GB2193071A

GB2193071A - Transporting aquarium fish

Info

Publication number: GB2193071A
Application number: GB08618534A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stig Rylander
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1986-07-30
Filing date: 1986-07-30
Publication date: 1988-02-03
Anticipated expiration: 2006-07-30
Also published as: GB8618534D0; GB2193071B

Abstract

In a method of transporting living aquarium fish in water, the water with the living fish dwelling therein is contained in a freely suspended bag of a highly porous plastic material forming a breathable water-barrier between the interior of the bag and the surrounding atmosphere. A polypropylene material may be used, the bag being suspended in a box of foamed or expanded plastics material. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A method of transporting living aquarium fish This invention relates to a method of transporting living aquarium fish and more particularly to a method of transporting living aquarium fish in water contained in a bag of plastic material.

Large quantities of living tropical aquarium fish are transported by air from two big centra in the world, viz. Far East and Northern South America, to Europe and the United States of America. The package most commonly used for aquarium fish to be shipped as air cargo is a plastic bag which is filled to about one third with water housing the fish, the remaining part of the interior volume of the bag being filled with pure oxygen. This manner of housing the fish during transport is not satisfactory since large quantities of water are required in relation to the amount of fish and time of transportation in order to keep the death rate of the fish low during the transport.An increased death rate of the fish during transport is due to the fact that carbon dioxide expired by the fish, and above all ammonia originating from the excrements of the fish are not vented from the interior of the bag and eventually poison the fish when it has to stay in the bag for a long time such as during air transport between the supply and delivery areas mentioned above. At present, the freight costs usually are as high as the value of the fish or even higher and thus substantially influence the market price of the fish where it is delivered, as does an increased death rate of the fish.

In order to overcome these difficulties it has been proposed to transport the fish in an anaesthetized or even frozen condition but tests which have been performed applying these methods have not been successful.

According to another proposal the bag housing the fish is made of fabric coated with silicon rubber, allowing the carbon dioxide and the ammonia to be vented through the wall of the bag, the water at the same time being oxygenized by surrounding air penetrating through the bag wall into the water. However, also this type of package causes problems: it has been found that water disappears from the bag during the transport apparently due to evaporation or penetration of the water through the porous bag wall under the influence of vibrations occuring in the aircraft during the flight.

It is the primary purpose of the invention to provide a method of transporting living aquarium fish of the type referred to above, which allows a cheap package to be used for the transport while eliminating the drawbacks of the prior art methods.

Another purpose of the invention is to provide a method of the kind referred to which reduces the effective freight costs.

According to the invention there is provided a method of transporting living aquarium fish in water wherein the water with the living fish dwelling therein is contained in a freely suspended bag of a highly porous plastic material.

The plastic material of the bag should have a porosity between 25 and 50% and preferably the porosity is about 40%.

It has been found that the loss of water from the bag is very low, of the order of 7 to 10% during an air transport extending over 40 hours, and that the effective freight costs can be reduced by 50 to 65% as compared with the freight costs involved when prior art methods are applied, due to the reduced death rate and due to fact that the quantity of fish can be increased for a given volume of water, which means that the fish can be offered to the buyers at the delivery place at a lower price and/or the profit can be increased.

In order to explain the invention the method will be described in more detail below reference being made to the accompanying drawing wherein the figure shows a vertical cross sectional view of a package used for working the method of the invention.

In the drawing there is shown a box 10 of a light material, preferably a foamed or expanded plastic material such as expanded polystyrene. From the top wall of the box a bag 11 is freely suspended by means of a rope or similar element 12 so that it does not contact any of the side walls or the bottom wall of the box. It should be spaced sufficiently from the walls so as not to touch them during normal inclination of the box as may occur during transport in an aircraft or other carrier. The bag 11 is made of a highly porous material which means that the porosity of the material should range from 25% to 50% and preferably is about 40%. The material should be of the type having controlled submicron porosity, which forms a breathable water-barrier film between the interior storage space of the bag and the surrounding atmosphere.A material that has been found suitable for the manufacture of the bag is a polypropylene material marketed under the trade mark CELGARD 2400 by Celanese Separations Products, Charlotte, N. C. 28232, USA, the porosity thereof being about 38%.

The bag 11 is more or less filled with fresh or salt water 13 depending on the species of fish to be transported, and even can be substantially completely filled with water and living fish dwelling therein as indicated at 14.

The atmosphere in the interior space 15 of the bag above the water level consists of ordinary air, no supply of oxygen being necessary.

A specific species of aquarium fish, viz. the red variety of swordtail (Xiphophorus heller), having a length of about 5 cm requires a water volume of about 8 liter when 600 individuals thereof are on the way for 40 hours housed in a common plastic bag with oxygen atmosphere. Under similar conditions at least 2000 individuals may be transported by applying the method of the invention.

In order to stabilize the suspended bag this can be anchored by means of ropes or the like to the side walls of the box although such supplementary anchoring usually can be dispensed with.

It has been found advisable to prevent the fish from sleeping during a period of about 24 hours preceding the transport, so that the fish is sleepy during the transport and thus exercises reduced activity, which means that the production of carbon dioxide and ammonia products during the transport will be reduced.

The fish can be prevented from sleeping by the fish being exposed to light and sound.

Claims

1. A method of transporting living aquarium fish in water wherein the water with the living fish dwelling therein is contained in a freely suspended bag of a highly porous plastic material.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the water is contained in a bag of a material having controlled submicron porosity, forming a breathable water-barrier.

3. A method as in claim 1 or 2 wherein the water is contained in a bag having a porosity ranging from 25% to 50%.

4. A method as in claim 3 wherein the water is contained in a bag having a porosity of about 40%.

5. A method as in claim 1 wherein the bag is suspended in a closed box from the top wall thereof.

6. A method as in claim 5 wherein the bag is suspended in a box of a foamed or expanded plastic material.

7. A method as in claim 1 wherein the bag is substantially completely filled with waster and living fish dwelling therein.