Moving House And Fish!

[wombat1100]

Hey people, I am looking at moving house in the not too distant future and was wondering what I need to be organizing to move my fish? It is about a 10 HR drive so I assume i am going to have to have an aerated divided out esky or something?
I'm hoping to put the fish from my larger tank in another tank and move the large tank on the first trip , cycle it and then transport the fish, then the fish in my smaller tank can be transported, I will steel some cycled water from the already set up large tank and thats it. does that sound OK?
how long will the bacteria live in my canister filters if i transport them full of water?
any advise will be very much appreciated.
Daz
oh and plants too??? how do they go?
Daz

[aquariumleasing]

Hi Daz. I work hand in hand with a pet relocating company. They handle all sorts of fury pets but know zilch about fish.

I do not know what type, or more relevent, what size fish you are transporting, but if they can be bagged you can hire (borrow?) a pure medical oxygen bottle and fill each bag with one-third water and two-thirds oxygen. This will last many hours - even 10 hours.

Pack them tight in polystyrene boxes (I always have too many boxes on hand if you want some freebies - better email me direct because I do not read these forums as frequently as I should). Include a (not too) hot water bottle or very warm fish bags.

If you transport your filter as it is you will lose all your good bacteria and in fact it will turn toxic and will need to be rinsed out at the other end. Better you try emptying the filter's contents into a sealed bucket (to stop it slopping) so it is loose and can breath during the trip. Ensure the material in the bucket is covered by water from the tank. You may still have to go through a cycling period though - just keep testing NH3 and NO2 on the new setup and do big water changes if necessary. And keep Ph as low as you can - NH3 is less toxic if Ph is low.

...Good luck

[wombat1100]

Hi John, I have alot of small fish, guppies and neons etc that could be bagged as you have described, thanks for the offer on the styrene boxes too,what do you suggest for the larger fish like 35cm plecos?
Dazz

[joz]

Like Aquaruium leasing I would suggest packing the fish in idividual bags well inflated, then pack the snuggly within polystyrene box with tight fitting lid.You may want to raise the tank temp by just a few degrees so that the packed water will still be plenty warm even if it drops 2-3 degrees C.Fish are shipped internationally like this.
If your worried about your filter material as a suggestion I would firstly wash it out to get rid of any excess muck then place it into a bucket with some tank water,having it just slosh around the filter medium should kleep it alive.Or you may want to try and purchase asmall air pump that runs of your ciggy lighter and run some aeration through the medium.
Also the plants will be fine just in plastic bages for a duration like that as long as they're wet.

[aquariumleasing]

Hi John, I have alot of small fish, guppies and neons etc that could be bagged as you have described, thanks for the offer on the styrene boxes too,what do you suggest for the larger fish like 35cm plecos?
Dazz[/b]


You can safely bag several small fishes together - not one per bag. Just don't over crowd the bags.

A 12 - 13 inch pleco I would put in a black rubbish bag (maybe double bag) with oxygen and a rubber band. Then pack in a polystyrene box so it (the bag) cannot move too much. I once received a 24 inch (600mm) giant gourami flown from Darwin to my place in Melbourne like that. They doped him/her before shipping so it would not thrash too much. I was told they used one drop of clover oil to sedate it (?).

...John