Moving house…

[Oli]

So there is a possibility I will be moving in a few months time and was wandering about the best way to do it…
The drive will be just under an hour…

I was thinking to do the following but if anyone sees any problems then please advice...

-Catch and add all fish to one large bucket/container with lid. (Angelfish, Cardinal Tetras, Congo Tetras) with existing tank water.
-In a separate large container, add as much gravel as possible, as well as all filter media and live plants. Keep submerged with existing tank water.
-Put empty aquarium and the stand in the back of the lorry, wrapped in towels, bubble wrap etc. and secured tight. Driftwood will have to dry out and will simply rest in the back of the lorry, away from the tank so it doesn't scratch/smash.
-Keep fish container and media container with passenger to ensure it doesn't move around to much and splash.
-When arriving at new place, assemble tank, fill with new conditioned water and allow to come up to temperature. Get filter running asap and add gravel and plants.
-Acclimate fish and then add to tank.

My only real concern is keeping the fish happy as it's likely they will be in a container for a good 3+ hours. I also want to keep the beneficial bacteria alive in the substrate/media container. Will any of these containers require some sort of oxygen pump to keep everything alive or will it be okay for this amount of time?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I would run a cheap airpump/airstone in the fish container, just to be safe

The rest of your plan sounds solid

 

[Colin_T]

See post #2 of the following link.

Moving with fish?

Hi. I honestly didn’t know where to post this so I’m sorry if this isn’t the right place. Currently I have (approximate sizes) a 5 inch long, 8 inch long and 11 inch long comet goldfish, a 4 inch long black Moore, 6 African cichlids, and a male betta. In January, I’m going to be moving from...

www.fishforums.net

Don't put water with the gravel. It will be heavy enough without water so just gravel clean the substrate a day or two before you move, then put the gravel into buckets and put a lid on them if you can.

Plants can go into a bucket of water or fish bag with water.

Fish go into separate buckets to the plants and big angelfish should be in it's own bucket if possible as should the Congo tetras.

Use a couple of battery air pumps without airstones or use plastic multi coloured airstones instead of the normal sand airstones. The plastic ones put less back pressure on the pump, give more air bubbles and the batteries last longer.

Clean the filter a few days before and empty the filter on the day of the move. Put the filter media in a bucket of tank water. Move the empty filter and set it back up when you arrive.

You can add hot/ warm water to the tank to bring the temperature up. If you take enough buckets of tank water, and you have enough for half the tank, then add the old water, fish, filter, plants and then top up with dechlorinated water.

Don't use bubblewrap on the tank. Just use blankets and if possible, put the tank on a 4-6 inch thick foam rubber mattress or several thick blankets.

 

[Biancah76]

Only thing I would add is if in British winter( or this heat), buy a polystyrene box from your local fish store to avoid temp stress. They would also be able to provide you with bags but I have transported fish loose in the box when desperate (Whether Polystyrene or not, get one big enough that you only need to half fill it and check lid fits tight enough to avoid spillage first, as your ordinary underbed storage boxes are good at leaking when you brake, also if underbed don't try to lift them full, put them in the van, then add the water from bucket so as not to weaken it) If you can get your hands on some pure oxygen to add the bags all the better, but if not just make sure to leave plenty of air space inside and they should be fine for a couple of hours, with pure oxygen & heat packs they can be posted from Glasgow to Essex by 24 hr courier (I wouldn't, but my friend ordered an extra special looking koi and it arrived a lot better than I expected & is still going strong a yr later)
Edit:
My boxes are currently serving as a fan holder! I bought a giant box so all 12 species could have their own bag when moving. Forgot to add the bit that made me edit! You can get oxygen cans on ebay cheaper than a battery air pump, although I suppose a back up battery one isn't a bad idea, but in terms of separating species and keeping box leakproof I went with oxygen.. *was 9* species when I moved