Moving House

[Stickyrabbit]

I have two tanks 60cm and 30cm. Both are well planted. 9 baby mollies (2 months old) in the 60cm plus other fish. I am not keen to chase my fish round and round the tank creating stress for both of us in oreder to transfer them to a temporary container. I am also not keen on breaking a tank full of fish in the move.
Hhmm?! What to do?

 

[Chri$]

whn you attempt to catch the fish try using 2 nets. one to heard the fish into the other. this should be quicker and will be less stressful for you both. you will then easily be able to transfer them into a container.

 

[@ombomb]

Well if you are considering keeping the fish in the tank during the move... forget it.

Remove all the plants and bag them with some tank water, this will give you plenty of room to manourver when catching the fish. Use two nets and bag the fish and put them in a cool box. Remove the filter and store in a bucket of tank water. Take out the tank water and then remove the substrate and keep in a bucket / plastic tub, with enough water to keep it damp. If you are able to keep some of the tank water, keep as much as you can, it'll help but it's not essential.

 

[catxx]

i've got the same situation coming up end of february.
with 4 small tanks to move. it'll be great fun!

any tips on tying bags for fish? i tried to do it when i bagged some fish and took them to my brothers tank 3 hours away, they survived, but the bags were less than perfect, a bit saggy...i need to practice more!

(they were bagged, wrapped in newspaper, and put in a kritter keeper)

 

[@ombomb]

Personally I always double or triple bag them with plenty of air in the bad, twist the top of the bag round and fold it down to make it air tight then wind a rubber band around it. Never had any problems.

 

[Asmp41]

I would ask for boxes at the lfs. Most local lfs get their fish is polystyrene and plastic bagged boxes Like cool boxes. Most of their stock is supplied like this. they maybe able to let you have some. The other thing I suggest as I recently moved my tank is to let out as much water as you can reasonably leaving only whats needed as it is so much easier to catch the fish and its less of a big thing if done so quickly. I would also use the water that you take from the tank in those cool like boxes which will stay close to temp they came out of and also has the same contents of bacteria they are used to.
Hope your move goes well.

 

[PeterM]

It indeed couldnt hurt to ask your LFS for leftover packaging boxes. Those things are great, but you should still bag the fish like @ombomb said.

Ive tried this and had success before... it could work for you because your tanks are similar n size (I had two 60cm tanks). They were both well planted and needed moving, so I bagged the fish and put them in a bucket for transport. The tanks however had sand substrate and were planted, and had been planted for a long time so all the roots were all over the place and tangled into eachother. Unlanting the tank would have killed the plans, so I drained the tank until there was only a 1 cm layer of water only just above the sand. Then I got some polystyrene sheets from B&Q - theyre used for insulation - and I cut one so that it would fit right down inside the tank. Worked like a charm! It kept the water in and didnt kill the plants (which had all fallen over of course).

The best bit was that I used the rest of the insulation sheeting to tape to the corners and base of the tank (now light enough to lift with a bit of effort) so they were really well protected while moving

 

[Asmp41]

It indeed couldnt hurt to ask your LFS for leftover packaging boxes. Those things are great, but you should still bag the fish like @ombomb said.

Ive tried this and had success before... it could work for you because your tanks are similar n size (I had two 60cm tanks). They were both well planted and needed moving, so I bagged the fish and put them in a bucket for transport. The tanks however had sand substrate and were planted, and had been planted for a long time so all the roots were all over the place and tangled into eachother. Unlanting the tank would have killed the plans, so I drained the tank until there was only a 1 cm layer of water only just above the sand. Then I got some polystyrene sheets from B&Q - theyre used for insulation - and I cut one so that it would fit right down inside the tank. Worked like a charm! It kept the water in and didnt kill the plants (which had all fallen over of course).

The best bit was that I used the rest of the insulation sheeting to tape to the corners and base of the tank (now light enough to lift with a bit of effort) so they were really well protected while moving

Those things are great, but you should still bag the fish like @ombomb said.
There is a bag inside but another will not do any harm.

 

[karlp]

I've moved many times and never lost a fish. Last move was Edinburgh to South Coast of England, water went from very soft to hard.

I personally don't bother bagging fish because I think it stresses them out and is extra hassle. I bought 4 cool boxes to transport fish from a 240 litre tank.

The night before the move I'd leave the cool boxes next to a radiator so they have a bit of warmth.
On the day of moving, I would half fill the cool boxes with tank water, net the fish (the two net thing suggested earlier works), then put a heater and air stone in each cool box while I dismantled the tank and then close the lids just before leaving, taking out the equipment. (if you haven't got that many heaters / air stones then just seal the lids straight away)

When getting to the new place, first thing to do is to take the lids off the cool boxes and put heaters / air stones back in the cool boxes (not necessary if it's only a short move). The cool boxes work very well and from Edinburgh to the South coast of England the water temperature had only dropped by a couple of degrees.

Setup the tank again and dechlorinate the water, get it to the right temperature.

To acclimatise the fish to the new water, reduce the volume of water in the cool boxes to about 3 inches, then syphon water from the new tank into the cool boxes using a length of air hose with a clamp on it to restrict the flow just to dripping. Just keep an eye on the temperature and make sure it doens't drop too much (if the temperature does start dropping put a heater in for a bit fully submerged). After about an hour, the level in the cool box should be about 8 inches or so. Now net the fish and put them straight into the tank.

Cheers

Karl.