Moving House - Moving Bettas - Housing Them Till Tank Resettles....

[electric yellow]

In a couple of months we are moving house. While i have managed to ship my cichlids and my communal tank family off to my aquarium for a couple of weeks (which is good of the boys as all im doing for them is giving them beer ) i am not sure what to do about my bettas. By then i will have four.

Whats the best way to move them? Obviouslly when moving their tanks i will be draining the water out so its just the gravel. Im going to try to bucket as much water as possible.

How long will they last without being in their homes?

Whats the best way to move the fish and also how am i to house them untill their tank water has settled back down which will take a week due to the draining of it completely. I wont be washing the gravel so it shouldnt cycle again...it will just take a few days to settle back down. Could i just keep them in a small plastic container?

 

[bronzecat]

Hi Quick question, do they have filters? Makes a difference to the answers you're after

 

[electric yellow]

Yeah all my tanks have filters. My big cichlid tank has a sand substrate and an external aqua one filter, my big communal tank has gravel substrate and an external aqua one filter and my two betta tanks have internal under gravel filters.


I just didnt want to refill the betta tanks and throw them back in straight away while the water is still mucky from being disturbed...

 

[bronzecat]

Hi

Depending on how long the journey is, you may lose some or all of the bacteria in the gravel bed. You need to leave a couple of inches of water in to keep it wet.
double bag the fish, put them in a dark polybox. If its cold you can use a water bottle with warm water if the journey is long.

Whilst you are setting the tanks back up, you could temporarily house them in something else. Just do water changes regularly. They'll be fine Especially when you consider they can spend 4 or 5 days in transit from Asia.

 

[electric yellow]

Not an inter state move thank good. We are only moving one suburb to the next. My concern is with the move being an all day thing....how 'soon' will i need to get their tank running. It probably wont be till everything is moved in and i have time.

And coz my fiancee' will want everything else done before he helps me set up all our tanks...

..he doesnt have his priorities right i rekon!!

 

[bronzecat]

Ah, in that case. Your filter bed should stay intact Leave the tanks till last, bag the fish, and bucket the water apart from 2inches. Get the water straight back in at the new place, switch on and it shouldn't take long. As long as its not too murky the fish will be fine for a quite a few hours in their bags

Trouble is, if you dont get the tanks running the same day, the good bacteria will die off. If you really cant set them up that day then just keep the bettas in a temporary container for a few days. Seems a shame to let the bed die off though and if you gotta put them somewhere it may as well be the tanks