Best way to move fish to new house?

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Horsechick

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 9, 2015
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I'm planning a move that is a 26 hr drive (if you dont take breaks) away. I have a 125 and 55. 55 is basically empty, one little convict in there. (I know right?)

The 125 has 2 Oscars about 6-7", 7 convicts of various sizes including a mature male that is 4-4.5", a 5" blue acara, 2 firemouths that are 4-5", a 9-10" pleco, some unknown African about 4", and a GT that is probably 2.5-3".

How do I best move them? I thought about having family out there buy another tank and ship them (not sure how or what it would cost) figure out a way to take tank and fish in buckets. OR sell them in CL and hope they get a good home then start over at new location.

I don't want them to die...
 
Really super common, inexpensive fish, sell/rehome then buy new. The hassle and danger isn't worth it imo. I know you're probably attached to them but it'll be much easier.
 
Don't feed them for a day or two before you leave, this way the waste they create during the move will be minimal.

Next get buckets/tubs/containers (as large as is practical) with lids and battery operated air pumps, put your filter media in the tubs with your fish and run either small sponge filters or air stones with the pumps to keep the surface moving and help with gas exchange. Try placing the air stone/sponge near the filter media to keep the water flowing over it. You may have to drill a small hole in the container lids to get the airline through, try to make them the same size as the airhose so that water doesn't sploosh out of the containers if you have to slam the breaks on.

If you're really worried keep prime (or similar) on hand and dose accordingly if you stop. Technically if you move your media with the fish, the bacteria should do what its supposed to do and you shouldn't need prime - but better safe than sorry.

Just a few pointers and all very basic stuff, I'm sure someone else has a better way of doing it though.

Disclaimer: I do not know everything nor do I claim too. Always do your own research and always cross reference :)
 
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I completely agree with kittie kat. Just take tank water and fill up totes, I actually prefer styrofoam for spooky fish that tend to freak out like aros and pangasuis and run battery powered air pumps. You can even hook them up to cycled sponge filters
 
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Horsechick said:
Any advice on keeping the temperature warm enough?
Click to expand...
Not unless you can get one of those power point thingys that plug into your car (if that makes sense?), then just plug a heater into that. Otherwise, best I can say is to insulate the crap out of the tub and hope for the best. :) good luck!
 
Will look into it. Thanks for the advice. The move is feeling insurmountable. I'm feeling like I should sell or pitch everything and start over. No clue how to do this :(
 
Theres also the option of trying to keep your car (assuming they'll be inside the car, not on a ute or whatever) around the same temperature as the fish like. Water will stay the temperature of the atmosphere around it so if the car is 24°c the water in the tub should be roughly the same.

Its very simple, it sounds daunting but for less than $70 (this is Australian pricing and buying EVERYTHING, you could most likely get it much cheaper depending where you live) you can have two large containers, an air pump, air hose, 2 air stones and enough polyfoam to insulate a camping trailer! Then you just plop everything in the tubs, put the tubs in the car, pack the foam around it (for insulation, old blankets will do similar but won't hold the temp as well) and away you go, destination: new house. :)
 
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