Going To Move My Fish To My New House, Possible Problems

[nortonmad213]

hi all,
so today im going to try and move all my fish from my parents to mine.
the plan is to have my 60l set up at mine, heated, treated etc
put all fish into seperate bags and place them into the 60 while i move big tank.
move my big tank and then set it all up get it to temp etc.
will this be an ok way of doing this,
will the fish be ok for the time that it takes to heat the water in the big tank?
thanks for all replies

 

[RyanTheFishGuy64]

IMO yes, some may differ but this is really dependent of the hardiness of your fish. I would keep them (me personally) in my 60l until you have a good bacteria build up (fishless cycle) in your main tank. Unless you have a bottle of bacteria you can pour into the big tank for your tank. Also to keep bacteria Do NOT wipe of ornaments, gravel, FILTER MEDIA!!  Following whats in red should suffice to get the tank prepared.
Best Regards!

 

[fluttermoth]

As long as the OP keeps the filter media wet during the move, there'll be absolutely no need to cycle the tank again.

OP; get the tank up to temperature as soon as you can; you can use hot water from the kettle, if you're not sure what the hot water system in your new place is like. It takes an awfully long time for heaters to warm a whole tank from cold, and puts unnecessary strain on your heaters as well.

Make sure you keep the fish well covered, both for heat retention and to reduce stress; do NOT be opening them up and looking at them all the time! Leave them until your ready to acclimatise them. A cool box, if you can use one, would be better than a spare tank.

It would have been best if you had starved the fish for a couple of days previously, to keep waste to a minimum during the move, but as long as you test often (in case of mini cycles) and feed sparingly for the first week or so, you should be fine.

Good luck; moving fish and tanks is always stressful, I find, even if everything goes smoothly!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Contrary to popular opinion, a substantial amount of bacteria can and does exist outside of one's filter. The most common place is the upper portion of one's substrate (think top 1/2 inch max in unplanted substrate). There are any number of reasons for where how much bacteria may be found. In some tanks most will be in one's filter media, however in many tanks a lot will be elsewhere. It depends on a variety of factors which I am not going to bore folks with here.
 
The upshot of all this is never assume moving just one's filter will guarantee anything. Always move as much of the contents of the existing tank to the new tank to be the safest. The only place the good bacteria will not be in any number is free swimming in the water.
 
Use a styro box to hold the bags and, since not paying to ship, use larger bags than normal and be sure to fill 50/50 with water and air. Bear in mind that fish can do fine boxed and bagged for days, so you do not need to rush things. Use packing peanuts, balled up newspaper or similar to holds the bags in place in the stryro. I would suggest you consider the following;
 
Move everything you can from the old tank to the new.
Set it all up and get it running and moving to temp.
Add 1 ppm of ammonia using the ammonia calculator on this site and then test in 10-12 hours. If you get 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite, add the fish. if you don't wait another 12 hours and retest. By then things should be safe enough if you get 0/0.
 
Remember, a low level reading of .25 ppm or so for either ammonia or nitrite should be dealt with by bacterial reproduction really fast. what you do not want to see is little or no reduction as this would indicate you do not yet have enough bacteria in the tank.
 
All this said- it you move over the filter intact and the substrate and the decor etc., the odds are pretty good all will be fine, if not immediately, then within 24 hours. Do not panic if you have small ammonia in a tank under pH 8.0 unless it does not drop. Small nitrite can be handled with a bit of salt if needed (actually its the chloride in the salt that helps).
 
Do not feed the fish for a day or two before the move.

 

[nortonmad213]

thanks got the replies.
just to clarify if i wasnt clear, im taking my tank with me and nothing is getting removed apart from the water. the filter, substrate plants all of it is coming with me so i didnt forsee any problems.
the fish havent been fed as i thought fasting would be best beforehand (thanks for agreeing )
thanks for the kettle idea i hadnt thought of that was just going to use my 3 heaters to try and get it there asap
where would be the best place to find a styro box tta? cant say i have one lying around atm.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If nowhere else, beer coolers are sold here in supermarkets. They are styro and would work. Also, most fish and pet stores receive their fish in such boxes, so you could ask one of the local ones if they have any you could get. They normally throw them out.

 

[fluttermoth]

You could ask at your LFS, or ask your family friends. If you can't get one, it's no big deal just use a cardboard box (make sure the bottom doesn't drop out though!) well wrapped up.

 

[evan47]

i would put the filter unit in a container of tank water while it is inactive, i would also do the same for the substrate and other decor.
i would not clean anything so as not to disturb the biofilm. 

 

[nortonmad213]

the filter is an external so will remain full of old tank water during the move,
i didnt end up doing it yesterday as was moving so much stuff didnt want to stress my fish by doing a rush job.
shopping list now stands at
stryo box
fish bags/freezer bags (the bigger the better)
a type of planting substrate
and i think thats about it.
i'll drop in my lfs today, they were shut when i got there yesterday, to see if they can help me.
ill keep you posted.

 

[Gruntle]

You may find styro boxes at a fruit and veg shop if you're having trouble.