It is not difficult at all to move an 8 foot tank. A cargo van is all you need. It might stick out and you may have to tie the doors shut but it can happen.
My 240 gallon I bought was 260 miles away. A van and 2 others helped with it.
And do not worry about the fish. Case in point: Plan the move in advance and all should go fine.
Planning a 260+ mile journey with large peacock bass:
Fish: I learned a valuable lesson in shipping fish from the guy I bought mine from. I picked up 2 silver arowanas both near the 23-24" mark and four cichla temensis pbass each between 19-21" long. In advance, ask your favorite LFS for some live insulated shipping boxes. Or you can use regular boxes and line it with a bunch of newspaper. Being that you are only moving a short distance, you shoudn't need an oxygen tank. Large plastic bags, the type you can also get from from your LFS, will be necessary.
Place the bags, doubled up, in the box, fill half way with water, put fish in the bag. Fill the bag to where the fish is submerged, but you do not have to fill the bag completely. Leave room for expansion. If a really nice, helpful LFS is near, and they allow you to use oxygen, do not seal the bag. just close the box tightly. Transport to LFS...Fill with O2...seal by twisting the bag and secure with a rubber band. Simple like the way it is when you buy a fish from a LFS. With oxygen, they will be good to go for as much as 12 hours, even more. You can also find an oxygen supplier in your area and purchase a small bottle of Oxygen. if possible.
For a short trip (hour and a half or less) without O2, use a rubbermaid container and buy a AC/DC converter from Walgreens or radio shack. This will power multiple small aerators.
Tank....make sure it fits in the house/apartment you are moving to first. Then, get some strong help and move it. It is really simple as that.
Note: If large plastic bags can not be located, triple bagged Hefty trash bags will work as well. Some fish will put holes in the bags especially in the few startling moments after they are placed in the bags due to thrashing. Triple bagging can reduce the chances of leakage, and with insulated boxes of styrofome, even leakage can be contained.
Both of these tactics worked for me and my fish are healthy.
For the Aquarium: Make sure the aquarium and fish are the last part of your move. Prepare the site where the tank will go at your next residence. Once the fish are packed up in the manner above, unplug and drain your tank, saving some water in a large container to be added to the tank when it is at its new resting spot. This container of water is also necessary in case the bags your fish are in fails, and water leakage occurs. During transport, Time is important here to maintain the integrity of your cycled tank. Have extra plastic bags or large trash bags and place the filter with media directly in the bags. Keep all the yucky stuff possible. Decor(plastic plants, rocks, driftwood) should be treated in the same manner if possible as the media has been. Keep this wet at all times. If allowed to dry out, beneficial bacteria will die off quickly. Set the tank up at new residence...fill and treat for chlorine and hard minerals...and add the substrate, water, decor first to the tank. Re -connect filter and use the same media, do not rinse. Ensure proper water temps...and reintroduce fish by aclimating them the same way a new fish is bought and introduce to a new tank.
I hope this helps, because from experience this works. If I am off track on the question you are asking than I appologize. This manner could be applied to pretty much any tank, regarsless of size. And furthermore it can be used for any fish for that manner. Keep in mind the fish do not need to swim around in the transport boxes. Enough room for them to lie straight out without flex is adequate enough.
