I am looking for some ideas for moving my big fish. I have quite a few larege fish, right under 4ft and have one over 5FT. I don't have too long of a drive to move them, about 45 min., but I know some of the larger fish get really stressed. Rodrigo lost some of his big fish in his move to NY, but hopfully less than an hour the stress won't be as bad. I really don't want to have so sedate fish to move them.
Moving monsters
- Thread starter Texasrockwell
- Start date
A big fish can exhaust itself in 5 mins if it struggles too much... 45 mins or 10 hrs doesnt matter that much. Depending on the type of fish you are moving, I would sedate and then move them in a plastic tote or temp. koi pond. I've had very bad experiences moving larger fish. It would help if you gave a few more details about the fish and if they are in a pond/tank. Pond fish will fair much worse being moved. Cats and Rays are usually much easier to move around since they seem to be more calm. But fish like ATF and tarpon are terrible if they are near adult sizes.
The fish are in an above ground pond, its pretty big, 30ftx15ft and is around 2 1/2 feet in depth . Mostly catfish, but also have some pacu and air breathers(gar,pima)
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Cats..esp. rtc are ok to move but the big pima will be problematic. I assumed the pima is the 5 ft'er because of their damn growth rate. Or is it the gar that is 5ft? You can safely get away with putting 2x cats in a half filled 270 tote or more in a portable 500 gal. koi pond. Good luck with the pima tho. Keep us posted. Hopefully someone else will chime in with helpful hints for you.
Yeah the pima is the big one, he is the one I am worried about. For the pima I had an idea of putting a liner in the bed of my truck and filling it up, at least he would have 8ft to move around. I would just cover it with a couple of sheets of plywood. I have about 6 months before I will be moving them, but just wanted to get some ideas from everyone. Thanks for the input
vincentwugwg
For a big powerful fish like a Pima you can't really get around sedation. I'd go with the smallest container that can fit the fish, sedate and blast with O2.
So you dont think the it would drown? I worry about the sedation and it not being to gulp any air. Interesting theory on moving it though. Maybe someone that has moved a fish this big will chime in.
Although pima sometimes will 'gulp' air, they are not exclusive air breathers...after all, they are pretty closely related to Arowanas. You dont need to knock the fish out... relaxing/calming it down will help a ton. Finding the correct dosage will require researching and perhaps a mock trial or two.
might sound crazy. but i would look into a Giant tuna bag. take your time and get him into the bag while your both in the pool. my biggest fear moving a pima that big would be him thrashing and falling. even then youll want 2-3 people and anything can happen. the bag is dark and will make the fish a bit calmer and he will remain wet while being moved and if the unthinkable happends and he gets dropped. the bag provides quite a bit of protection. as mentioned above. its not to bad doing the actual trip once in his moving container. its the process of getting him out of his pond and into that container that is 90% of the stress.
6x2x2 poly stock tanks are commonly available and not terribly expensive. You might consider something durable like that to move these fish around. And hey, what MFKer doesnt need an extra 150g stock tank lying around?