Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Transfering Fish

Wanting to transfer some of my adult BG and RES this weekend from pond behind my house to another pond of ours.

I do not have an aerater and road trip between the two takes 45 minutes. Not sure of my water temps but its been a relitivley cool spring here in southern Indiana. The RES were on the nest last weekend and the bluegill are on now.

Looking for some guidelines and or suggestions as far as my time parameters,fish care,water treatment,etc...etc...etc...I have several large coolers and access to more and some even larger plastic tubs.I'll be happy with how ever many we can catch.

Any advice would be appreciated to help me and wife pull this off. Thanks Rob

Coolers will work,
Add a little salt to your water.
Go to Wal-Mart buy a small bubbler from the pet section, some air house and a small diffuser stone. You can get the double headed ones that will handle two coolers. While you are there go to the electronics dept, get and AC inverter so you can plug them into the cigarette lighter in the vehicle. You can run an extension cord if needed. I have been doing this for some time with great success.

before I got a inverter setup I used a thing called O'tabs look for them on EBAY they got em. They worked real good and I transported 75 4 to 6 inch BG over 90 miles with 2 tabs in the cooler the cooler was like medium to large in size. I never lost a fish. Each tab works for up to like 4 or 5 hours. Check them out they work.

RC

Some fishing/tackle stores sell small aerators. I used to have a battery powered on that work well, but the one that runs off 110v or the car outlet is much, much better.

I also like to fill a few plastic water bottles up about 4/5's way and then freeze them.

Then, I'll place one in the transport water during transport to keep the water cooler.

For the actual transport, I got a 5-gallon bucket with a lid; I drilled two silver dollar sized holes in the lid.

The 5 gallon bucket seems to slosh a lot less than the cooler, however, I don't haul as many adult fish.

O'tabs work , I have used them also....
I tend to bucket stock on a regular basis so I got somethign I can use over and over. The Otabs are more of a one time deal , but they are pretty cheap.

most bait and tackle stores will carry them

Once I had to transfer fish from a place like ~200 km from my pond.
I placed a large plastic bowl in the car and a garbage bag inside it. After that I filled it with water and added my fish.
They survived the journey because of the aerator that provided enough oxygen. It was the usual aerator, powered by car charger.

The fishkeeper gave me advice how to make it even more simple. He said that I needed such bowl ONLY partly filled with water. The fish wouldn't be able to dive in and in a result they would splash water a lot. As far as I understand, they get enough oxygen to live.

Since I had everything prepared, I used the aerating method but in case you aren't able to provide such service, the second advice might be useful.
(Do it on your own risk and don't blame me ).