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hi guys
hope you can help me out on this one

i am thinking of buying in plecs from a country which i will be visting soon and carrying them in my hand luggage

the flight back will be 4 hours

whats the largest size possible that i can bring along for 5 litres of water
if not the ideal size and number oif pieces for a certain amout of water say -1 litres

will it be a good idea for me to add in some water conditioner (geo liquid, easy life, nitrivec, oxycure) as the plecs will be in the bags for at least 24 hours before they will be out in a tank??

any other info, tips or advice pertaining to transportation will be greatly apprecaited too

If I were you, I would not carry the fish in a bag. Bags tend to leak (despite what you do to try and stop them), and it would be so much easier to carry the fish in a plastic bottle (of course, this limits the size of the fish whatever can go through the mouth)....something like a wide-mouth Nalgene bottle with a screw top lid would do nicely. Besides, you can open the bottle at regular intervals to introduce fresh air.
If you have really small fish, the small plastic drinking water bottles (500 ml ones) are ideal for this purpose.

Thick poly bags (triple bagged) within a polystyrene box are good. I know of a 12" Pseudacanthicus that made the trip from Edinburgh to Copenhagen as such. As Silurus says, water bottles are great transports for anything that will fit down the neck.

Jools

It wouldn't hurt if they could miss that last meal meal before you bag them up. A lot less waste that way. I don't know if they have these where you are, but perware or rubbermaid containers (huge variety of sizes and shapes) have lids that seal very well and could be opened to allow in oxygen. They are also stackable etc. Don't use some cheap off-brands though. Their biggest problem is lids sealing.

will it be a good idea for me to add in some water conditioner (geo liquid, easy life, nitrivec, oxycure) as the plecs will be in the bags for at least 24 hours before they will be out in a tank??

Not really much point use the water they are accustomed to in the bag/bottle remember not all water or they will suffocate, about 1 quarter should be water the rest oxygen unless your doing hoek hees method. remember natural bactrial products have a lot of dead as well as live bacterior in them and were not designed for transport uses. API however make a product called ammo lock which is the only one i would recomend.

If you can make sure your plecs dont get Xrayed.

magnum4 wrote: If you can make sure your plecs dont get Xrayed.

I was wondering about this as well... what is the airport going to say about this?

Airport x-rays and fish...covered here.

so i guess transporting the fish is kind of a dont ask dont tell type situation? hehe. guess it depends on import laws an such, I just dont see this being possible bringing fish into the US from another country in my lunch box

I think all you'd need to bring fish in your lunchbox would be a $25 permit from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. I know Ian was investigating bringing fish with him from the UK to the US.

Rusty

Rusty wrote:I think all you'd need to bring fish in your lunchbox would be a $25 permit from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. I know Ian was investigating bringing fish with him from the UK to the US.

Rusty

I've taken fish into the US in 3 occaisions and found the best policy is to obtain the right forms, fill them in accurately and walk right up to the customs dude and hand them over. As long as you don't have pirhana, clarias, electric eels or stingrays and suchlike you're fine.

That said, this is if you've got a fish box or three in the hold... If you're taking twenty corys in your hand luggage I wouldn't bother.

Jools

hi guys

thanks for all the wanderful tips and advice

will update you guys on the method and outcome

thanks again

really? It's not a particularly difficult process to bring fish from other countries? Hmm... parents are going to Hong Kong in about a month... wonder how tough it'd be for them to find some L133 or some of the tiger fin variants of L091...

Once you get over your pleco fever, you'll realize how silly you are for breaking your neck for a bunch of plecos.

one man's meat
another man's poison

That meat can become poison at room temperature after a couple hours.

I've brought fish on planes several times. Make sure that if you are bring the fish on the plane with you, that it can fit under yor seat. When you bring it to the x-ray machine, just show them the fish and you should be okay. That being said, I have never gone through customs or the like with live fish.