I am planning on stocking my old recently shut down south and central american cichlid tank with NA native fish such as Bluegill, redear sunfish, pumpkin seed, crappie, warmouth, largemouth bass or smally and bullhead. they will be going in a 180 gallon aquarium, and i am constantly upgrading so i have lots of extra tanks. I have a lot of experience with aquariums and fish keeping alike so please dont give me a hard time. The only place i can go to catch most of these fish easily is about a 5 plus hour drive , let me note that one of my buddies a while back kept a bluegill in a cut in half monster can for 2 hours or more and now it eats out of his hand. I was thinking fill up an ice chest thats about 4 foot long with lake water and put em in there, i am an avid fisherman and own multiple bubble box type air pumps for keeping baitfish alive and i was thinking use one of those for airoration. I also have a stress cote for aquarium fish that i was going to use as well. Can this work? and is there anyhting else i can do in regards of the well being of the fish for the long trip? also what is the ideal temp for these fish, my aquarium unheated at night stays at 68 degrees and under and during the day probly around 78 maximum but probably still around 75 and under average. Say i were to get all of these fish, what is the ideal size tank for these fish full grown? I more than likely will not get all these fish btw. So basically the questions are What is the safest way to transport fish for a minimum of 5 hours in a vehicle? What can you tell me about these fish such as temperament and compatibility? and what is the ideal aquarium living situations for these fish as a whole?… so please help me with what you can, but if you dont know any answers to any of the questions please dont answer. I really appreciate all the answers and input given. Thanks Kevin
thank you guys for the fast help, sorry i didn’t mention it earlier but im in california. From what i know, na native fish species are very resilient and can handle a lot of stressful situations better than most fish, especially catfish. you gut em and through them back into the bucket and they are still swimming. thanks again for the positive answers and i def feel better about moving forward with the plan. Thanks again, Kevin