Question about moving fish tank!

Hey everyone,

I am going on summer vacation and I have to leave my fish with a friend. She lives about 45 minutes away, so I've arranged to drop off my tank and what she will need to take care of my betta while I'm gone. I've been reading different articles online but I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for moving his two gallon tank without removing all of the water and items in the tank! Any and all advice would be appreciated. I've established a cycle over the last 4 months and I'd like to keep it that way if possible.


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I know you said you don't want to remove all the water, but that really is the safest way. Tanks are designed to be strong and resist the pressure of water from inside the tank, but the seals are not designed to be strong against the sloshing of water and twisting of the sides caused by moving a tank with water in. The safest way is to place the fish in a bag with some tank water, then remove as much water as possible into one or more lidded containers, putting the filter - or the media if the filter is fixed - and any decor into the containers of water.

Is the tap water at your friend's house the same as yours? If it is not, any water changes she does will affect the fish. At 45 mins away, it could be quite different from yours. It isn't as though this is a permanent move and the fish will be slowly acclimatised to the new water because the fish will be going back to your water. If your friend will be doing water changes, it might be worth taking some buckets of your tap water as well.

You really will have to remove everything from the tank, I'm afraid. Most fish tanks aren't built to withstand any movement with any weight in them; you could well split a seam or crack it.

As long as you keep everything, especially the filter media, damp, then moving won't upset your cycle, although I would suggest you don't feed your fish for a day or two either side of the move, just to keep any waster production to a minimum (going without food for that long will not do any harm to a healthy fish).

Guys we are talking about 2 gallon

Very easy: put fish in separate container (plastic bag, whatever). Leave as much water in the tank as you are comfortable with for transport and go. No need to disassemble anything. Try to keep the filter media wet and the time the filter is not running as short as you can. But 2h will be no problem.

hobby5 said:

Guys we are talking about 2 gallon

Click to expand...

I've had a half gallon tank crack across the base while being moved, less than half full. Unless you have a spare tank, it's not worth the risk, IMHO.