Transporting Discus by road 400k's?

[Hooked]

Hi gang,

I'd appreciate anyone's advice/experience on the transportation of Discus over 400k's by road as I'm relocating soon.
I have a trailer that's fitted with a Hiab style crane that I have successfully moved my tanks and fish in the past over a short 10 minute drive. Obviously the tanks all empty and the fish in a bunch of 20lt buckets. I had a 200lt holding tank ready at the other end, all went well.
But as I'm moving over 400k's and will be on the road for probably 5hrs, I'm thinking of putting the fish in two 200lt screw top plastic barrels and running my pumps, heaters and a small airstone on them via a genset placed on the rear of the trailer to direct the exhaust away. I'd ensure the barrels are full so as to eliminate the free surface/sloshing about effect and cover the outlets in filter cloth to reduce turbulence. The hoses going through a hole in the the lid which will allow air to escape. I'll probably put a plastic sheet over the barrel tops to try and stop contamination getting in. I'm thinking this way I can maintain my filters live bacteria. Also this gives me 400lts to put into the 1000lt tank at the other end. I would also wrap the barrels in a couple of doonas to better insulate them.
Should I stop feeding a day or two before as sellers/shippers do that send fish in bags by airfreight to reduce ammonia etc or not worry as I'm running filters on the barrels? Also I have been recommended in the past to not feed newly delivered fish for a couple of days to let them settle in and de-stress.
Its a good quality sealed road all the way. The trailer is in good order, good bearings etc with a couple of spare tyres and I'd take more than enough gen set fuel in case of hold ups. I was thinking of running a light globe or something similar on the front of the trailer to show if the genset was still running and just thought should grab a spare spark plug too.
Any advice or things to think about would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[Hooked]

Hi gang,
just had some great advice from a friend to approach the local fish shop to have them bagged and boxed as per the usual shipping method. It would alleviate the potential for harm I think. I'll go in and see them and see what I can work out,

Cheers

[sunshinediscus]

I agree with hooked. I would individually bag them with oxygen, and transport them in a foam box. A couple of heat packs from the pharmacy will keep them warm for a day or so.

Good luck with your move.

[Hooked]

Thanks for the info,

Cheers

[Hooked]

Hi gang,
I ended up transporting my fish in the large 200lt barrels as first suggested. I had an earlier opportunity in my moving schedule which being late on a Sunday didn't allow for a trip to the lfs to have them packed up. I split my Discus, Rummy Nose school, bunch of bristlenose, corys, loaches etc between the two barrels. Started out on the 5 hour journey from Perth to Albany and the genset kept overloading after about 45 mins!!!!! I had only two 300 watt heaters and two 30 watt filters running and was rated to 1000 watts? I'd wrapped the barrels in old doonas thankfully. Gave up stuffing around with the genset as thought just best to get there.
All fish survived without ANY injury. Were full of life on arrival and out within two days from any hiding and after less than a week are back to 100% activity.
When the genset stopped early into the trip my biggest concern was the filter bacteria. Basically they didn't run for 4 hours. But after plugging them in on arrival on the new tank with new water, I'm very happy to say there has been no ammonia noticed. Possibly the movement on the trailer kept the bacteria active? Really glad not to be doing daily changes to reduce ammonia levels due to dead bacteria.
Anyway the fish all travelled well at the end of the day. The local water ph is much better than previous which was very alkaline. No need to add HCL acid as before at this time. Need to source a rainwater tank to mix it with the tap water and fish should be very happy.


Cheers