Moving soon..

[CadillacSlim]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had any moving experiences with their fish and tanks? I will be moving here in about 5 months and I am planning on taking all my fish with me. The trip will be about 48 hours (with stops in between at hotels) by truck.

My fish are African Cichlids and a couple of others. Currently housed in a 20 gallon tank and all the fish are 1-2" in size. I'm not sure how to keep their water filtered or oxygenated at all during the trip. Seems like without filtration they will just be swimming in raw sewage after a few hours? Also puzzled on how to keep their water at the proper temp.

My truck is equipped with AC outlets and there will be enough room in my cab (quad style) to fit anything that will work to properly transport within reason. Any suggestions or ideas what type of equipment I can use? I really don't want to just dump them off at a pet store, but will do that if it means they survive.

Thanks!

 

[BigJim]

Put your fish in a cooler for the trip. It'll help insulate them.

If you've got access to AC outlets, I would try to run the filter and the heater in the cooler. If that's not feasible, keep a bottle of Prime handy, 3X dose the cooler when you add the fish and do a PWC at the hotel.

If you can't run the filter while driving, the sloshing of the drive will aerate the water during the drive, but I would get a battery air pump for the hotel stay.

Good luck!

 

[CadillacSlim]

Put your fish in a cooler for the trip. It'll help insulate them.

If you've got access to AC outlets, I would try to run the filter and the heater in the cooler. If that's not feasible, keep a bottle of Prime handy, 3X dose the cooler when you add the fish and do a PWC at the hotel.

If you can't run the filter while driving, the sloshing of the drive will aerate the water during the drive, but I would get a battery air pump for the hotel stay.

Good luck!

Thanks for the response Jim! Can you elaborate on what the 'Prime' is? I've never heard of that before.

 

[BigJim]

Prime is the SeaChem brand dechlorinator. It also detoxifies ammonia and nitrite and is fish-safe up to a 5x overdose. I've seen people use it to detoxify water in shipping bags of big expensive fish like arapaima gigas. Prime gives them time to acclimate the fish properly without it getting poisoned by it's own waste.

It would work in the same manner in your case. Basically it would be an emergency chemical filter. It might be good to have on hand even if you are capable of running the filter while driving.

Another thought would be to have some hydrogen peroxide on hand. It dissociates into water and oxygen when dumped into water. Don't go nuts with it, but it could be used to add oxygen to your water in an emergency.

 

[CadillacSlim]

Prime is the SeaChem brand dechlorinator. It also detoxifies ammonia and nitrite and is fish-safe up to a 5x overdose. I've seen people use it to detoxify water in shipping bags of big expensive fish like arapaima gigas. Prime gives them time to acclimate the fish properly without it getting poisoned by it's own waste.

It would work in the same manner in your case. Basically it would be an emergency chemical filter. It might be good to have on hand even if you are capable of running the filter while driving.

Another thought would be to have some hydrogen peroxide on hand. It dissociates into water and oxygen when dumped into water. Don't go nuts with it, but it could be used to add oxygen to your water in an emergency.

Great information, I will take this in to count for sure! Thanks!

 

[dkpate]

I packed my fish in styrofoam coolers and bought battery powered air stones. Maybe you could do that, and also find some way to plug heaters into your AC while driving.
If you keep the filter media wet in the coolers during the driving, you could hook the whole filter up and hang it on the cooler when you get to the hotel rooms, along with the heaters, and do a partial water change. If I was you, I would do a 25% water change when I got to the hotel, and another one before I left in the morning, so you don't shock your fish with any pH differences.