Best way to relocate fish to another state?

dstringf · Post by **dstringf** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 8:07 pm

It looks like I might be moving again in the next couple of months. I have a 55 gallon semi-agressive community tank and a 10 gallon shrimp tank. What is hte best way to move the inhabitants of these to tanks? When I had a tank before and moved locally, I just stuck the fish and inverts into coolers. In this case, it might be a day or two before I have some place to put them on the other end of the trip. Also worth mentioning is that I'll be moving during winter, into an even colder climate. Any suggestions?

retardo · Post by **retardo** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 8:43 pm

i'd try getting a power inverter for your vehicle that plugs directly into the cigarette lighter, with at least one plug, one for heater and one for filter/air pump. this will keep the water heated and the water filtered and aerated. you can purchase battery powered air pumps as well.

i don't know how you are going to divy up the fish and inverts, but i'd keep fish and inverts in separate bags/containers. good luck with the move.

honeyrobber · Post by **honeyrobber** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 9:36 pm

Get several five gallon buckets with lids. I moved a 20 and a 30 gallon tank 600 miles. I had the opposit problem. It was mid summer and I had to keep them cool. Fill the buckets 3/4 of the way full with water from the tanks. The room will allow some sloshing of the water to keep it aeriated. We stopped about mid way and openned the lids for fresh air. I also put a few ice cubes in a ziplock bag and floated it to cool the temp slowly. The 30 gallon tank was mostly guppies. The 20 had a broad number of different fish. We only lost one fish. That swordtail that died jumped out of the bucket before the tank had aged for the fish to be return. So actual move loss was probly zero.

theshrimp_123 · Post by **theshrimp_123** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 2:08 pm

Whatever u do, remember moving can be very stressful. Try to reduce slosh and maybe find a battery poweredair pump. Darkness can also remove stress and well as things to grip.

51Cornell · Post by **51Cornell** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:55 pm

You didn't mention how many fish & shrimp you have nor what size. Double-bag the shrimp and fish like you were going to ship them, filling 1/2 the bag with water and 1/2 with air (shrimp will also need some floating plants to hang on to in the bag--java moss is soft enough so it won't hurt them), put them in the bags in a cooler (styro or Coleman-type), pack styro peanuts around the bags to prevent them from moving around in the box. If you are going to keep the fish with you in a heated car/heated room (wherever you are sleeping), you won't need anything else except to keep them inside where it will be warm enough; if they will not be kept warm, then you should tape a heatpack to the inside lid of the box (tape around the edges, do not obstruck the pack itself). They all should be okay for 2 days. Take several gallons of the same water they are used to living in with you so as soon as you arrive at your new place, set up at least temporary tanks with the bottled water and then gradually introduce clean conditioned water from the new place (I'm assuming you already tested it from the tap so you know what you're working with). Oh, don't feed anyone for 24 hours prior to packing and don't feed during transport. You don't need to open the bags enroute if you don't overcrowd the bags.

The tanks themselves, I'd take as much water out as possible leaving only enough to cover the substrata, tape securely some plastic wrap across teh top so the plants don't dry out and so the bacteria in there will survive, make sure you stick the filter in the water in the tank to preserve as much of the beneficial bacteria as possible (you can tape the cords to the outside of the tank so they don't move around a whole lot). Wrap the tank (not the top) in newspaper to insulate it. And be very very careful no one cracks them during moving (personally, I'd not let anyone else handle my tanks and the tanks + lifeforms would be with me, in the car or whatever). Get the tanks set up immediately upon arrival (because they will need to cycle in slightly again before putting the fish back in--you can fool around with reoranizing and redecorating later but your fish will need their tanks back as soon as possible).