Moving my aquarium

[Claireh703]

Hi all,

I've searched and haven't quite found the answer to this.

I'm moving to a different state and the journey is going to be approx 7 hours and I want to know the best way to move my fish.

I have 2 corys and a pleco - they're pretty hardy as they've outlived other fish when I was learning the hard way about a non-cycled tank (newbie!).

I understand about having substrate, ornaments, etc in a separate bucket, keeping filter media wet, etc. What I don't know is how to give the fish the best chance of staying alive without spending much money.

My initial plan is to transport them in a bucket in tank water - what size bucket would you suggest? And maybe take another bucket of tank water and use as much of that as I can with hot tap (treated) water to the right temperature when I get there. (We have well water here which means the pH is quite high so I'd rather use as much of this as possible of tank water so that the fish can acclimate if there is a pH difference at the new place)

For the journey, how can I maintain the water temperature? How important is it to filter / aerate the water during that time (lets say max 10 hours)? Can you think of ways to do this that aren't going to cost a lot of money?

 

[Claireh703]

I think my husband's truck may have a 100W outlet so he's going to check if that would work with the aquarium heater. Theoretically (as this may not be the solution), could I put fish, tank water and heater in a bucket? The heater is for our 20G tank and there'd be no water movement other than from driving.

Would an air stone help? And, if so, is there a way to secure it? I presume superglue wouldn't be great for the fish?!

 

[rlederer]

I suggest you use a Coleman-type cooler. They have covers and are insulated so a 7 hour trip should be fine for these fish. I don't think an airstone is necessary, either.

 

[HannahJo]

The insulated cooler is a good idea. Otherwise, I wouldn't see why you couldn't have your heater plugged into the vehicle outlet (although, most heaters I've seen take a substantial amount of time to heat up so not sure how that would work?). You can purchase small, portable aerators (I've seen them for as little as $10) if you are worried about oxygen levels in the water.

 

[SwampeastMike]

An open bucket is probably the worst thing as even if it is large and only lightly filled with water will slosh around terribly.

The best thing is the way they are shipped to stores--in tightly sealed plastic bags with about 1/3 water and 2/3 air in a closed larger box with insulating material ("peanuts" are OK) around them. This is easily good for much longer than six hours with hardy fish such as yours.