Easiest Way To Transport Fish

calpoly12 · Jan 20, 2011

Im picking up as 29 g biocube this saturday. I have to transport it about an hour back to my house. I was wondering what is the easiest and safest way to transport the fish? Basically what is going to get me the lowest mortality rate?
The tank comes with a clown, six line wrasse and I think a blue spot watchman goby.
I was planning on getting a 5 gallon bucket and filling it with the water I drain from the tank. That way the water should retain some of its heat a little longer. Also I was going to wrap the tank in some blankets to help with the heat retention. As far as moving the tank (with it being established and salt) what would be the best technique for that?
I was going to drain it to about 1/4 water capacity so that there is a little water covering the live sand or should I siphon it all out?

Fish would be transported as stated above.

Liverock would be submerged in its own bucket.

All the other stuff like filters and whatnot will be drained and put in a trash bag.

Obviously I am transporting fish and I realize there is always the possibility of stuff going wrong, animals dying, etc. and I understand that. I'm just wondering what is going to give me the "best shot" at this.
I have transported a 90g freshwater, but I drained the whole thing and put the fish in a 5g bucket. The only difference is that the house I got it from was about 10 minutes from my house, not an hour and not salt.

Chaz88 · Jan 21, 2011

In my opinion you are on the right track. The substrate and rock don't need to be submerged just keep them wet and they should be fine for several hours. I would leave the filters full of water if possible and bring as much of the original tank water as you can. I would add a battery powered air pump and stone for the bucket. If you have multiple buckets of water I would separate the fish into them if you can. Lids on the fish buckets with a few small vent holes is a good idea, and the holes give you a place to run the air line in. If cooling of the water is a concern coolers or insulated fish shipping boxes would be better. I would not leave anything in the tank, it makes breakage more likely. (learned the hard way) Good luck!

EDIT: By the way I have moved fish hundreds of miles this way and suffered no losses. I had a temporary tank set up at the new location because the fish were in buckets for transport for about 12 hours and I did not want to leave them like that any longer than I had to. One other thing I do for moves is use Bag Buddies. I use them at half strength for non scaled fish and sensitive fish.

haywood · Jan 21, 2011

You should be alright with that method as long as it isn't a really long trip. I would leave an inch or so of water above the live sand so none of it dries up and dies, killing the beneficial bacteria. Good luck.

calpoly12 · Jan 21, 2011

Chaz88;4816988; said:
In my opinion you are on the right track. The substrate and rock don't need to be submerged just keep them wet and they should be fine for several hours. I would leave the filters full of water if possible and bring as much of the original tank water as you can. I would add a battery powered air pump and stone for the bucket. If you have multiple buckets of water I would separate the fish into them if you can. Lids on the fish buckets with a few small vent holes is a good idea, and the holes give you a place to run the air line in. If cooling of the water is a concern coolers or insulated fish shipping boxes would be better. I would not leave anything in the tank, it makes breakage more likely. (learned the hard way) Good luck!

EDIT: By the way I have moved fish hundreds of miles this way and suffered no losses. I had a temporary tank set up at the new location because the fish were in buckets for transport for about 12 hours and I did not want to leave them like that any longer than I had to. One other thing I do for moves is use Bag Buddies. I use them at half strength for non scaled fish and sensitive fish.

Awesome!!! Thanks for the advice

ill let you know how its goes tommorrow

haywood;4816990; said:
You should be alright with that method as long as it isn't a really long trip. I would leave an inch or so of water above the live sand so none of it dries up and dies, killing the beneficial bacteria. Good luck.

k good point Ill leave the substrate in there but take the rocks out. ill post and update tomorrow

CLDarnell · Jan 21, 2011

You might want to contact the seller and ask him not to feed the fish 24 hours before you get there. You're not going to have them out of their environment too terribly long, but you might be 3 or 4 hours from "out of tank" to "in tank". The less waste they have in the holding water, the better off you'll be.

Good luck to you!

Chaz88 · Jan 21, 2011

CLDarnell;4817090; said:
You might want to contact the seller and ask him not to feed the fish 24 hours before you get there. You're not going to have them out of their environment too terribly long, but you might be 3 or 4 hours from "out of tank" to "in tank". The less waste they have in the holding water, the better off you'll be.

Good luck to you!

Good call. +1 on that!

CLDarnell · Jan 21, 2011

Chaz88;4817105; said:
Good call. +1 on that!

Thanks...except that I just realized he is picking up the fish tomorrow and it's already late. So much for my 24 hours advice

Chaz88;4817118; said:
Sorry for my mini rant. I try hard to ignore those kinds of posts but sometimes can not help myself. Just think if you believe you have a better way you should share it or don't post.

I hear ya'. I assumed if our hero could transport fish successfully over a 14 hour trip, he would have some advice to give. I hate negativity lol.

calpoly12 · Jan 21, 2011

CLDarnell;4817137; said:
Thanks...except that I just realized he is picking up the fish tomorrow and it's already late. So much for my 24 hours advice

I hear ya'. I assumed if our hero could transport fish successfully over a 14 hour trip, he would have some advice to give. I hate negativity lol.

Anyhow, thx so much for the input! I asked her to feed them right now cause I figured a 12 hour notice is better than nothing at all. Ill be back here around 2pm west coast time so Ill get some pics up then! Keep the good fight going!