moveing large fish

[wishiwasafish]

hey all got great news today i get the keys to my new home tomarrow! i'm so happy but i sat down and started thinking..... how do i move all the fish i have i was thinking about draning it really low then refilling it at the new apartment but the tank would be so heavy and it would probably be to heavy to walk easaly with even with two people ... well thats my problem i hope someone has done this befor and can help me i wouldn't want to accidently kill any of my wittle fishes thanks for your time agin

jeff

 

[wuvmybetta]

well you don't have really large fish,do you?, so you should divide them up and put them in a couple of 20 gallon Rubbermaid containers with a bunch of tank water.

Drain out the rest of the water and dispose of it.Put the gravel in a seperate bucket with some water and your filter cartridges/floss and you're off.Hang your filter over the side of the container ASAP while you set up the tank and such.

 

[Tammy2080]

i just moved to my new home 8 month ago and had a 30 gal tank complete with fish to move. it was a nightmare, but i did exactly as "wuvmybetta" sugested and all fishies made it to the new home without being harmed

i did have to add a few gallons of tap water though, and had to keep my fish in two buckets untill the water heated up........this was horrable,i had to put the heater on full wack to try and speed this up, i was really worried that they would die before the water hit 26 degrees but they all made it. and loved ther new home

and so long as you remember to keep the filters (still sealled up, dont seporate the spunge from the filter, bacteria need the dark), rocks, plants and orniments in one of the buckets of water then your tank wont cycle

 

[ddm18]

Hey,

Yeah, I just did the same thing, about a month ago - really easy, one thing I'd have done differently though is to have the water fairly low in the buckets with the fish (or, better still, tightly fitting lids), because the sloshing water really made me notice how bumpy the roads are!

Also, I'd recommend keeping the fish in darkness - either with a lid or just a towel or sheet over the buckets, because this helps stop them getting stressed. The whole process took me about 3 hours, and the fish were (and are) all perfectly healthy - the Clown Loaches didn't even get ich, which they do at the drop of a hat if they're stressed!

 

[CFC]

Personally i dont advise moving large fish loose in containers, often they get slung around while in transit which can result in lost scales and damaged fins. When moving fish i advise bagging each fish seperately and then boxing them in poly boxes putting as many bags as you can into each box, if a box isnt quite full fill any empty space with bags inflated with air. Bags for large fish and poly boxes should be available for a small fee from any fish store that sells koi or large tropicals.
Remember when filling the bags with water only fill the bag 1/4 of the way so 3/4 of the bag is air, if the fish are going to be bagged for longer than one hour add oxygen tablets to the bags as well.

I have moved twice with fish up to 14" long and didnt lose a single fish.