moving cross country need advice

[benji-star]

I am moving from ca to wv the move will be a five day cross country trek
i have a established gold fish tank that i would like to take with me is there any way to move fish that far. do i need any kind of special equipment. is there any safe way for my fish go with me.
please help
benji

[Menagerie]

[center:2417555bb6] Welcome to AA, benji-star! [/center:2417555bb6]

It can be done with careful planning. My husband and I moved our fish last winter over two days and they did quite well.
Depending on the number of fish, there might be different ways to go about it. The nice thing about goldies, is they are not tropical. Trying to warm the car to keep the fish warm was a PITA. You will definitely need a battery opperated air pump or two.
Let us know how many fish and how large they are.

[benji-star]

I have eight very small little guys & 2 large fan tails apx. 3 Inchs each

[Menagerie]

Not a problem! Get yourself a nice big, walled styrofoam cooler, if you don't already have a really well insulated cooler. Do not feed your fish the day before or during the trip--they will be fine and you need to minimize waste production.
Line the cooler with garbage bags (we used 3 bags). Then add aquarium water and fish. Run an air line with airstone from the airpump to the bag. Tie off the bag loosely around the airline.
For such a long trip, you may need to do a water change in the midst of everything. Keep your water testing kits and dechlor nearby.

I should mention that we also traveled with three cats and two birds, along with the fish. Everyone was brought into the hotel room at night

[benji-star]

thank you so much for the info do they sell battery operated air pumps commonly at the pet store

[Menagerie]

We got ours at a [acronym:df9629a0db="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:df9629a0db] and I have seen the on-line.