Moving... Advice??

[Jonesy]

HI Everyone,
I'm moving 2.5 hrs away at the start of January and I have a 90 gal and a 30 gal tank that I'm bringing along. I have about 30 fish to move (some large... 3 Large Clown Loaches, 1 Severum, a tinfoil Barb, 1' Spiny Eel, etc, etc ) and I'm not too sure how I'm going to accomplish this. I was thinking of buying several large plastic containers with lids to put the fish in but I'm not sure if they can survive in there for 2.5hrs (in the back of a moving truck in January). I've had some of these fish for 4-5 years now so I'm anxious to save them all. If anyone has any practical advice on how I should move my tropical fish in Jan (I Live in Canada) I would love to hear. Thanks

 

[fish_freak]

I know what your going through I am probably moving again at the end of this month. (just did 5 months ago)

anyway I wouldnt sugest putting them in the back of the truck it will probably get to cold for them. Try to make room in the cab so they won't freeze to death. Also a good cheap alternative to buying coolers is to go to your LFS and ask if they have any of the styrofoam boxes that the fish are shiped to them in and seeing if they give them to you. Other wise just bag them in there own water and put a little stress coat in each bag. Try and keep all of the filter media wet in a bucket or something so that the bio filter will not be wiped out. This way you wont have to cycle the tank completely again. Also if possible keep the gravel wet. Alot of bacteria also lives in the gravel bed. Thats about all I can recomened. The bounceing will acctualy be good for the fish cause it will cause the water to agitate and oxygen will be transfered in.
Good Luck
BTW- you have the same size tanks I do.

 

[Decz]

I just went thru this about 3 weeks ago. I moved abotu 1.5 hours away.

What I did was get a number of styrofoam 'fish boxes'. Canadian Tire has them for about $3 each, that's not where I got mine though, I picked up stronger ones at a local tackle shop, for about the same cost.

I packed Fish and Tank water into some of the boxes, then I packed them into the cab of my pickup truck and kept it running with the heat on, so that they didn't cool down too much... (the styrofoam also helps insulate the heat).

Then, while the rest were in my truck, I used the leftover stryo boxes to put the substrate, the filters media and sponges and the plants/rocks AND, just enough tank water to barely cover these items. Then, I just dumped the leftover water, packed everything else into my truck and drove! lol!

Once I got there, my first priority was to get the fish inside. I hooked up the air pumps with air stones in the boxes, as well as the heaters. then I put the lid back on so that I didn't lose any *jumpers*.

At this point, I just took my time setting up my tank in it's new home, filled it fresh with new water (didn't use ANY old water- I relied on filter media and plants etc for the bio load). Once my tank was close to the set temp, I just scooped them all in, one by one.

They all did fine, and every single fish survived the move!

good luck!

 

[bayoupr]

This is some advice that was given to someone else. I wouldn't know because I live in the south. Might be helpful:keep about 50% of the water, and test the new tap water. I bought a couple 20 gallon plastic bins at Lowe's and lined them with trash bags to prevent the water from sloshing all over the van. One of my filters is a cannister and the other is a bio-wheel. I just put the wheels in a bag with no air in it to preserve the bacteria. As for the fish, I bagged them all separately and put in a few "hot paws". You can get them at any sporting goods store, I have a bunch from ski season last year. One thing to note on the "hot paws" most of them rely on some air for the chemical reaction to take place. I poked a few holes in the styrofoam cooler I used and taped the "hot paws" things to the inside of the lid. Make sure they don't directly touch the bags, they can get to 100 degrees or so. Keep the gravel, rock work, plants, etc. wet during transport. I moved my tank about three and a half hours and everyone is fine... Thanks to the advice I got here, so I really can't take credit for the success.

 

[darbee]

Hi, I also live in Canada. When we moved I went out and purchased 2 styrofoam coolers, from save on foods drilled a hole in the lid just big enough for an air hose, I filled them with tank water and put the fish in, i then hooked an air pump to the air hose and and put the hoses through the lids in the coolers and attached sand stones to them. I put my fish in the coolers and taped the lids closed. We then plugged the air pump into the "motomaster" Eliminator ( Canadian tire) and plugged into the cigarette lighter in our vehicle. We had a 5 hour drive ahead of us, and I was really worried because it was winter. All 15 of my fish survived with no signs of stress and are still doing well. (I also added stress guard to the water).

 

[Cathy G]

I've had good success using Bag Buddies to keep fish in bags for a long time. They have a bit of clove oil in them to keep the fish calm. (It's also supposed to add oxygen...)
Cathy