Big move!

[William]

Ok Guys and Gals

I need help, I am going to be moving over the summer a total 12 hours or so drive!! I really would like to keep my fish (preferably alive also) and I need advice on how to move them!

My fish inhabitants are in my sig and I will be going by car if that makes any difference.

I wait in anticipation

 

[pete]

Shouldnt be too much of a prob as your moving in the summertime and the ambient temp is up so it will help maintain the temp of the water you will be transporting the fish in

Firstly you will need an insulated polystyrene box with lid (obtainable from your lfs usually at no charge)' several large fish bags (again lfs should let you have some), 2x battery operated airpumps and spare batteries newspaper towels etc to insulate the box further, and some large water containers.

Firstly catch all of your fish and distribute between the bags only fill the bags 1/3 with water so as to leave plenty of room for air add small airstones to the bags and rubber band the bags leaving the airlines sticking out of the tops.

Connect up your battery airpumps with adapters to share the air between the bags and put bags in poly box wedging them upright with newspaper towels etc put lid on box and forget about htem only checking every 2 hours or so, so as not to overly stress the fish.

Transfer the remaining tank water into your containers and put the now unplugged filters in a bucket with a tight sealing lid with some tank water.

If you so wish you can keep the bacteria contained in the filters alive by sloshing them around in the water every 5 mins or so but on a 12 hr journey this would soon get annoying lmao , so my advice is to get a bottle of "cycle" treatment which contains millions of bacteria and is added to new setups to quickly establish them and add this when you arrive at your destination and set up your tanks again.

Do not feed your fish for 3 days prior to the move so as to keep waste down whilst they are being transported.

It is also a good idea to take 2 or 3 flasks of hot dechlorinated water to top up the bags with should the temp drop in them enroute, but only do this if you really need to as it can also stress the fish which are already stressed.

When you to the final destination first thing to do before anything else is to set up your tanks again (leave the unpacking to the missus lol) add the water from your containers heaters etc

Get the water up to temp asap and float your bags of fish as you would when adding new stock from the lfs, by now you will have added the "cycle" and filters etc release the fish after approx 15 mins and leave the lights off for a day to let them settle down.......with luck by the 2nd day they will be queing at the top of the tank for a feed lol

Expect to loss a few fish but that doesnt mean to say that you will.......just be prepared in case it does happen

Hopefully this helps as i have had to move fish over long distances before and know only too well the pit falls that come with such a task but at the same time i have rarely lost any fish by doing it this way

 

[pete]

Geeeeesssssssssssssssssssss that was a bit long winded lol

 

[William]

How much will one of these airpumps set me back ? will it have a use after the journey in my tank ?

Thanks it helps.

 

[pete]

You should be able to get them for about a tenner each'ish lol

And yes they will prove useful after wards as in the event of a power cut you can use them to keep your fish alive adn as well as that if you end up going any distance to get fish you can use them then lol

Everyone in my opinion should keep one as a spare in case of emergencies

 

[Davy Reynolds]

What can you say after all that

Nothing :laugh:

And yeah battery pump are always useful

So where are you moving to anyway

 

[adeyc]

the other end of Ireland by the sound of it. Or are you including the ferry crossing int the time W? Inverness to devons a shorter drive than 12 hours

 

[William]

Well first I get to the ferry (4 hour ferry, 1 hour wait) = 5hours
Time to pack up everything = 1 hour so thats 6 hours already.

Then I have to drive all the way accross england rofl Probably about another 5 hours.

So 11 hours

 

[pete]

Where abouts in england you going?

 

[William]

somewhere in the tropical south

 

[pete]

LOL head for Cornwall m8 you cant beat it :laugh:

 

[Macquatic]

Some Ammo-lock in the bags will neutralise the ammonia released from the fish. If you don't have an air pump, see if you can get some oxygen into the bags. Mac.

 

[pete]

Good idea on the Ammolock m8 .........some ppl use stress coat in a similar way but i DO NOT advise this as the product is in my opinion UNSAFE!!!!!!!!!!

My reasons for this are these..........
AQUARIUM PHARMACEUTICALS who manufactur this product claim that the product "Forms a synthetic slime coat on fish to prevent the loss of essential elecrolytes" by this what they basically mean is that the product forms a protective coating on your fish to help prevent damage during netting, transportation etc ...........what they dont maention is that if it coats the outside of the fish with slime it will also coat the gills of your fish as well making it harder for them to extract the oxygen from the water and thus unduly stressing them in an already stressful situation.
The product is also used as a dechlorinator so it is always suspended in the water meaning that it slowly but surely accumilates on the fishes gills in a greater mass........not good!

Secondly i have only ever experienced problems with losing fish after a water change when using this product and my lfc had a biologist guest speaker at one of our meetings and he also expressed extreme concerns over the use of this product!!

So be warned many have had alot of problems with this product so be careful what you add to your tank water

 

[Duncan]

its a pity that nobody can invent the battery operated heater for travelling fish could possibly use it in power cuts, I do like the idea of the battery operated air pump though, I didn't know that there was one.

Duncan

 

[Great Lakes]

William, I posted once before about using a regular cooler to transport ones fish. Just use a large camping type cooler. Drill a couple small holes in the top to run a battery operated air pump into it, and a small hole to run another line out of, and I sealed mine with silicone. I velcroed my pump on the cooler.
If what you have is the tank in your sig, drain enough water out of your tank to fill the cooler to about 2/3 full, put all your fish in it, turn on the pump. Then using suitable containers, drain you aquarium down to about an inch or so above the substrate. Then when you get to your new digs, put your aquarium in it's proper place, add the water you have in containers, level, add your fish, add the water out of the cooler,(all of your water at this point will be within a couple degrees of each other), turn on all your heaters, filters, etc. After a day or two when everyone looks happy, you could do a water change.
With a cooler set-up like this, I have found my fish don't get as stressed as when I put them in bags, and I can use a large portion of THEIR OWN water to decrease their stress at the other end of the trip.
I have kept fish like this with no losses for over 24hrs.
Only one warning. One time we were approaching 36hrs with one particular group of fish, and everything was going fine. Wifey was concerned about tank temp because it was early spring. She put a thermometer in the tank to check it, and neglected to take it out when we started transit again.
It broke Just for the record, mercury is pretty deadly to fish. At least all the fish I had