A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

A tip on moving fish

Greetings. Sometimes it can be difficult to keep enough oxygen in your water when moving fish. Here is the solution I use, a battery powered air pump. They cost about $20 and can be purchased from many bait or fishing shops or independent aquarium stores. For example the one in the photo below I found at Phoenix Tropical Fish Inc.. http://phoenixtropicalfishinc.com

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Permalink Reply by Jim Troyer on March 22, 2013 at 3:27am

There are 12 volt model available for boats too, they can be rigged up for a cigarette lighter plug for easy use in your car.

nice comment Doc

Permalink Reply by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on March 22, 2013 at 9:43am

Lighter plug? Cool. I shall try to find one of those! Thanks Jim.

Permalink Reply by George on March 22, 2013 at 11:20am

You can also use an aquarium air pump with inverter - plug into 12-V port.

Permalink Reply by Matt Miskinnis on March 23, 2013 at 7:34pm

Great info, if I probably had that I believe I wouldn't have lost any fish, I believe it was lack of Oxygen that was my culprit. Just curios, if you just had an airstone with tubing and you blew in it every so often, would that work just as well? I know if you have a long way before you can get your fish to a tank the battery/plug would be the way to go, but if it wasn't so long of time would that suffice? Just curious...

Permalink Reply by Sheri Schmeckpeper on March 23, 2013 at 9:50pm

The oxygen is introduced into the water through surface turbulence, so yes, it should work, as long as their was enough oxygen-rich air above the surface. You could also spin a hand beater or shake the container. Of course, the fish wouldn't like that very well. :)

We sent a few hundred fish cross-country with a gentleman one time. He kept them in a large cooler with plenty of air space. He stopped every periodically to open the container and he added hydrogen peroxide, a trick we learned from Dr. George. They all arrived in good shape. An air pump would be more stress free, though, I would think.

The temperature of the water also affects the fish and the oxygen levels, so if the container got too warm it could have contributed to the demise of the fish.

Permalink Reply by George on March 25, 2013 at 8:20am

Temp - yes. I plan to transport fish in about two weeks and will use ice to lower the water temp a bit, even though it is not hot here yet in N. Fla.

Blowing in tubing/airstone - would it work just as well? No way. You couldn't come close to aerating water to the extent an air pump will. Get an air pump. Have you ever made aerated compost tea? That's another thing you can do if you get an air pump. A cheap air pump will last for years and chances are you will get a lot of use out of it eventually.

Permalink Reply by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on March 25, 2013 at 8:38am

What George said. (Great name by the way )

Permalink Reply by Sheri Schmeckpeper on March 25, 2013 at 11:03am

True, "not as well," and you could get pretty dizzy. But, in theory, blowing in a tube would work in a pinch. For transporting for any distance we use the inverter/pump. The battery units are wonderful, too. :)