Moving with Fish vs Giving Away

[DrNickiUSN]

We will be moving in the next few weeks. Somehow, it did not occur to me that we couldn't just put our "fully loaded" 65gallon tank in the car and drive. So, now I'm in a bit of a dilemma.

We have a 65 gallon tank with: 3 golden dojo loaches (~3.5inc each), 1 yoyo loach (~1.5"), 2 male dwarf guoramis (2.5" each"), 3 Madagascar Rainbow fish (~3in each), 1 red velvet swordtail male and 1 female (male ~2", female ~3"), 4 silver hatchet fish (~1.5"), 5 neon tetra (~1" each) and 1 ~8-10" pleco.

The movers are coming to pack all of our stuff on 16JUN (in Virginia) and will be moving it to our new home in Florida with anticipated delivery date ~23JUN. Apparently, they will be moving our fish tank at that time too and need a special crate to move it. And the tank, of course, needs to be emptied.

Sadly, I don't believe all those fish will make it in buckets for a bit over a week. I do have one 5 gallon fish tank that houses a betta, and we can just take that tank with us for the ten hour drive. But those other fish cannot all live in that tank for a week. And then it seems as though we will have to restart our established 65gal tank once it is delivered, with an 8 week cycle before adding any fish.

I just don't believe the bacteria in the substrate and the fish can survive in 5 gallon buckets for that period of time. Any thoughts on this?

It looks like I will have to give away my guys. Which makes me sad because they've all lived together as a family for several years. Maybe I'm anthropomorphizing..... I am especially sad about my pleco "Grandpa" as I have had him for 7 years since he was only 1" long!

Thoughts? Advice? Anyone know anybody in the VA area who is a trustworthy fish owner?

[MissGurnus]

You could use a cooler and grab bags from a lfs to put the fish in for separation.


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[icydeath]

You could take your filters out and put hte media in a container with some ammonia hydroxide (without soap). Put the fish into buckets or bags in a cooler for the drive. Also buy a plastic rubbermaid container or the like (you want a large one like this click; on the brightside you can always use this to store stuff later). Drive to your new home, fill up the rubbermaid, dechlorinate it, put hte filter on and get that running, acclimate the fish, soak the heater, and you should have minimal losses.

Oh and don't feed a day or two before you move them.

[Mebbid]

Get a few large rubbermaid totes or a fresh trash can at tour new home to house the fish temporarily. You should be able to run the filter on there with no problems. Dont worry about the substrate though, just hold ot in whatever and rinse it out before adding to the tank.

[xxDriftingAway]

Originally Posted by DrNickiUSN

We will be moving in the next few weeks. Somehow, it did not occur to me that we couldn't just put our "fully loaded" 65gallon tank in the car and drive. So, now I'm in a bit of a dilemma.

We have a 65 gallon tank with: 3 golden dojo loaches (~3.5inc each), 1 yoyo loach (~1.5"), 2 male dwarf guoramis (2.5" each"), 3 Madagascar Rainbow fish (~3in each), 1 red velvet swordtail male and 1 female (male ~2", female ~3"), 4 silver hatchet fish (~1.5"), 5 neon tetra (~1" each) and 1 ~8-10" pleco.

The movers are coming to pack all of our stuff on 16JUN (in Virginia) and will be moving it to our new home in Florida with anticipated delivery date ~23JUN. Apparently, they will be moving our fish tank at that time too and need a special crate to move it. And the tank, of course, needs to be emptied.

Sadly, I don't believe all those fish will make it in buckets for a bit over a week. I do have one 5 gallon fish tank that houses a betta, and we can just take that tank with us for the ten hour drive. But those other fish cannot all live in that tank for a week. And then it seems as though we will have to restart our established 65gal tank once it is delivered, with an 8 week cycle before adding any fish.

I just don't believe the bacteria in the substrate and the fish can survive in 5 gallon buckets for that period of time. Any thoughts on this?

It looks like I will have to give away my guys. Which makes me sad because they've all lived together as a family for several years. Maybe I'm anthropomorphizing..... I am especially sad about my pleco "Grandpa" as I have had him for 7 years since he was only 1" long!

Thoughts? Advice? Anyone know anybody in the VA area who is a trustworthy fish owner?

Why not move the tank yourself? I have a 10 gallon that had 1 betta and 1 pleco and I moved from the dorm room I was in back home and now I have a snail and 4 more bettas (all female) and I plan on doing it all over again but this time with the 10 and 20 gallon tanks. I just plop the tank on my passengers seat (as it is only me... A flat back seat will do too) get a container that you would use to save leftover food in and fill it with water and keep the fish in there and I put that inside the tank in my car for imes where you have but holes in front of you and you have to slam the brakes. That's when I pull over to a gas station and with an extra gallon of water (filled from the original tank water) I poor it in there to make sure they have at least 3 quarters of it full so they have plenty of water. Even if you need multiple containers...one day in those containers (not even.....just a few hours depending on how long it takes you to take the tank down and put it back up) couldn't hurt much. Just an idea.

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by xxDriftingAway

Why not move the tank yourself? I have a 10 gallon that had 1 betta and 1 pleco and I moved from the dorm room I was in back home and now I have a snail and 4 more bettas (all female) and I plan on doing it all over again but this time with the 10 and 20 gallon tanks. I just plop the tank on my passengers seat (as it is only me... A flat back seat will do too) get a container that you would use to save leftover food in and fill it with water and keep the fish in there and I put that inside the tank in my car for imes where you have but holes in front of you and you have to slam the brakes. That's when I pull over to a gas station and with an extra gallon of water (filled from the original tank water) I poor it in there to make sure they have at least 3 quarters of it full so they have plenty of water. Even if you need multiple containers...one day in those containers (not even.....just a few hours depending on how long it takes you to take the tank down and put it back up) couldn't hurt much. Just an idea.

Its a bit more difficult with larger tanks. They dont fit into peoples cars like the 10g will.

[Toad]

My 75 fit in an suv with the stand but it sounds like that's not a possibility
Honestly a Rubbermaid tub or even an outdoor garbage can can be used as a standby tank, just keep the filter material from drying out. I had fish in a five gallon bucket for two weeks once when a move went haywire and only lost one.

[biondoa]

I cannot even imagine trying to do this move with the fish. In my opinion, you would be doing them a kindness to find them new good homes. Then when you get settled you can begin again. the move will be hard enough on the fish, but then you will have to cycle all over again. If it were my move, I would rehome the fish.

[katiekelsey]

Check out a site called: Jennie's Solid Gold. She raises a lot of very expensive fancy goldfish. She recently moved from MN to FL and she explained how she moved her fish with no casualties. She kept the media in plastic bags with just enough water to keep it moist. She double bagged her fish, got the bags filled with air (I think from a petstore) and then placed the bags in a cooler. She does a nice job explaining everything she did in her video.