Transport of hatchlings, fry and fingerlings of culturable species is a common necessity in aquaculture. Generally the fry trading season starts in April and continues until the end of September in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, mortality is the major problem of our traditional transportation system of fish fry. In Bangladesh, fish seed production hatcheries are typically situated far away from fish rearing ponds. I went to jessore to purchase 2kg fish seed. I bought 2kg fish seed from kappothakko nod hatchery in Jessore. The distance of Jessore to Gazipur is approximately 242 km away.The price of fish seed is 2000 to 3000Tk in case of Indian major carp.I have bought 2kg fish seed from Jessore to Gazipur by pick up. Approximately 2kg fish seed contain 7to 8 lac fry.The traditional fish seed transportation methods result in heavy mortality due to accumulation of toxic wastes such as ammonia, decrease in pH due to increase of carbon dioxide (pCO2), depletion of oxygen in the water, thermal tolerance hyperactivity, stress and tiredness of the fry and infection contracted during transportation.

1. Fish Seed Transportation From Jessore To Gazipur(2kg)
Introduction:
Transport of hatchlings, fry and fingerlings of culturable species is a common
necessity in aquaculture. Generally the fry trading season starts in April and
continues until the end of September in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, mortality is the
major problem of our traditional transportation system of fish fry. In Bangladesh, fish
seed production hatcheries are typically situated far away from fish rearing ponds. I
went to jessore to purchase 2kg fish seed. I bought 2kg fish seed from kappothakko
nod hatchery in Jessore. The distance of Jessore to Gazipur is approximately 242 km
away.The price of fish seed is 2000 to 3000Tk in case of Indian major carp.I have
bought 2kg fish seed from Jessore to Gazipur by pick up. Approximately 2kg fish seed
contain 7to 8 lac fry.The traditional fish seed transportation methods result in heavy
mortality due to accumulation of toxic wastes such as ammonia, decrease in pH due
to increase of carbon dioxide (pCO2), depletion of oxygen in the water, thermal
tolerance hyperactivity, stress and tiredness of the fry and infection contracted
during transportation
General guidelines for fish seed transportation:
 Transportation early in the morning is better (Cool Hour).
 The water used in transportation should be cool and clean.
 Number of fish seeds per transportation unit should be maintained, over
number may lead to death of fishes.
 Oxygen packing is the best method of transportation.
 Anaesthetics can be used while transportation to minimize the metabolic
activities of the fish seeds. Thereby, excretion of the nitrogenous compounds
can be avoided.
 Care should be taken so that no direct sunlight falls in the packing bags during
transportation.
 The seed packing bags should be covered with the wet gunny bags. So that,
temperature of the seed packing bags will be maintained low.
 If the transporting distance is long, glucose powder can be added to the seed
packing bags.
Physiological effects of handling and transport on fish:
Live-transport of fish seed and brooders entail handling often involving chasing with
or without net, catching and transfer from the nursery/farm ponds to the
equilibration (conditioning) system and thence to the transport container. The stress
of this pre-transport handling can itself be high, sometimes causing injury and
immediate death; the stress of transport itself can be distinguished from the
handling stress. The severity of the transport stress would depend on the duration of

2. transport and the physico-chemical characteristics of the medium/ containers of
transport.The physiological effects of handling including hyperactivity can be
mentioned first. Depending on the severity of handling the effects can last over a day
even. Hyperactivity or increased physical activity and handling and concomittant
excitement cause immediate depletion of the labile energy store in muscle, namely
glycogen, mostly through the anaerobic pathway leading to the production of excess
lactic acid. The lactic acid causes ‘acidocis’ and consequent lowering of pH, which
results in the liberation of CO2. The acidic pH and increased pCO2 in blood would
cause reduced loading of oxygen in the blood (Bohr and Root effects), which would
seriously impair the energy yielding mechanism of the fish and can cause collapse of
the fish.
Fig : Effects of handling/transport on fish
Causes of mortality in transport of fish seed transportation:
Several factors, as those given below, may be responsible for mortality of fish in
transport:

3.  Depletion of dissolved oxygen in ambient water due to the respiration of fish
and also due to oxidation of any organic matter (BOD load), including excreted
waste of the fish, by micro-organisms.
 Accumulation of free carbon dioxide (CO2), resulting from respiration, and
ammonia (NH3) as excretory end product.
 Sudden fluctuations in temperature.
 Hyperactivity and stress due to handling and ‘confined space’ - these result in
lactate accumulation and affect again lessening of blood oxygen capacity and
also ‘fatigue collapse’
 Ion-osmotic imbalance due to stress.
 Physical injury due to handling before transport and during transport.
 Diseases.
Fig: Seed Transportation Vehicle
Conditioning of fish seed before transportation:
 Defination: Conditioning is a process in which Spawn, fry and older fish for
long transportation have to be prepared or conditioned. The fish seed and
broodfish are kept starving usually in a cloth ‘hapa’ or other containers in a

