How To Keep Your Pet Fish Alive While Traveling
You have decided to adopt a pet fin, just because being a fish-parent would not hamper your happening social life. Now, you have run into a problem since you have a plan that includes a lot of travelling. In that case, what to do with the fish?
You cannot think of bringing them along with you since they are probably not as travel friendly as dogs are, and what would people even think if they saw someone travelling with their fish? Despite that, you have decided to tag your baby along with you, and guess what, you are confused how to go about the entire affair.
You type “how to keep your pet fish alive while travelling”, and find yourself in a labyrinth on the internet. What if we told you that you can actually travel with your fish? Don’t believe us? Well, in this article, we would be talking about ways where your little finny-friend can travel along with you, *and* stay happy in their own habitat. But be warned, there would be a lot of planning involved. And when we say ‘a lot of planning’, we sure mean it. So, without further ado, let us jump in to see how your friend can travel with you.
Things to consider if you are transporting your fish
The old proverb of fish not being potatoes was not said in vain. They require a lot of tenderness and care while they are being transported from one place to another. These are the factors that have to be taken into consideration while someone is transporting fish:
Transport tolerance
When we talk about the transport tolerance of fish, what we essentially mean is how much they would adapt themselves and resist any conditions that can get stressful. You must keep in mind that whatever be the condition, your fish must not come under any situation where there is a chance that their body temperature would rise. Hence, travelling under situations where the vehicle gets too hot from the sun is absolutely not recommended. The resistibility of your fish would also depend upon the age of your fish, as well as the breed of your fish.
How much food do they have in their intestines
Fishes usually are much better off when they do not have a lot of food in their intestines, which prevents them from getting 'sick' en route the destination. Much like we humans do. Hence, it is imperative that you check the feeding time of your fish, and keep a note of the time of feeding and the amount that you have fed your fish. Overfeeding your fish on a journey would either cause them serious issues. However cruel this method may sound, you can try to skip a meal for your fish, at least twelve hours prior to the time you will be hitting the roads. In this case, your fish would adapt itself for long feeding intervals on the road, and you would not have any issues with stopping and feeding your fish at an interval of every two hours.
Age of the fish
Small fishes are better when it comes to transporting them, since you can do the math and carry a certain amount of water for your fish. Fry usually have no issues travelling through long durations without their feed and it is perfectly normal. Fingerlings and other small fish can easily be transported in a small plastic sac with oxygen rich air pumped into it in regular intervals. It is to be noted that the water temperature should not rise beyond 180 degree Celsius under any circumstances. In case plastics are not available, tanks can be used as an alternative to plastics. The rest of the conditions are the same.
The container in which they would travel
Let us be honest, it is next to impossible travelling with a fish tank or an aquarium, and sadly, the fish tank or the aquarium is the best habitat for your pet fish since it has adapted itself to the container. In such a case, you may opt for a plastic bag. The downside of these plastic bags can be the fact that it is pretty easily spillable, and is very prone to leakages. Hence, that might not be the safest option when you are headed for a solo drive-away trip. You can also opt for containers that come with a lid. A rule of thumb should be kept in mind that your container should be large enough for your fish to easily swim about like they would do in their aquarium. The second thing you need to keep in mind is to keep the water aerated. In this case, you have two options, you can either pump oxygen into the container or plastic, or you could open the mouth of the container for a good half an hour, and keep repeating it at a two to three hours interval. You could also carry an aerator along with your container, and that would probably be the best thing you will be doing for your fishy friend's road trip.
Things to plan while transporting your fish
You really cannot toss your fish clumsily into some container with water and hit the road. That would be a display of sheer negligence. If you are going to travel by an aeroplane, you need to research their baggage policies, and if your fish is allowed to fly with you, or how they would be packaging your fish in case they put your fish in the cargo hold. You need to keep in mind that your destination should not be any more than 48 hours away from the minute you hit the road, otherwise you would have a dead fish. If you are making a pit stop, then you need to make sure there are favourable conditions for your fish during that pit stop. Please, for god's sake, DO NOT just keep your fish in the car and forget them, chances are, they would die because of fluctuating temperatures.