Good morning everyone. My family and I decided awhile back to move to my hometown in Arizona. We put our house on the market in Maryland and poof...closed on Thursday November 30th. Well long before closing I started researching how to take the fish with me. Very interesting experience. Here is how it occurred:
Wed. Nov 29th, evening - drained both 10 and 55 gallon tanks. Kept mixture of current tank water and new clean water in a 22 gallon rubbermaid container. We stayed with my Mother-in-law until Sunday Dec. 3rd (due to my son's football team going to the county championship game). I used my heater and battery powered air pumps in the rubbermaid with the fish while at her house. I could not quite get on of my filters to work with it so just used the air pump and heater with water changes every other day. I had Pengiun Bio wheel filters on both tanks along with a Whisper 60 also on the 55. I put both bio wheels and the sponge filters in the water with the fish hoping this would help with keeping Ammonia and Nitrites down and so that the bio wheels would not dry out. I also put my driftwood in the rubbermaid so Mr. Clean the Pleco would be happier and it would not dry out either.
Sunday Dec. 3rd, very early morning, left Maryland with the following:
Chev Impala and Chev Avalanche (55 gallon tank and stand in bed of truck)
1 husband, 2 children (ages 10 and 3) and the following fish:
9 Glolite Tetras
6 Diamond Tetras
4 female Bettas
2 Cardinal Tetras
3 Dalmation Mollies
2 Spotted Cories
1 Pineapple Swordtail
1 Bristlenose Pleco
Large group of people and fish to transport across country. Fish in rubbermaid in back seat of Avalanche with the battery powered air pumps during the day.
We stayed 4 nights in hotels in Knoxville, TN, Little Rock, AR, Sweetwater, TX and Las Cruces, NM with driving the rest of the way into Phoenix on Thursday Dec. 7th.
We had a couple fish casualties along the way. We lost one Cardinal right away on the Wednesday night when I emptied the tanks. I think I may have injured it while trying to net it. Along the journey, we lost the other Cardinal, two glolite tetras and one Betta - may they all rest in peace.
The 55 tank was reset up right away Thursday night and fish added after the temp came up enough. Have lost no more fish since then and everyone is happy again the tank. We did not bring the 10 gallon because we could not find any more room in the cars for it, so I will be replacing the tank soon.
This was and interesting experience with the fish. If anyone needs to do a long distance move, it takes patience and alot of work.
I wanted to get BioSpira to add to the tank right away here to make sure no spikes in ammonia and nitrites but could not find any retailer in the Phoenix area that carries it. If anyone knows of a shop, please let me know. I am monitoring my water twice a day right now to watch for problems.
Heather
Wed. Nov 29th, evening - drained both 10 and 55 gallon tanks. Kept mixture of current tank water and new clean water in a 22 gallon rubbermaid container. We stayed with my Mother-in-law until Sunday Dec. 3rd (due to my son's football team going to the county championship game). I used my heater and battery powered air pumps in the rubbermaid with the fish while at her house. I could not quite get on of my filters to work with it so just used the air pump and heater with water changes every other day. I had Pengiun Bio wheel filters on both tanks along with a Whisper 60 also on the 55. I put both bio wheels and the sponge filters in the water with the fish hoping this would help with keeping Ammonia and Nitrites down and so that the bio wheels would not dry out. I also put my driftwood in the rubbermaid so Mr. Clean the Pleco would be happier and it would not dry out either.
Sunday Dec. 3rd, very early morning, left Maryland with the following:
Chev Impala and Chev Avalanche (55 gallon tank and stand in bed of truck)
1 husband, 2 children (ages 10 and 3) and the following fish:
9 Glolite Tetras
6 Diamond Tetras
4 female Bettas
2 Cardinal Tetras
3 Dalmation Mollies
2 Spotted Cories
1 Pineapple Swordtail
1 Bristlenose Pleco
Large group of people and fish to transport across country. Fish in rubbermaid in back seat of Avalanche with the battery powered air pumps during the day.
We stayed 4 nights in hotels in Knoxville, TN, Little Rock, AR, Sweetwater, TX and Las Cruces, NM with driving the rest of the way into Phoenix on Thursday Dec. 7th.
We had a couple fish casualties along the way. We lost one Cardinal right away on the Wednesday night when I emptied the tanks. I think I may have injured it while trying to net it. Along the journey, we lost the other Cardinal, two glolite tetras and one Betta - may they all rest in peace.
The 55 tank was reset up right away Thursday night and fish added after the temp came up enough. Have lost no more fish since then and everyone is happy again the tank. We did not bring the 10 gallon because we could not find any more room in the cars for it, so I will be replacing the tank soon.
This was and interesting experience with the fish. If anyone needs to do a long distance move, it takes patience and alot of work.
I wanted to get BioSpira to add to the tank right away here to make sure no spikes in ammonia and nitrites but could not find any retailer in the Phoenix area that carries it. If anyone knows of a shop, please let me know. I am monitoring my water twice a day right now to watch for problems.
Heather