4. quiet corner of the fish pond or in relatively quiet water in a canal or river for
a period of time before transferring them to the transport carrier.
Period of conditioning:
The period of conditioning depends on the size and health of the fish seed. Fry
need 48 to 72 hours of conditioning.
Conditioning containers: Various types of conditioning containers are used,
 boxes made of wire meshes
 bamboo or cane wicker work
 barrels or boats with perforated bottoms
 temperary enclosures made of netting or bamboo matting,
 cloth ‘hapa’ etc
Importance of conditioning before transportation:
The advantages of conditioning fish thus are:
 The fish become used to confined condition.
 The fish are less excited and thus restrained in expenditure of energy.
 The fish recover from the handling effect of capture - increased blood lactate
level and decreased blood pH become normal - excited high metabolic rates
(O2 consumption, CO2 production, N-excretion) become normal.
 The fish recover from minor injury - mucus loss etc - Ion-osmotic balance
upset by handling becomes normal.
 Gut evacuation takes place and during the period of transport the medium is
not further contaminated by faecal matter.
 Since the fish are starved there is exhaustion of available glycogen and this
considerably reduces the chance for accumulation of high amount of lactic
acid in blood during transport and consequent acidocis and collapse as
explained earlier.
Methods of Packing and Transportation:
Transport carriers are of two types: (a) open system comprising open carriers, with
or without artificial aeration/oxygenation/water circulation and (b) closed system
having sealed air tight carriers with oxygen.
Transportation in polyethylene bags:
 This is one of the most widespread method for egg, fry and fingerling
transportation.

5.  Sometimes plastic bags are used also for broodfish transportation. For eggs
and newly hatched fry bags of 0.04 mm thickness, and for fingerling bags of
0.06–0.08 mm thickness are recommended.
 For transportation of fish bigger than fingerling, plastic bags of 0.1–0.15 mm
thickness are preferred.
 The simplest way is to prepare plastic bags using a plastic hose. It should be
purchased in different width and cut on required length.
 To avoid sharp increasing of water temperature in plastic bags some ice
(packed in small plastic bag, and placed in the transportation bag) can be
used. For an average size plastic bag 200–500 ml of water should be freezed.
 If embryo is less developed, splashing of water can cause some injuries with
tearing down of cells from embryo. Later, resistance of egg shell is lower
against mechanical impacts.
 At 27–28°C water temperature about 10 g oxygen is necessary for 2–4 hours
transportation of 100–200 thousand eggs. For a very long transportation (2–3
day) larvae should be packed soon after hatching.
 Newly hatched fry can survive such a period without difficulties, consuming
their own yolk. Quantity of oxygen necessary for 3 days transport of 5–10 000
fry is 10 g.
 Numbers of feeding larvae transported in plastic bags by Bangladeshi fish
culturist are: For long distance transportation (for 7–8 hours) 125 g feeding fry
(about 50 000) are packed in standard bag of 80–90 × 40–50 cm. For short
transportation, loading is about 200 g (80–90 000). Loading of plastic bags for
silver carp and catla is less, about 80%.
Fig: Fish Seed packing

6. Open system:
The simplest transport carrier is the earthern vessel, such as the traditional “Hundi”
used in Bengal in India. Open packing system for transport of fish seed is going out of
fashion mainly because it involves continuous vigilance and frequent renewal of
water during long journeys. Galvanised iron drums of 180 L capacity, and open
canvas containers (1 m × 1 m × 1.25 m) have been used successfully in transporting
breeders. The galvanized iron drums are provided with an opening of 48 cm × 30 cm
along the main body of the container for introduction of fingerlings and larger fish.
The drums is often lined inside with foam rubber to avoid injury to the buffetting fish
during transport. Recently plastic pools (250 litres and other sizes) have also been
used for transporting fish.
Advantage:
 The earthern hundi is now being replaced by aluminium vessels which are
unbreakable, but the earthern hundies have the advantage that they keep
the temperature of the water inside cool by means of evaporative cooling.
Disadvantage:
 It is very expensive
 The seed get heavily stressed
 It suffer mortality during transport or soon after stocking
Closed system:
In this system the water surface is exposed to compressed air or pure oxygen
introduced to fill the zone over the water surface in the carriers which are
sealed air-tight Sealed metal containers, rubber and plastic bags have been
used for the purpose. In a metal container of galvanized iron (45 × 35 × 35 cm)
with two airtight openings, one to let in oxygen and other to let out water,
100 – 200 fingerlings of 7 – 10 cm, or 30 – 40 fingerlings of 13 – 20cm length,
can be transported for a journey of 12 hours. Eighteen litre tins with airtight
screw-capped lids for filling and provided with tubes for drawing in oxygen
and letting out water, have been used in CIFRI, Barrackpore, for transporting
1000 fry of 1 – 2 cm length during a 20-hour journey.

