Fish movers!

[Zak Ursulo]

Have you ever had to move? ive got a family to move and a pile of friendly fish also to move? ive got to make a 12 hour drive in a little nissan truck and a buncha fish to figure out what to do with. Im thinking that ill transport their home water with the fish along with my bacteria and my filter floss stuff. in a cooler? but if anybody has ever moved a pile of fish and has any pointers I would really really like to here what ya got to say..

 

[PrObLeM_ChIlD]

I am gonna have the same problem in about a month but i only have about 2 hrs to go and i still don't have any ideas how to transport them... i also only have a lil nissan truck

 

[KnuckleHead]

When I moved, I used large plastic containers filled with the tank water and a tight fitting lid. I moved the tanks last and set them up first. A cooler would be perfect since most have a tray that you could put a heat/cold pack if your worried about temp.

 

[juanveldez]

if you are moving that many hours I would also look into getting a battery operated air pump so that the fish can breathe so that you lessen the stress all that much more

 

[AquaNut]

I've moved fish fifty miles or so with great success in a new, sterilized plastic garbage can. However, you're correct to use a cooler to move them for 12 hours. Don't feed them the day before you move, and don't feed them in the cooler. This will greatly reduce the amount of waste that is produced while they're not being filtered. If you're not able to hook them up to a battery powered/lighter powered air pump, if you agitate the surface of the water once in a while (when you stop for food/gas/restrooms), it will help a little with oxygenation.

 

[cory]

I used gallon sized self-sealing plastic bags for my gravel and included two cups of dirty tank water per bag(to help keep the bacteria alive). I also brought several sealed gallon containers filled with my tank water. With larger tanks, it's impossible to leave the gravel and a little water in the tank, itself, during a move. And for the fish, I did the 24 hour fast, cooler and air pump trick. Luckily, I never lost the first fish.

 

[PrObLeM_ChIlD]

what about buckets, would they work?

 

[Braddah]

i moved my 20 gal and used one of the big tupperware jobbies and had excellent results...5 gal buckets would work ....just make sure you have a lid (or some saran wrap and some rubberbands) good luck!!

 

[AquaNut]

You can use virtually any sterilized container with a lid, but if they're going to be in it for long, a cooler is the best thing because it helps maintain the water temperature.

 

[Zak Ursulo]

Well.. all that talk and responce gave me some ideas... Here is what i plan to do...

1 2.5 gallon white bucket with a nice tight lid. (1.50$)
1 Power inverter 400watts ($42)
an old aquarium heater (50watts peak output)
1 dolphin p-1 air pump ($6)
an old partly pluged up airstone
my "large" colman cooler
a *whole messa* packing peanuts

ill put the old air stone and heater in the bucket to keep them critters air'd and warmed up.
then put the bucket into the cooler
then surround with the messa peanuts
and plug into the converter

the only expensive thing was the inverter and i needed one of those anyway.. i could have bought the next inverter down, but its gona be used afterward for other things. total cost for my Fish transporter is about 8 bucks..