Eugh... Got The Dreaded Move On Monday

[Curiosity101]

Wish me luck, Monday is when I'm moving back to Uni in Nottingham. It's around a 1 hour journey, but the fish are coming with me this time.

To be transported:
2 tanks - 60l and 35l, including two sets of filter media/pads which obviously need to stay wet.
2 Apistogramma Hongsloi
7 Sterbai Corys
1 Apple Snail
All decor - and I didn't realise just how much decor there was until I started sorting through everything to move.
All plants - shouldn't be too bad as I've stuck to mosses, but the stuff on wood n things could be tricky. I'm going to try wrapping them all up seperately with food bags to keep the atmosphere moist.
60l plastic tub of 'accessories'

And then on top of that there are all my clothes, shoes, accessories, electricals and toiletries.
I've not even been to get any fishbags yet! Tbh I was tempted to transport in a large tub instead but I'm not sure, I'm thinking bags wedged into a tub may be best so they're totally secure.

They'll be the first things to be set-up once I arrive, but that thought still doesn't make me feel much better about the whole thing. lol.

 

[Wills]

Get some poly boxes and keep them together - I regularly travel over an hour to buy fish so I wouldnt worry in that respect - the filter will be fine its just the hassel of doing it all but it will be worth it

Wills

 

[ZoddyZod]

My house is currently up for sale and whilst I should really be worrying about mortgages, interest rates, places to live I'm mainly concerned about how I will move the tank.

I do not envy you!

 

[Curiosity101]

A poly box really isn't a bad idea... especially as I'm going to have to go to a fish shop anyways to get some bags. I've just got sooo much to do over the next few days lol. And annoyingly it's not that I've left everything too late, it's really only fish bags and a poly box that I could've got earlier.

But over the next few days I have to return a hamster cage (long story), switch my apisto again (turns out I did have a female but neither me or the guy were sure what my other one was without testing it with a mature male...so I need to go pick her back up), go and do the 'massive' first food n such shop for the new house, then pack as much as possible, then get my hair cut, go out for a family meal, help boyfriend pack and then pack the fish up Monday morning and get the car packed.

lol

Oh well, as you said, it'll be worth it. It's only twice a year I guess

 

[ian]

good luck!

You'll be fine. Good to see you're at the best University in the country

 

[Curiosity101]

Good to see you're at the best University in the country

Lol.

@ZoddyZod - I don't envy you either, at least mine (although there are two) can be moved on my own. You'll presumably have to rope someone else in... and unless you have someone fishy in the house you'll end up being scowled at.

Up side... my boyfriend was going to get be a treat yesterday for helping him with something. He came on Skype and asked me 'Would neons hurt your shrimp when you get them'... I was instantly suspicious and said no... he then asked 'Would you like some' I was like... I really can't justify more fish, and midwater fish are millions of times harder to catch so I said no. And then he gave me a sad face emoticon and explained that he was going to get me some as a treat. That he was going to get me flowers, then thought I'd probably appreciate fish more, then that neons were the only fish he could think of that wouldn't hurt my shrimp.

In short... I'm getting there. Slowly but surely I'm breaking those fish defences down

 

[ZoddyZod]

your boyfriend clearly understands you!

I'm seriously considering a 'pro' service for when I move. I have visions of me spending all day just doing the tank whilst my poor wife humps a sofa out to the van on her own

 

[Curiosity101]

I'm seriously considering a 'pro' service for when I move. I have visions of me spending all day just doing the tank whilst my poor wife humps a sofa out to the van on her own

Just get as much as possible packed in advance. I've found 60l storage tubs are a god send.
Then make sure you have plenty of fish bags and a poly box/tub to put all the fish bags into so there is no worry of them getting squashed or popped or anything.
Also work out how you're going to keep plants and such wet. For me all my stuff is relatively small so large sandwich bags on either end of the longer bits of wood and then secured by an elastic band or tape should be fine.
You also need something to move the substrate in, I would suggest a large bucket. You don't need to remove it all but I wouldn't suggest moving a 125 with the majority of the substrate still in.

Pack all your fish hardware etc up the night before (or as soon as possible). Only leave out the bare min which tbh shouldn't be anything... but food maybe?

In the morning you catch all the fish, bag em up, box em up and put them somewhere safe, warm and dark and forget about them for awhile.
Drain the tank. Bag up any decor/filter media. Place in spare empty 60l storage tub. Empty at least half the substrate into the pre bought/washed buckets.
Store any electricals in the same box as the decor.

Then you should be ready to move.
The 'fun' part will be setting up again at the other side. Lol.

I definitely would suggest a 'special' journey for the fish only if possible. Either draft in a family memeber just to move fish stuff, or do a special trip the day before everything else moves?
You DO NOT want to end up with a cracked tank...
But at least you'll have the storage tubs ready to become a temporary home if you need to use it.

 

[ZoddyZod]

I appreciate the time you've spent to type that but all it has done is reinforced my concerns about how long it will take me

I appear to have inherited two genetic traits from my father. One is his sense of humour, the other is his 'incredibly bloody slow & ponderous' gene. I'm thinking of having it spliced out of my genome and replaced with something else....maybe one of those jellyfish luminescent ones.

 

[Curiosity101]

Well... we moved today and all went well. I pscked all decor away inc all accessories last night, took about 1-2hours. This morning it took an hour to bag fish, empty tanks etc. Then it took another couple of hours at the other end setting them back up. All in all it went very well. And I know have some very fat little fish after their bloodworm treat (they got starved yesterday before the move).

 

[ZoddyZod]

well done. Did you bother with polyboxes in the end or just bags?

 

[Curiosity101]

I did look for a poly box but no where seemed to have any in stock! My own silly fault for leaving it so late. Anyhoo I improvised and used the padded airmail envelopes as they've got bubble wrap inside and they were a nice snug fit for the fish bags... Don't know how well it insulated but everyone seemed fine when we arrived... so yeah

 

[Harlequins]

I'm glad the move went well and all fishes ok.

Good luck with your next term at uni

 

[elisew]

Really glad everything went well