7. .
Fig.: 1 1. Procedure of closing the bottom end of a polyethylene sleeve
Fig. 1. 2. Procedure of filling the bag with water, stocking with the fish, displacing
the air, introducing oxygen and closing the upper end.

8. Fig:1. 3. Sealed plastic containers
A. container volume 25 litres, the oxygen-inlet valve is built in the screw cap;
B. container volume 50–150 litres, vertical plastic p pe keeps water at the
required level.
Fig. 1. 4. Small tank to be carried in a car. Container volume 100 – 150 litres; the
aeration grate is adjusted to s fit the dimensions of the tank.

9. Fig. 4. 5 Specialized tank for pike-perch transport
In any carrier system the factors which basically determine sucessful transport of
fish are:
 Total biomass of fish to be transported.
 The rate of utilization of oxygen.
 Initial oxygen content of water carried.
 The rate of entry of oxygen into the system.
 The rate of accumulation of harmful excretory wastes, especially CO2 and NH3
and capacity of the system to remove
Oxygen Requirement:
Oxygen requirement of fish ranges from 100–1100 mg/kg/hours. Oxygen
consumption is not a standard value. It depends largely on fish species, size of fish,
physiological condition of individual and on several environmental factors.
In general, oxygen consumption
 grows with the increase of water temperature,
 decreases with weight of fish,

10.  at majority of warm-water species decreases with decreasing oxygen
saturation of ambient water,
 increases sharply after food consumption,
 significantly higher at stressed fish, and
 depends on physiological status of fish
With the increase or decrease of 10°C water temperature oxygen consumption
duplicates or decreases to 50 percent.
Use of Chemicals in Live Fish Transport: Drugs and chemicals are either used as
tranquilizers and sedatives or as antiseptics and antibiotics. General listing of
anaesthetics for fish has been given by several workers Sedatives are generally used
for:
 Reducing metabolic rates, mainly oxygen consumption and excretion of
carbon dioxide and ammonia.
 Reducing excitability of fish and injury, and
 Convenience in handling fish.
Dosages of drugs used: Different drugs have been studied for use as anaesthetic for
transport of fish. They are
 sodium amytal,
 chloral hydrate,
 tertiary amyl alcohol
 tricaine methane sulphonate (MS 222 Sandox),
 urethane,
 hydroxy quinaldine,
 amobarbital sodium
 barbital sodium etc
Use of Chemicals in Live Fish Transport: Drugs and chemicals are either used as
tranquilizers and sedatives or as antiseptics and antibiotics. General listing of
anaesthetics for fish has been given by several workers Sedatives are generally used
for:
 Reducing metabolic rates, mainly oxygen consumption and excretion of
carbon dioxide and ammonia.
 Reducing excitability of fish and injury, and
 Convenience in handling fish.

11. Problems Faced During Transportation:
 Dissolve oxygen level in transporting water reduces and Carbon dioxide level
increases.
 Due to metabolic activity of fishes the concentration of ammonia, urea and
uric acid etc increase in the water, hence fish gets stress.
 If transportation is done in high density it may lead to mortality of fish due
stress of oxygen.
 If transportation is done in improper vessels, physical damage of fishes may
occur.
Recommendation:
 To remove the toxic ammonia from the media to safeguard the seedlings from
the mortality, the absorbent is added which can reduce 50 % of ammonia for
24 hours transportation
 All the containers and accessories used in handling and transportation should
be very clean
 Generally fingerlings intended for transportation should so as to avoid the
damage to the scales and fins
 Stop feeding fish 24 to 48 hours prior to transporting
 Avoid overcrowding and suffocation.
Conclusion:
A fish farmer must be very familiar with the principles technique and practice of fish
transportation. The aim of transportation is to provide healthy live fish at the
destination. Almost any clean ,water proof container may be used.

12. Reference:
1. Bell, G. R. 1964. A guide to the properties, characteristics and uses of
some general anaesthetics for fish. Fisheries Res. Board of Can. Bull.
2. Berka, R. 1986. The transport live fish. A review. EIFAC Tech..
3. Durve, V. S. 1975. Anaesthetics in the transport of fisht seed.
Aquaculture
4. Durve, V. S., A. K. Dharma Raja., 1974. Effects of anaesthetic on the
behaviour of mullet fingerlings and the scope of using these in different
fishery procedures - I.J.Mar. Biol. Assoc.
5. . McFarland, W.N. 1960. Theuse of anaesthetics for the handling and the
transport of fishes. Calif