Just curious but where the fish sold to people within the Calgary area? because I have done the trip to Bragg Creek numerous times and from my house in the NW of Calgary all the way into Bragg Creek takes me no more than 45min. I have had fish and corals from Edmonton to Calgary travel in bags with no air stone and been fine thats a few hours min. So how many hours did these fish end up staying in the bag/pail/cooler?

My prized fish went to Calgary and died on the way... I don't even want to talk about him.


The other ones went to southern Alberta.

so sorry to hear that. when i move tanks with fish here's how i do it: in a 5g pail about two thirds full of water drawn off right at the start of the move (less junk in the water that way). in the lid of the pail (has the plug for a spout) i cut a 1/4" hole so the air line off my big bubbler will go through leaving a small gap for air to get out. the air pump (running even before the fish are all caught) is 120v so it gets connected to a inverter in the car right away. and as soon as fish are loaded make a b-line for the destination. latest move from Calgary took about 6 hours start to finish. i have moved our 175g 3 times and with the air the fish do way better. each move has lasted about 10 hours. i haven't ever lost a fish in transit or within a few days after.

perhaps you could go into a little more detail about the whole fish catching process.....something seems amiss here....Ive done the 3 hour trip to Edmonton several times with fish in bags with no heat or aeration and never suffered any losses....was the rock removed?....was the sandbed disturbed?

Nine fish to one destination in pails...Were they salt pails or ice cream buckets? was there more than one fish per pail? I'm guessing they were transported inside a heated vehicle? and not the back of a half ton! I know these questions seem dumb but like Fishytime is saying there is more to this than the typical transporting of fish.

Seems odd to me as well I bought fish and traveled over 3 hrs more than once with them in a pail or bagged never lost one.

Rock was removed five hours earlier, the fish were salt pails. I had 400 gallons of water in the system on top of the 265g display tank. Also I did not have that much live rock in the display to begin with, as it was all in the sump and holding tanks in the basement. I wanted the fish to have ample swimming room.

It's not my fault, the fish were freaking amazing and healthy. A few canreefers have seen them and could not believe the condition they were in and how fabulous they were.

the move from calgary was as follows:
begin pump out (about 1/3)
remove rock (keeping a watchful eye for any hiding fish (experience :redface: that one was a near miss on the 175g)
rock is placed in buckets with enough water to keep the fully submersed
more water removed as needed untill there is about 2" more depth than the tallest fish(makes capture easier)
catch fish snails crabs and any others (snails and crabs allways ride with the rock)
get air going and seal up for transit.
finish pump out
sand was left in on this move (34g tank plus sand = not allot of weight)
disconnect all systems from tank
load every thing up and hit the highway ( try to pick a smooth route).
upon arival at destination.
hook everything back up
add some water ( pour onto something to avoid a sand storm)
start adding rock keep adding water as rock is removed from pails.
once all rock is added fire up pumps (if possible)
add fish.
and grab a cold one :biggrin:.


the 175g
no road transit needed :smile:
weighs allot ( man power is a must ) use your brains guys not your muscles !!!!!!!!!
same as above just sand has to be taken out ( don't fill sand pails with water )(don't fill more than about half full gets very heavy very fast).
add sand before water gets added (less of a sand storm)
always check that bulkheads have sealed properly (always remove them before you move the tank )
bring the tank on line and add fish and others.

if moving large fish its best if they get their own pail just tee them an airline.
large brute pails work great as holding tanks for "extra " water i like to have a fresh batch of water ready to go (some seems to go missing every time)

I didn't at all mean to insinuate that. I'm sorry if it came across that way, I know you took amazing care and loved your fish to the extreme. I was just stating my experience's traveling with fish. Again I'm very sorry I truly meant no offence