How Do I Move My Fish?

[Buggsfish]

I am moving across town, about 20 min from where I live now, and I've been trying to figure out how to move my fish... I have a couple bettas to move, but I still have the cups they came home from the store in (make handy little holders as I clean their tanks) so they're not a problem... I have a 3 gallon that holds 2 guppies & I think half a dozen ghost shrimp (I can only find 1 or 2 at most), and a 10 gallon with 3 dwarf gouramis (1m/2f), 6 zebras, and 3 cory cats...

I don't have to move all in one day, so I was thinking I could get my mom's 29 gallon tank clean it up really well (not been used in several years) and set it up at the new home with a small layer of fresh gravel, heater, & air stones... Then pack my fish some how, clean the 10 gal gravel REALLY well in just old tank water put it in a buck & siphon enough clean surface tank water in the bucket to keep everything wet... Then I'd put the old gravel into the new tank to try to seed/clone it... I was going to run the 10 gal's filter on the new tank til I get a bigger filter (2wks?)... I was hoping to move my guppies/shrimp into the 29 gal tank w/ my current 10 gal inhabitants til I get a new filter then I'd set up the 10 gal tank for the guppies... Will this work?

My biggest concern however is transporting my fish... I've looked at a couple sites and they all say different things... one said to put them in a large plastic container lined with several garbage bags, one said the bags they come home from the store in, another said 5 gal buckets with lids... I want to put the least amount of stress on them as possible... The other concern is I live in southern Wisconsin, and it's cold (we had snow flurries today)... My fish should be ok to move across town in my car as long as the heat is on, right?

Is there any kind of "moving prep" to do? One site said to do a 20% water change daily for atleast 1 week prior to moving the fish...

 

[ThePiggy]

When I moved from Florida to Louisiana (a 12 hour drive) I had about 5 guppies, 2 plecos, and a jack dempsey to move. In preparation, I bought 20 gallons of water. At some major super markets, you can buy gallon refills for 35 cents or less. I pre treated them with the water treatment to remove the chlorine. When I was ready for the move, I put the 5 guppies together in a gallon freezer ziplock bag with water from their tank. The 2 plecos together in another gallon freezer ziplock bag with water from their tank. And the Jack, I put him in a large plastic bucket with a lid. I left about 25% of the water in the bottom of the fish tanks and put the filter media down in it, completely submerged. I covered the fishtanks with cling wrap to keep splashing water inside. Once everything was packed in my car, I covered the fish with a blanket to keep them dark so they wouldn't stress too much. On the drive, I stopped every 2 hours and did very small water changes for all the fish in the bags using the bottled water I had. This turned my 12 hour drive into an 15 hour drive, but at least all the fish were ok. Once I arrived in Louisiana, I used the rest of the bottled water to set up and fill the tanks. I acclimated the fish back into their tanks without any problems.

P.S. Those were the longest 15 hour of my life

 

[Tolak]

Get some fish bags from a local shop, if they are unavailable let me know. I have 3 cases, I'll send you some. Don't feed the fish for 24 hours before moving. Bag the fish, 1/3 water, 2/3 air, put them in a styro or cooler, this helps to retain heat. Between the cooler and being inside the car your fish will be fine. Having a tank ready to go ahead of time is great, especially if it is the same water supply.

Another concern is keeping the filter media wet; bag it the same as the fish. As long as the fish are used to larger water changes the daily changes shouldn't be needed. If you are running under gravel filtration keep the gravel wet; buckets are good for this.

I'm driving from Chicago to Milwaukee for an auction tomorrow, with a lot more fish than you are moving. Those fish will be bagged for over 12 hours, packed in styros in the car, and will do great. I've done this countless times, with longer drives & bag times, across town is an easy move. Fish across town get the procedure I explained, longer term auction bagged fish get 50% tank water, 50% fresh dechlored water with double the dechlorinator.

If you are near Milwaukee tomorrow check out their auction, I always bring extra bags.

 

[Buggsfish]

It's not an ugf, I have a power filter, which will be too small for the tank I want to switch them to, but I was hoping with such few fish and triple the water supple they'd do ok having less filtration... Will setting the new tank up like I planned, partially ahead of time then adding my old gravel and old filter either prevent or minimize the new tank from cycling??? I don't want to stress my fish too much, but I also don't want to buy chemicals that I'll only use once or twice here and there (I also have 2 VERY curious boxers who manage to get into anything and everything)

 

[Tolak]

As long as you keep the media of the power filter wet, and add the filter to the tank when you add the fish you should have no problems. The nitrifying bacteria in the filter media are handling the bio load you have right now, and don't know what size tank they are running. The gravel holds a small percentage of nitrifying bacteria compared to the filter media if you aren't running ugf.