Advice Needed, Going To Travel 170 Mile To Collect Fish And Tank Set U

[mystic.bertie]

hi my first post here and im sure it wont be my last.

i have just agreed to buy a jewel vision 260 (4ft) beech tank and cabinet, i am also getting about 40 malawi's plus lots of limestone, 2 external filter and basically the full set up as this chap is giving up fish keeping. im getting everything for £200 so its a bit of a bargain so i dont mind travelling as i really want the juwel vision tank, as i use waste veg oil for fuel my fuel costs will be low

so what is the best way to transport the fish safely and keep as much mature water as possible, i have a large 4x4 so there is plenty of room for transporting everything, i assume tubs with lids would be best for carrying the fish and water however the only tubs i have were originally used for cooking oil and they have lids, is it possible to clean these tubs out well enough to use them for carrying the fish and water without harming the fish ? Can i clean these tubs out well enough to use them ? Or would i be better off buying tubs from a shop to use ? The journey home could last a few hours so will the fish be ok in the boot of my car with no heat or air, i would get them home and put air and heater in their tub right away to keep them content till the tank is set up.

i kept malawis years ago and its been quite a few years since i last had a tank but for now i need to concentrate on getting the fish and water home safely.

 

[jwddboy]

It's a difficult thing to do but I have had to do the same before. So here are my main tips:

1. Make sure the filter isn't washed out when you pick it up. If at all possible keep water in it while transporting it so ass to keep vital bacteria.

2. Do not wash out the gravel. as above: if at all possible keep water in it while transporting it so ass to keep vital bacteria.

3. Take as much water from the tank as you can in large heavyweight bags (you can store these in the tank during transit). This means less of a shock to the fish and a quicker setup time.

4. Use small individual fish bags within a cardboard or polystyrene box, or a large bag for fish that will not fight, not tubs. Tubs can hurt the fish and are impractical. You will need to keep a lot of air in with them so the ratio of water to air is a minimum of 1:5.

5. If at all possible keep the fish, the filter, the water and the gravel warm during the journey. A 1degree C drop can kill of 40% of the vital bacteria needed to prevent all your fish dying.

6. Keeping fish out of a filtered environment will depleat oxygen and increase ammonia to a huge extent. Setting up the new tank with as warm much old water as possible and dechlorinated (or good quality rainwater) topup within the same day is your best bet. Heaters are designed for large aquariums, not small bags or tubs. For this reason, they often cannot deal with the rapid temp changes in smaller volumes of water and may overheat them before letting the temp drop dramatically.

 

[mike os]

get some poly boxes & bags from your local shop, explain what's happening & if they are any good they will be only too pleased to help. Then you can bag them properly. ( if they are a pain... find another shop, as it is obviously just a job for them)

they will be fine for up to 36h like this..... I just moved 24 adult discus like this & they were in there for 12h before going into a tank & they were all fine.

filters...forget trying to "preserve" the bacteria, just give it a good rinse once you get set up & it will re-establish quickly. just don't feed for 2-3days & then only lightly for a week or two.

 

[jwddboy]

filters...forget trying to "preserve" the bacteria, just give it a good rinse once you get set up & it will re-establish quickly. just don't feed for 2-3days & then only lightly for a week or two.

I am not sure it would re-establish quickly. Especially if you rinse with chlorinated water! It may re-establish faster than if you had no fish in there - due to the fact that the fish would be creating ammonia - but if the bacteria have all been killed then a whole new culture has to begin, sending the tank into a cycle which can be very harmful to your average overstocked malawi setup. As malawi's they will be very demanding of particular water parameters so transporting as much water as possible, if only to minimise shocking change, is a good thing.

 

[jonnyf84]

I've transported fish this distance before. Don't use the oil tubs - buy new ones to store some of the water and the filter and substrate - keep these submerged, filter should be ok out of water for a hour or so if necessary. Bags for the fish are fine but be sure to oxygenate with a pump or oxygen tabs, tie bags tight and pack into a insulated fish carrier or a polystyrene box with newspaper or old teashirts to pad the inside. Pack your bags tight to keep the heat in and to stop them been thrown around, your trip should take around 3 hours yeh? In which case the temp will drop a little but your fish will be fine. Re-acclimatise your fish very slowly and keep the lights off for 12 hours - provide plenty of hiding places as they will be initially stressed.

Oh and no hard braking

Good luck,
Jonny.

 

[OldMan47]

If you can have the current owner not feed the fish for 24 hours before the move it will help a lot. The fish will produce less waste during the move and their water should stay better during the move. You need to bring along enough water to keep all the fish wet along with your filter media. It would also be good to keep the gravel wet but not vital. We are not talking about lots of water travelling down the road unless the fish are fairly large. As some have mentioned, it is best to have lots more air space than water in the bags and is a good idea to put the bags in an insulated container. I use a picnic ice chest when I move a lot of fish. When you get to the end of your journey, set up and fill the tank, then acclimate the fish to the new water that they will be living in. A good technique when making a large water type change is called drip acclimation. What you do is get the fish into a clean bucket and slowly drip water from your tank into the bucket over a period of an hour or more. I use an air hose with a simple knot in it to control the flow down to maybe a drop per second or so. When the bucket contains mostly tank water, the fish will have become used to it and can be put into the tank.

 

[mystic.bertie]

thanks for the replies, sorry for the delay in replying this is my night shift week and i have not had the chance to reply sooner.

i read the replies and i have learned some things i never thought to consider such as keeping the gravel and filter in the tank water, also i thought the fish would be ok in tubs but now i have got big big bags for them so i can give them lots of air as well as water, i will also use the bags to line my tubs and carry the water back, i also got a large storage basket and some insulation material thats an inch thick and very dense, i will line the basket with this and cover it with polythene and this should keep the fish warm enough till i get home.

when i get home and set the fish tank up , if i manage to keep 50% of the mature water, and 50% new water should i use a dechlorinator to condition the water before adding the fish, also should i ckeck the ph level and adjust using bicarbonate of soda so the conditions are good ?

 

[BecciMac1987]

The water carries so little bacteria that there is really no point in keeping any of it. You MUST keep the filter in tank water, and keep the gravel wet preferably, but as long as the ph isnt different from the old water to the new water, there is no reason why you shouldnt just fill it up with the hose, add dechor, then wait for it to get to temperature. Then check the ph again, float the fish for an hour, and you will be up and running. Dont waste time and effort in keeping old water!

 

[mystic.bertie]

The water carries so little bacteria that there is really no point in keeping any of it. You MUST keep the filter in tank water, and keep the gravel wet preferably, but as long as the ph isnt different from the old water to the new water, there is no reason why you shouldnt just fill it up with the hose, add dechor, then wait for it to get to temperature. Then check the ph again, float the fish for an hour, and you will be up and running. Dont waste time and effort in keeping old water!

i thought it was always best to keep as much old water as possiblke so the water in not too much of a shock for the fish, im in scotland so water is softer here and when i kept malawis before i always had to add bicarb/soda with each water change. I will buy declorintor and add this to the tank when i set it up, fill up with the hose and boiling water from the kettle to get the temp close so it does not take as long for the heater to get the tank to temperature.

 

[BecciMac1987]

The only shock to the fish are temperature and PH, and the temp you will change anyway during the drive, so as I say just test your tap water before you set off, then test their tank water. If its the same PH then no need to keep water. Run the filter in the tank for a few hours before you add fish, and the bacteria in the filter and gravel will add the nitrates to the tank, and obv nitrite and ammonia will be 0.