch the tank for any bumps so keep your test kit ready. make sure you follow the steps on acclimating. do as much research as you can before you get them. there are plenty of articles on transporting and acclimating. do a search to make it easy. good luck, have fun and post pics

[drkslvr]

are there other fish already in the tank, or were you doing a fishless cycle? if you already have fish in the tank, you will want to protect them from any diseases your new additions might be carrying. it's better safe than sorry.

[Guest Moose]

There wont be any fish to start out, fishless cycle, and the goldfish will be coming from the same place. I think it will be bare bottomed when I get the fish. I totally got caught up in everything else and forgot about the whole quarantine aspect. I have 10 gallon tanks, but none have filters or anything else and I doubt that will be any good. Is there any way I can skip the quarantine? I doubt it, but eh if there is.. I'm sure I can throw something together if neccesary. (:

[jyoti411]

I had once transported my fish on a 3 hour drive...I had the styrofoam cooler...It was basically for the bag to sit in one place without stressing the fish with being wobbled for 3 hours...yeah and separate bags would be awesome...cos that helps them get enough oxygen...I had the fish with me in my lap...and i would carefully even open the bag and let some fresh air in for the lil guy...he did pretty well...and for the newly cycled tank..I would really do just 1-2 fish to start with...that basically just helps less ammonia building up and a bit less stress on the babies...having a test kit and frequently testing the water would help a lot...and always have conditioned aged water ready for any water changes required...

[Petperson04]

I would really do just 1-2 fish to start with...that basically just helps less ammonia building up and a bit less stress on the babies...having a test kit and frequently testing the water would help a lot...and always have conditioned aged water ready for any water changes required...

My thoughts exactly!

Adding 3 goldfish to a newly cycled tank would put a lot of stress on the cycle, and I really wouldn't want to have ammonia and possibly nitrite build-up. Because when that happens, you need to test at least 1 time a day, and do water changes accordingly (which could mean daily waterchanges unill the cycle gets going again).

[lynda441]

There wont be any fish to start out, fishless cycle, and the goldfish will be coming from the same place. I think it will be bare bottomed when I get the fish. I totally got caught up in everything else and forgot about the whole quarantine aspect. I have 10 gallon tanks, but none have filters or anything else and I doubt that will be any good. Is there any way I can skip the quarantine? I doubt it, but eh if there is.. I'm sure I can throw something together if neccesary. (:

The 1-2 fish to start with is a very excellent suggestion. As far as skipping qt.... yes and no. As this will be the first fish in your tank, you could bypass a separate qt tank and put the fish in the main tank, but you still need to treat with salt and prazi. This could possibly affect your cycle, possibly, so you'll have to watch that, but that's just the risks you have to take sometimes. But, when you go back for number 2 and/or 3, you'll need a second qt tank definitely.

[koko]

When I transported my Fish Junbi from Fresno, CA it was a 3-4 hour drive. The way I got him home was: I had a bucket filled it with local water and amquel. I had a battery operated air bubbler and ran it in the bucket with him. I made sure that he was on the floor of the car, AC was on and would do a small refresh of water once on the trip. Didnt feed him anything. When I got him home I had already set up a 10 gal tank and filter from my tank running it. I know you have a fresh tank set up.

One thing I would really suggest doing is making sure what the Ph level is from the LFS and your home. If it is off by even a 1.0ppm you can shock the fish. If it is off like that you will have to do an hour drip adjustment. This means to have the fish in his own water in a bucket or bag and every 10-15 mins let about a 1/8cup to 1/4 of a cup of water from your tank into his bag or bucket. Do this for an hour or two this will give the fish a time to adjust to the Ph change

[uberleslie]

My common Fisher has been gone from Tampa to Orlando (2 hrs) and from Orlando to Atlanta (7 hrs). This was back when I knew nothing about fishkeeping, but he survived! At the time he was in a 5 gallon acrylic tank, and we just reduced the water level and transported in that -- wouldn't recommend in retrospect.

[Guest Bbop]

Hey everyone!

I recently managed to move from Victoria, BC (Canada) to Lethbridge, AB with 2 diseased fish.

They got sick at just the wrong time.

This was a two day drive and I had to sleep a night at a hotel.

It took a lot of planning. I was also very fortunate.

My small black moor did not recover from his illness..

I had kept it in the same tank as my oranda and didn't realize it was getting severly outcompeted for food.

It also had a deformed mouth.

Anyways... you should be absolutely fine.

Keeping them in separate bags is also a good idea. =)

Ciao,

Bbop