# Requesting suggestions on how to safely transport my betta over a 4 hour drive.



## Little Veiltail (Nov 16, 2009)

First let me say that this site is excellent and informative, and I regret not finding it sooner [my betta only lives in a 1-gallon bowl, so at some point that will need to change].

Next, I should say that I'm currently a college student, and will be going home to visit my family for a week for Thanksgiving. We leave on Friday, and it takes us about 4 or 5 hours to get to my house from there.

I don't think it would be safe to keep my betta (Sir Ellis of Norwood, but we call him Ellis for short) in his bowl for the whole trip, but I can't think of any good ways to get him home. A friend of mine suggested Tupperware, but a trip that long without access to air might be bad for him.

Since I only got my betta a few days ago, and I'll only be home a week, I'm afraid that all of these constant changes in environment might upset him.

What do you folks suggest?

My other question is, I think he's going to need a heater since the water temp is only about 72 degrees, but a dramatic temperature change like that might stress him out. Should I just add the heater the next time I clean his bowl and spend extra time re-acclimating him? And might the heater take up too much space in his bowl to be worth using?

I suppose it would just be best to buy a new, proper tank. It's a shame it's too late to return the bowl to the store. X<


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Hello and welcome to the forum. To transport him, I would put him in a gladware container or the cup he came in. You could put the container in a small cooler with something around it to keep the container from sliding around. I would also get one or two of those handwarmers and put that in the cooler to keep him warm, unless you are from a warm climate, then you wouldn't have to worry about it. Also, you can get shipping heat packs from Marinedepot and they will work well keeping your betta warm. 
It would be great if you could get him a little bit bigger container. Some of us here keep ours in critter keepers. I have 2 2.5 gallons and 2 1.5 gallon critter keepers. You can put heaters in those. It would be very hard to heat a 1 gallon bowl because the heater could get too hot and kill your fish. I hope this helps.


----------



## Little Veiltail (Nov 16, 2009)

Thanks a lot. I have a few hand warmers around here. The climate I'm from has temperatures that fluctuate a lot, but it's usually cold around this time, so he'll need to stay warm. =3

The next time I go to the store I'll look into getting one of those critter keepers. Might be easier to clean than a bowl too. =)


----------



## sandystar (Nov 10, 2009)

I use to keep my first betta in a 1 gal glass bowl and used a mini heater from petco. It kept his tank at a lovely 80 degrees F. The only thing was during the day I had to unplug it, for a couple hours. Otherwises it would overheat.

I bought just the glass tank and fashioned my own lid and such for my tank and it saved me a lot of money.


----------



## Calmwaters (Sep 2, 2009)

When I moved from Nashville, TN to Asheville which is about 5 hours I put my little guy in a large cup from McD's with the lid on it and put him in my cup holder. I filled the cup up a little over halfway anf tore out the hole the straw goes in.


----------



## TigerLily (Sep 17, 2009)

The gladware and Mcdonalds cup ideas are good ways to go if you don't have the cup he came in (or if he didn't come in a cup). I've also heard of people using Starbucks cups, since the straw hole in those allows air but is too small for the fish to jump through.


----------



## Little Veiltail (Nov 16, 2009)

Good suggestions. Ellis came in a bag and not a cup, so that's how this whole pondering of mine started. XD

Drink cups might work but i'd be worried about them not being clean enough. Lots of rinsing might do the trick though... We'll see.


----------



## Mecal (Nov 2, 2009)

I'm glad this thread was made, as I'll have to transport my fish (probably a total of 3 times this year) for 2 hours.

so thanks for the suggestions.


----------



## Eolith (Aug 4, 2009)

I think there's several of us who will be bringing our betta roomies home with us over breaks. ^_^ I'm in the same spot you are... only I've got two boys to deal with now!

It's great that they can go a day or two without food too, so I don't have to worry about them when I go home for the weekend or if I'm going to be away for a night.


----------



## Calmwaters (Sep 2, 2009)

You could ask them at McDs to just give you a cup that has not been used. They probably will.


----------



## Mecal (Nov 2, 2009)

I would try to get a plastic cup.

Eventually the water will soak through the paper, even though its waxy paper (granted, it takes longer than 4 hours, but better to be safe then sorry - IMO).


----------



## Little Veiltail (Nov 16, 2009)

Found a plastic cup [with a lid!]. It's rather small, but I think it will be okay for the trip. Just gotta poke extra holes in the lid so my fishy can breathe.

I feel kinda bad putting him in such a small container, but it's not like I'm going to make him live in it.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

He'll be ok.


----------

