hey guys just need sum advise on the best way to sedate my 2 15cm Oscars for a 4hour flight from australia to new zealand as im moving mid-year and want my fish to survive in a bag for the flight and transition to quarantine???
any info will be much welcomed.
thanks.
Skatkea.

Ummm, I'm not sure it will be necessary to sedate a fish for just four hours. I think you may be wise to get some oxygen tablets, the same as many stores that sell fish by post to use. Most people sedate fish when carrying out medical procedures. You can use clove oil or a product called finquel. However, I think these are only for actually anaesthetising the fish rather than sedating it. Also, using too much could actually result in you killing fish so you really do need to know what you're doing.

I have never taken fish on the journey this long so I cannot give you the benefit of my own experience. You could contact a fish store that ships fish online and have a word with them, and I'm sure they would some really good advice

thanks foe the advice OFL, i have spoken to many people and it seems no one has every done this b4 move overseas with their petfish...even customs were like you want to do what????move fish?? Seems that the only thing people class as pets these days are cats and dogs.lol Most people have been like why even bother they are just fish, get new ones when you get there.lol

As long as you are taking the fish with you on the flight, as in the 4 hour flight, you can pack them and ship them... I have specific pack instructions and what meds to use to sedate them. I will pull it off of my flash drive,and I will post them for you!

Here you go hun...

Shipping.
Get a Styrofoam cooler, small, from Wal-Mart or other stores. See if you can buy 3 plastic bags from LFS. If not get heavy duty plastic bags from any grocery. Don't feed fish for 48 hrs. Before transport. When ready, move fish to a bucket of treated new water( declorinated). wait about 10 min.( a lot of fish will defecate after being caught, stress).Then put more new treated water in another bucket. put the new treated water(not the water in the bucket the fish is in now)in the plastic bag. Enough to cover the fish 1/2 full? then put in the tablet of O2/sedative. in the water with him. Rubber band the top tight. Then turn upside down and put in another bag with the tied end at the bottom of the bag. Then do the same with the 3rd. bag and rubber band it tight. Place newspapers in bottom of Styrofoam carton, put the bagged fish in, then cover with newspapers for insulation. Put the Styrofoam lid on and duct tape it shut so it can't come off. Then find a cardboard box to put the Styrofoam box in, and tape shut. Make on all side of the box "LIVE FISH”. Ship 24 hrs. to delivery. Fish will calm down because of sedative and total darkness. You can get pills at jehmco.com or some LFS have them. They also sell shipping bags. I believe you can get 4-5 at a time. I blow exhaled air into the bag to blow it up like a balloon. Exhaled air from humans contains about 18% O2. You only extract about 2-3 % when you breath. Just more air and a cushion for the trip

is 4 hours for flight alone? excluding pre-flight and post-flight time table?
we used to deliver live fish for hotel and restaurant consumption and i took us
6 hours driving and hauling....well.... same procedure as Nickie suggested but
O2 tablet is unknown to us.... we just have pre-treated water for fresh water fish
fish or establish sea water for salt water fish.... put a plastic bag in a cooler,
put water in it and follow the fish (unfeed at least 1 day before), inflate the bag
with oxygen and tie with rubber band... we travel with close van, not refrigerated,
and we have minimal casualties due to overstocking in a cooler....

what worry me is the security issues at most airport nowadays. i hope you will not
encounter too much inspection that would compromise inflated plastic bag with liquid.

you may have a problem getting liquid on a plane now days with all the laws over terrorism. the shop I got my arowana from used a sedative, i was surprised as my trip was 20-30 mins but it was a fairly expensive fish. a polystyrene box would be very helpful for you. (put the bagged fish in the box)if the bags leaks the water will not leave the box so quickly and it will keep the temp better. the hold of the plane may become very cold so you may need a heater? I wonder if its worth all the trouble you may be better to rehome and replace the fish? good luck with it anyway.

hey guys thanks for the advise hey, nickisue thanks for the packing tips, i will be using them forsure.

paul, yeah the flight is 3-4hours but not including wait time at both ends and these fish wont be coming on the same plane as us but on a friaght plane at around the same
time so could be bagged for up to 12hours, then we wont see them for 6weeks as the need to go into quarintine.
but hopefully we get to check in on them...(they will be in petshop tanks for this 6weeks so i hope they dont change to much from being in a 4x2x2 back to petshop style 2ft tanks.

marcus, these fish are inreplacable hey dude, if i could i whould but i cant.lol

thanks everybody

why don't you try to arrange with your LFS the shipping of the o to your new
address. they are more familiar in the process.... of course, there will be
shipping fee...but at least your fish is insured and will be handled by expert.
and you will be prepared when it arrive and after it is quarantine.....
what worry me is the fact that you have to start the cycling again...

you will be surprised to hear that here in australia not one lfs will ship fish at all even within the country, u have to go on to a website to order fish and there is only one of them.lol as for the cycle problem quarintine is 6weeks so plenty of time to cycle up a tank or two...yeah??

skatkea wrote:

So....that means costoms have a cycled tank waiting for your fish to be quarantined in for 6 weeks?
Maybe i understood wrong...

Noddy wrote:
exactly the way i understand too..
and skatkea confirm that...