How Do You Move With Fish?

[FishFanatic04]

My husband is in the army and we just found out that in NOV we will be packing up and moving to GA. It will take take us 2 days to get there because we'll have to stop overnight in a hotel on the way. We just set up a 75g tank, and we already have a 46g, 10g, and 2 3.5g's. How the heck do you handle a move with fish?

I know November is a long way away, but I really can't imagine how we would handle the trip and save the fish. My car can hold my empty 46g and a huge Rubbermaid beside it... Can you put a lot of fish together in a Rubbermaid for a trip like that, and run the filter at night? Then when we get there I can set the 46g on the floor and get the fish in there....is overcrowding an issue if I use the 75g filter and keep the water quality as high as I can until we get setup in a new house?

I wouldn't really know how to handle it.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Honestly, I'd work my way down in number of tanks. Since you have a 10g fry tank, that won't be in the equation in November, so that's one. Don't try to breed any more fish and rehome the babies, and you should be fine. Hopefully you won't have the Q tank going still. I would rehome the bettas when the time comes and just worry about what's in your 75g. Moving what's there should be easy enough. And, you can run your filter off your cigarette lighter in your car, or other power supply if you don't have a lighter. Since you're in Texas and moving to Georgia, you won't have to worry much about a heater, so that's a plus. I don't see that you have any fish in your 75g yet?

 

[Baccus]

Moving the fish also comes down to are they all compatible? I once moved my mixed tropical tank of fish from one town to another town (a good days drive away one way), I put the fish in a sealed container with some of their plants and had an airstone bubbling away. We stopped over night at a hotel and I commandered the bath tub in the room to give the fish some more room overnight. I gave the tub a good rinse out first before adding the fish and basically hoped that there would be no residual chemicals in the tub to kill the fish. I was lucky and all the fish sailed through the night and the rest of the journey without an problems. Now days I would still use sealable tubs (as large as I can fit comfortably in the car), using the fishes tank water in the tubs for the trip, I would still put some of the plants in the container and use airstones. I would also (depending on what type of filter you use) put as much of the filter medium in the container with the fish and the airstone for the journey. Also depending on the temperature you may need to worry about keeping tanks warm or cool depending on the species. If possible I would also position the travelling containers where they will not get full sun for the entire journey. For keeping the fish calmer I would also look at getting dark/ non clear containers or wrap a blanket around them.
Also where possible down size on either the number of tanks and or numbers of fish, to be moved.

 

[FishFanatic04]

OOOOOOOOOOOo thanks! I just found the cigerette lighter outlet converters...I could put a 20g tank in a bigger rubbermaid{in case of leaks} and still run a heater and filter the whole trip!!!

When the time comes, I was planning to rehome all of the common small fish, like platies, and tetras, but I still want to buy the other fish I had planned and then take them with me...I don't want to have my tanks empty all year.

Would 2-4 angelfish, 2 gouramis, 2 plecs {clown and BN} and 4-5 apistos, be ok in a 20g for the trip? I'll take my 10g with us empty in the car and move the apistos to it when we get there. Then the 20g and 10g would be temp homes for about 3 weeks till we get housing.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I think I actually might do 2 20g's I'll keep an eye out for a $1 gallon sale at petco, or find them used....then I can take quite a bit of my fish with me.
I did consider some rubber containers instead since they will be darker but, I couldn't run a heater in them and it will be nov.
Thanks for the replies.