Long Car Trip With Fish

[mbeer21]

I will be moving towns in a few months, and taking my fish tank with me. I've done this move before (the other way round) with no issues, but I had a smaller tank then, and less/smaller fish, so need a bit of advice this time round I'm not going for quite a while yet, but want to have everything sorted out early.
The drive is at least 6 hours, so they're going to be travelling for a while.
The plan so far is to divide the fish like so

1 bag - 6 guppies
1 bag - 2 pearl gouramis
1 bag - 1 Bristlenose
1 bag - 1 bristlenose
1 bag - 6 serpae tetras
1 bag - 1 angel fish
1 bag - 1 bala shark

I'll be sitting all the bags within the empty tank for the duration of the trip, wedged in with towels and with a towel over to keep it dark and cool. Filter media will be in a bucket with some tank water, the plants in another bucket (or possibly just in plastic bags, depends how much space I have) gravel in another (or two, I'm not sure how much is in the tank).

Ok, now for the questions!
- Is that the best way to divide the fish up, or should I split the larger groups up more?
- I remember last time I travelled with fish I was advised to re-tie the bags every few hours to let more oxygen in for them - is this necessary, or just a time waster?
- My Bala shark is a lot bigger than the last time I moved - he's around 7 inches long and pretty fat. I'm not sure he'd even fit in a regular fish-shop bag, let alone be comfortable for 6 hours. Is there a better way to transport him?
- The filter media will be ok for that length of time if I keep it all submerged in old tank water? I don't want to get the tank all set up again to find I need to cycle it all again.

Any other advice would be great, too Thanks in advance.

 

[McCool]

I will be moving towns in a few months, and taking my fish tank with me. I've done this move before (the other way round) with no issues, but I had a smaller tank then, and less/smaller fish, so need a bit of advice this time round I'm not going for quite a while yet, but want to have everything sorted out early.
The drive is at least 6 hours, so they're going to be travelling for a while.
The plan so far is to divide the fish like so

1 bag - 6 guppies
1 bag - 2 pearl gouramis
1 bag - 1 Bristlenose
1 bag - 1 bristlenose
1 bag - 6 serpae tetras
1 bag - 1 angel fish
1 bag - 1 bala shark

I'll be sitting all the bags within the empty tank for the duration of the trip, wedged in with towels and with a towel over to keep it dark and cool. Filter media will be in a bucket with some tank water, the plants in another bucket (or possibly just in plastic bags, depends how much space I have) gravel in another (or two, I'm not sure how much is in the tank).

Ok, now for the questions!
- Is that the best way to divide the fish up, or should I split the larger groups up more?
- I remember last time I travelled with fish I was advised to re-tie the bags every few hours to let more oxygen in for them - is this necessary, or just a time waster?
- My Bala shark is a lot bigger than the last time I moved - he's around 7 inches long and pretty fat. I'm not sure he'd even fit in a regular fish-shop bag, let alone be comfortable for 6 hours. Is there a better way to transport him?
- The filter media will be ok for that length of time if I keep it all submerged in old tank water? I don't want to get the tank all set up again to find I need to cycle it all again.

Any other advice would be great, too Thanks in advance.

I'm not an expert in moving at all, but could you put the shark in the buckets with the plants? And I'm sure your filter media will be fine. I also don't think re tying the bags will be needed. Fish travel much longer than that when being shipped, so yours should be fine.
Good luck!

 

[DanTheFishMan11]

for the bala shark just go to a local maidenhead aquatics and ask forr the bags they put koi and stuff in i know that might be a bit to big but its worth a try

edit: oops didnt know you lived in australia just go to a LFS and ask for a bigger bag that they would put arrowana or koi or something along those lines in

 

[mbeer21]

I can see if they have larger bags - problem is there is only one fish store in the town I live in, and I've not seen any large fish in their store - worth a shot though!

 

[minnnt]

Unless you have an 8 ft tank then rehome the bala before you move. Everything else appears to be good.

 

[mbeer21]

No where to rehome him, sorry. He's coming along.

 

[minnnt]

Hope you have a big tank then as they can reach 15" Keeping them solitary and in a tank less than 6ft is cruel. They are sociable fish so do well in groups.

 

[sadguppy]

Without getting involved, holly carp! That's a lot of fish.

 

[Mauigirl]

Without getting involved, holly carp! That's a lot of fish.

LOL I know right? that is 1/2 of the room.
That is a 2008 picture,
Got fed up and will stand, sorry.. hate that kind of crap, useless , child anyway.
he may put his nose to the glass but he has lost.

 

[mbeer21]

Oh wow this has gotten off track; I'm sure there are some answers in there somewhere, lol.
The Bala was a 'donation' fish when I was new to fishkeeping, and by the time I'd gotten into the hobby enough to do proper research I'd moved away from the city and had nowhere to rehome him - there is one Fish store here and they won't take him. I am going to try to find a new home once I move back to the city, but first I have to get him there, and for that, I need to know how to safely move him ... hence this topic
He is nearly 6 years old and has had two owners before me - not a new addition to the tank that I have no idea about.

 

[tribalbrit]

polystyrene fish box tape the lid on, they are water tight. Or a suitably large box with a lid on.

 

[mattlee]

i think ill close this thread as it seems to have gotten out of hand. we do not tolerate name calling or giving people insults etc and 100% trying to paste the forum with bad language.

op if you still need to find an answer then please start another thread as i think this one has run its cause.