Hurricanes And Fish

[Kiddo]

Seeing as today is the start of hurricane season here (Florida) I was thinking about what I would do with my pets if we were to evacuate. Of course the dog and rats would go with us, but I wonder what to do about the fish. Right now we just have two bettas and a bala shark (which probably won't be here for much longer, but thats a whole nother story) but I wonder what to do with them. My dad probably dosen't care and would just leave them here, but is there a practical way to bring fish on a road trip? If just my sister and I went (my dad would have to stay here) we would either have her little car or my dads truck. If we went with my mom, there would be 4 people, 3 dogs, and 4 rats (one of which must be kept seperate). I need to have a plan beforehand if I want to bring the fish, as the rest of my family frankly won't care, as its 'just fish.'

A different and more likely scenario is that of a long power outage. We can probably bet on at least a few days of no power. Currently we have a male betta in a ten gallon, a female betta in a five gallon, and a bala shark in a 29 gallon. All tanks are filtered and the ten and 29 gallon have heaters. I know the bettas can do without the filter, but what about the bacteria in the filter dying, and the bala shark?

(About the bala shark. Some of you probably remember the post I made about it. My dad wouldn't listen to me not to put two balas in a 29 gallon, and one has already died. My dad refuses to let me to anything with his tank now, and he won't even buy a test kit. He won't let me do anything for the bala. )

So, any thoughts on evacuating with fish, or on long power outages? I can't get a generator unless I could find a very little one cheaply.

 

[newfishaddict]

Seeing as today is the start of hurricane season here (Florida) I was thinking about what I would do with my pets if we were to evacuate. Of course the dog and rats would go with us, but I wonder what to do about the fish. Right now we just have two bettas and a bala shark (which probably won't be here for much longer, but thats a whole nother story) but I wonder what to do with them. My dad probably dosen't care and would just leave them here, but is there a practical way to bring fish on a road trip? If just my sister and I went (my dad would have to stay here) we would either have her little car or my dads truck. If we went with my mom, there would be 4 people, 3 dogs, and 4 rats (one of which must be kept seperate). I need to have a plan beforehand if I want to bring the fish, as the rest of my family frankly won't care, as its 'just fish.'

A different and more likely scenario is that of a long power outage. We can probably bet on at least a few days of no power. Currently we have a male betta in a ten gallon, a female betta in a five gallon, and a bala shark in a 29 gallon. All tanks are filtered and the ten and 29 gallon have heaters. I know the bettas can do without the filter, but what about the bacteria in the filter dying, and the bala shark?

(About the bala shark. Some of you probably remember the post I made about it. My dad wouldn't listen to me not to put two balas in a 29 gallon, and one has already died. My dad refuses to let me to anything with his tank now, and he won't even buy a test kit. He won't let me do anything for the bala. )

So, any thoughts on evacuating with fish, or on long power outages? I can't get a generator unless I could find a very little one cheaply.

I would get a low wattage pump with a small "Fry" filter, and use that in an emergency, you will need to get one of those powerbars designed for computers duing a power outage, with a very weak pump you should be able to run that for 24+ hrs on the batter equipt powerbar...

How big is the tank, ect?

If you had pre-treated water you could have the fish in a container and do constant water changes to maintin some level of water quality, but this would be very time consuming and somewhat impractical....

 

[tttnjfttt]

If you must leave the bettas there, i would not be worried about them without power. Many people keep bettas in a tank without filtration, and just do 100% water chnages regularly. In a worst case scenario, you coudl do that. One thing you may want to consider is adding either a dechlorinator that neutralizes ammonia or amquel. This way if the power is out, the ammonia will be neutralized. This plan would probably work for the bala shark as well.

Another option is to get a few 1 gal tanks from walmart, which would drastically cut down on space. Howver, this isn't an option for the bala.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

The bacteria will more than likely die off without filtration for a few days, but if you're not feeding them then you don't have to worry about there being no bacteria, because they won't be any waste produced.

I came back to my apartment in New Orleans three weeks after Katrina expecting to find my 29 gallon full of dead fish, however not ONE of them had died, and the water was actually crystal clear. When I thought about it it made sense that with no food they cannot produce the bad chemicals that can pollute the water.

And being in in the south you don't have to worry about temperature dropping without a working heater, if anything it may rise a little more than normal, which isn't too bad from what I understand.

If you are fortunate to come back after a few days to a simple power outage and you decide to feed the fish right away you need to keep a close eye on the water parameters ( ammonia and nitrite ) and might have to do daily water changes. Also without filtration the fish will be without oxygen, but you could do a water change right away and hopefully get some oxygen in there by adding the new water.

Hope this all made sense, I'm a little out of it today.

 

[jayjay]

well number 1 they still do produce ammonia even without feeding- thriugh their gills -repiration.

also to add oxygen back to the water you just turn the filter back on and disturb the surface, if they've survived long enough they won't worry about that bit longer.

so glad i'm in england so i don't have problems like that

 

[Kiddo]

Thanks for the replys.

The male betta is in a ten gallon, the female is in a five gallon, and the poor bala is in a 29 gallon.

Two more things.

If I decide to leave them, it would could put them at my friends house that is alot sturdier then my house. I couldnt take the entire tanks, though. I could probably carry the five gallon, but the male would have to be put into something smaller, or I could make a divider and put then both in the five gallon.

If I were to take them with me, would it work if I used a smaller container, and filled it with water from the established tanks (would it be cycled)?

 

[Tolak]

Get one of these; http/theepicenter.com/dc_to_ac_power_con..._inverters.html

And one of these; http/www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/catego...ategory_id=1625

And one of these; http/www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/catego...ategory_id=1725

Run the sponge filter in the tank with the bala, since it is the biggest waste producer. This will give you the most bacteria on the filter.

If you have to evacuate, put the 10 gallon on the floor of whatever vehicle you are taking. Don't fill it all the way, leave some room for water to slosh about, as it will be on the floor of a moving vehicle. Add the fish, & run the air pump & now cycled sponge filter off of the power inverter. You could probably add a small heater, just don't exceed the rating of the inverter.

You will probably need to do daily water changes with the bala in there, I would bring with test equipment to keep tabs on the water parameters.

 

[Qays]

well number 1 they still do produce ammonia even without feeding- thriugh their gills -repiration.

also to add oxygen back to the water you just turn the filter back on and disturb the surface, if they've survived long enough they won't worry about that bit longer.

so glad i'm in england so i don't have problems like that

Hurray for no problems in england!