Moving with an aquarium.....

[jazzyarizona]

I plan on moving, within a couple of months, from Arizona to Oregon. With a U-Haul this will probably take three days. I have a 30 gallon aquarium, 2 large Angels, 3 cats, several schooled fish, snails and a plecos. I have had my fish for a long time, especially one little albino cat and I don't want to get rid of them. Does anyone have any ideas of how I could move them?

It will be cold when I move so I thought I could transfer them to a smaller tank and put them in the back of my SUV. They would stay warm during the day and, at night, I could transferr the small aquarium to the motel room. I have 12 fish including the plecos. The angels are about 4 inches. I also have two snails and 16 baby snails...they are SO CUTE! I have an extra 10 gallon tank, would this be OK or too small for the fish?

Any help were be so welcomed!

 

[Vikesfankevin]

Would your 30 fit in your SUV? Maybe try draining half the water out of that tank so it is moveable with 2 people and try doing it like that.

 

[thutton33]

you wouldnt want to move the aquarium with any water at all, chance of cracking and such.... I might recommend what I did (sure it was a multy day trip but none the less) putting water and fish in a strong container (cooler perhaps) with bubbler and heater connected to the AC adapter of the vehicle lighter....

Just a thought

 

[jazzyarizona]

Thank you but I would be afraid of cracking my aquarium if I tried to move it with water in it. It is incredibly heavy even empty and I am doing most of this move alone. Also, I couldn't keep them warm and it is a three day trip.

A cooler would be great a great idea! Are there special bubblers and heaters that I could connect to my AC adapter? Is this how you traveled with your fish?

Thank you both so much......

 

[thutton33]

I have had to travel twice with my 75g and 2nd 10g (and get to look forward to the next travel being that plus another 40g).. lol

well the ac adapter is just a plug.. like the household plug the adapter simply lets you run a regualr plug with your cars lighter. each time I have moved that is the way I did it, or at least a variation.... always worked for me, but I mean like mentioned it was never a more then 1 day trip... I hope my suggestions help

 

[mgamer20o0]

your not going to like it bet your best bet is to find someone local to take care of them. its going to be way less stressful on them and your self. i am sure there plenty of people who would look after them.

your best bet is to get rubber made tubs for your fish and media. you dont need any special bubblers but you can by a ac to dc adapter. this way they will stay stable. i would put the gravel and the media into the rubber tubs. bring extra prime. when you stop over night bring them in and do a little drip wc. not too much since you will be using different water. you could bring your old water but that might be too much.

 

[bluerose]

To run 110v household items from a car you need an inverter- basically a box with 110v plugs on it with a cord that plugs in to your car. Should be able to find it at a camping type place or automotive store I would think. Get a good one, the bad (cheap) ones are often problematic.

I think you can move them if you do so carefully and accept you may have losses. Granted fish are shipped on a regular basis with few repercussions so this is obviously something that is doable!

 

[JohnPaul]

Another bit of advice: stop feeding your fish about a full day before the move, and do not feed them at all the entire length of the trip. Presuming you can keep the water temps halfway stable and a little bit of oxygen in it, the biggest threat your fish face is going to be ammonia poisoning from their own waste. Assuming the fish are otherwise healthy, 4-5 days without food will not hurt them in the least. I just got back from a one week trip where my tanks went unfed the entire time and all of my fish looked perfectly fine upon my return.

 

[emtbmike]

The best way to move your fish is in rubermaid containers. Use a lteast 30 gallon containers. Make dure not to feed your fish 3 days prior to moving. Also make sure you get a power converter and put a heater and a sponge filter in the rubbermaid

 

[jsoong]

I think a big cooler is better choice for the move - it is insulated, rigid & easier to move around. You can keep your filter pad in the cooler for the move to give you a bit of biologic filtration. An inverter is a must for a long move, running an internal filter would be ideal, but a bubble wand should be enough .... Make sure you get a good one with high enough Watts to run the heater & filter. And don't run your "tank" off the inverter for long without the car running or you will drain your car battery. <With a big cooler, you might need 2 person to move it into the motel for the night .... you might consider using 2 smaller ones instead ... but that would mean 2 heaters & bubbler/filters...>

In addition to not feeding to decrease ammonia, I would suggest adding an ammonia binder to the water. Something like Prime at double dose would be good. Check the NH3/NO2 levels daily & do water changes as needed. <Note that the water in the motels (and your final destination) will be different than your tank water, so you would want to add the change water slowly over 1/2 hr or so .... basically drip acclimatizing the fish to new water with each change. Also not a bad idea to have a full test on the tap water to be sure there are no surprises.>

 

[Phoenixphire55]

Just to chime in, I recently moved from Wisconsin to Denver which took two days and I put all my fish in a tupperware container with a filter running. Water splashed EVERYWHERE, but only one fish died. Make sure to seal up the container or at least wrap it in garbage bags.