Moving House

[spidergravy]

Hello there

I'm moving house on Wednesday and Thursday next week. The removal men will take the tank on Wednesday and I will take my fish. On Thursday the tank can be set up in the new house. I have a few questions.

1) How long can the fish happily be in bags and boxes? I have a lot of small, easy community fish, a couple of clown loaches and a shark, and a very, very big plec.

2a) Would you advise me setting up a temporary tank at my parents' house for the overnight stay, decanting the fish and some of their water, and then catching them all, bagging them all again the following morning for the final leg of the move?
or
2b) Leaving all the fish in their bags and boxes with some stress coat for up to 24 hours to save being moved, caught and removed?

3) What's the best way to transport my plec? He's about 15 inches long and spikey. On our last move, 4 years ago he pierced the holding bag and ended up in the bucket it was in. I don't want him to jump out of a bucket if that's all I put hin in, and I don't want him getting too sloshed about if he's not in a bag.

Convenience to me isn't really an issue here, I'm more concerned about the welfare of the fish. My tank is about 280 litres. How much water shall I take with me?

This is a continuation of my post on changing from gravel to sand when I move, so I was going to do it all at the same time...

Thank you so much for your help...

 

[walkers101]

i would get one of those rubble buckets from b&q chuck a heater and filter in then leave the fish in there overnight as long as it is only 1 night

 

[jameshunter63]

i moved house about 2 months back, and moved 2 tanks with it, a 90l and a 150l.

First i bought a BIG bin from B&Q. then went about catching and bagging and moving the fish.
When at the new house as the removal men wouldnt unpack the tank for a while and the fish were out of the tank for over 24 hours i put the two heaters into the bin and floated all the fish in it over night. they all held up fine, except my kribs that got aggressive once at the new house and i had to give them away!! o well, wasnt a massive fan any way.

The plec thing, i would buy a polystyrene cube that has a lid and can hold a good few litres of water. i would then wack him in there in tank water and put the lid on, tape it down to make sure no water escape. once at the parents house put him in the bin with the rest. this should help stress as its pitch black in those boxes. I transported alot of water in boxes but never have fish, so i hope it could work. if not keane then maybe float him in a poly box and if he does burst it then the water will be fine in the box.

hope that helps!!

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

^ Like that idea. I'm moving next year and the idea of moving my larger tanks frightens me. Has anyone had experience of moving tanks over 100g with catfish in abundance?
Sorry, don't mean to steal the thread.
P.

 

[mp0033price]

How long is the drive from current location to new house? I moved my cichlids from 3 hours away in 5 gallon buckets with lids and about half full of tank water.. About 4-5 per bucket. Then as soon as home, put them in a big round plastic tub I purchased at Walmart over night with heater. They were fine until I got the tank set up the next morning. I also put my filter with mature media on a square cheapie plastic bin (had to have a flat sides with my HOB filter) to run and keep oxygen going through so I wouldn't lose all my beneficial bacteria. Don't know what type of filter you have though. I'm sure the Stress Coat would be great.. If you keep about 25% of your water, I'm sure that would be helpful. But I only got to save about 10% of mine and seemed to do good, but I kept the substrate and rocks from old setup and kept them in water.

 

[spidergravy]

Thank you to everyone for their help and suggestions. Wish me luck for Wednesday and Thursday!

 

[spidergravy]

I've moved! But sadly I had a few casualties. However, I now have very pretty sand in my tank rather than gravel. I have some questions.

My plec is a terraformer. He likes to rearrange the sand into huge mountains and down to glass at the bottom. Is this a problem?

I lost a couple of fish. Literally. And then, when I cleaned the tank there was this terrible, terrible sulphur smell. Any helpful ideas?

My little whirly light and air pump keeps stopping in the sand. Is there anything I can do about that? Does the sand clog it up?

Thank you for all your help so far.