Moving with fish- Please help!

[twixie09]

Hello. I have a ten gallon tank with a male betta and three corydora catfish. I will be moving to go to school in the fall and I was just wondering what the best way to move the fish would be. I have a one gallon tank, but I don't know if that would be sufficient space for the betta and the corys. It's a three and a half hour drive there, and we will need to get at least some of the furniture in the appartment before we can even think of filling up the big tank. Also, will I need to re-cycle the tank before placing the fish into it again? Because I don't think all four fish will live comfortably in one gallon for the entire tank cycle. Please give any suggestions, and please PLEASE also read my other forum post regarding my betta, who has been acting funny. ): Thanks in advance for the help!

~Lauren

 

[Kat1103]

Put the filter in a ziplock bag with dirty tank water. Do the same with the gravel and any ornaments you have in the tank. Then when u do set up the tank, put back in all your stuff with the little tank water you do have, and fill up the rest of the tank with clean de-chlorinated water. Then let the heater heat up the water and u should be good to go. As far as traveling, I would think maybe you could find a larger bucket or something. I've heard people say they use heaters that hook up in the car but i've never actually seen one.

 

[twixie09]

Hm. Didn't think of a bucket. And good idea with the water. But if I cover a bucket with a lid, will there still be sufficient oxygen for the fish? And I'm guessing you think the one gallon wouldn't be big enough? I wouldn't think so, but idk.

 

[jcolon]

Is the tank traveling with you in a car? If so, and you'll have help moving your furniture, consider leaving the 10 gallon tank 1/2 filled with the fish, and use the other 5 gallons to store the ornament and filter media .. in bags or in a bucket. I would think the gravel should be ok with the fish so long as the tank is not jostled too much. Plus 5 Gallons of water should have sufficient oxygen for the 3 hour journey.

 

[twixie09]

I'll probably have the tank in my trunk. Not sure if I want to risk it spilling in the car, though. I will have help moving.

 

[Reiner]

When I moved from TX to OH I put my fish in a 5g bucket and got a battery operated air pump and little hose to pump air into the bucket. My poor fish had to live in there for about 2 days and they all survived Your trip isn't nearly as long but if your worried about them having enough oxygen then you could get the air pump and I bet youd be ok.

 

[jcolon]

I'm thinking how do you keep a bucket from spilling over on a 3 hr trip?

Instead of a bucket ... get a 5gallon water cooler jug for the fish ... just fill the water to the level below the bottle neck ... this will give you the most surface area for oxygen exchange, plus it would be fairly stable and not tip over as much. Plus you can probably put the 5 gallon jug in on the floor of the back seat.

In the tank, lower the water level to one two gallons and you can keep some water, gravel, ornaments ... still keep the filter media in a ziplock with tank water. With water level that low, spilling should not be too much of a problem.
You can also tie up the tank in a large trash bag in the event you hit a big bump

 

[Homer8]

Here is exactly what you should do. I just moved my 38, not far but i learned a lot. Since you have a 10 gallon you should go to home depot buy 2 homer paint buckets for about $7 plus $2 for 2 lids and fill one up with all the gravel and 4-5 gallons of water. Then in the other bucket fill that up with the rest of the water and the fish. If your worried about air buy a battery operated airpump and just drill a small hole in the lid and thread a air tube through. i would also do what kat1103 said and put the filter cartridge in a ziplock bag with the water from the filter. There will be a little spillage from the buckets but nothing a towel underneath the buckets couldnt fix.

 

[twixie09]

Okay so update: I have a 20g long tank waiting to be set up for the move this Saturday, and now I have two corys and my betta because one cory died. Would it be safe to leave the tank half full and keep the fish in it? If so, should I remove the ornaments/plants or leave them? I also have sand to put in the new tank. I have an outlet adapter for the car, but there is only one plugin, so I would have to choose between the heater or the air pump (I think any wise opinion would point to the heater, though).

Any new suggestions? I don't have money to go out and buy anything new for the move, so that's kind of out of the question.

(And also, what can I do to speed up the cycle of the 20g tank? It has a larger filter [obviously] so I can't use the same cartridge, but I have an old, dirty cartridge bag thing in a ziploc bag. Would putting the old water in the tank help? Would it help to put both filters in to cycle? Should I add my fish right away if both filers are in? I also have a small air stone filter...)

 

[Morgie]

When I transfer my 5.5 back in forth from school this is what I do, and it's worked for me completely:
Take out about half of the water
When you put it in the car, put a ton of towels and pillows around the tank.
It'll be able to wiggle a little bit, so you won't have to worry about it cracking, but it'll be stable enough for your fish to live through it.
Since it's such a small tank you shouldn't have to go out and buy buckets or anything.

 

[twixie09]

Okay so they should be fine in the half-full tank? I figured as much. What about all of the decorations? And about cycling the new tank?

 

[Mikalicious209]

If your old filter is still wet, just jam that in the filter behind ther new one and put rocks and deco in, should be cycled In about 4 hrs depending how much your filter turns over the tank.

 

[twixie09]

Really? Only four hours? That would be awesome. My fish all lived through the ten gallon cycling (I still feel bad, because I didn't know it took long. I shamefully followed the tank instructions which said 24 hours. -.-), but I would rather not put them through it again.

I think it's dry at this point. I changed it out about a week ago. Would it help to store it with some of the current tank water until we leave, or is it useless once it's dry?

 

[Vicksta]

I moved a few months back, fortunately I had a new tank waiting for my little guys. When it came to transferring my fish, I went to the LFS and asked for a few bags to transfer my guys with and they gave them to me for free. Filled them with water from the old tank, used compressed air to inflate the bag and tied the ends.
My big guy got a plastic shoe box, which sloshed around like crazy.

I am sure as long as you keep all the gravel/sand, deco and filters wet, you might be able to empty the tank completely. You could always ask for extra bags and bag some water too.

I would wait for some other confirmation on my suggestion.

Good luck with the move!

 

[Mikalicious209]

Just make sure you keep the 10 gal filter wet in tank water, and when you set it up, test the water after a couple hours. It should be fine. You are luck, my dorms don't allow me to have pets and I couldnt hide my 33g from them

 

[twixie09]

Well, I'll be in a family housing apartment. I'm married you see. They allow anything up to 20g in the apartments.

 

[Mikalicious209]

Ours are appt suites. 4 to a suite with our own bedrooms, two share a bathroom. Theres no reason I couldnt have it there, they just want to be jerks about it. I'm on the first floor anyways

 

[twixie09]

Oh I see. Ours are in quad...plexes...? But we all have our own apartments. Our own bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, etc. Like having a real apartment. I like this school because they are tolerant of the fishies (though no other animals). If they wouldn't take my fish, I would either be finding another school or finding an apartment. Those little guys are my family. ^-^ And I got my betta right after my cat had to be put down almost three years ago, so he's my pal.

 

[Mikalicious209]

Thats awesome. What school?

 

[twixie09]

Adams State College in Alamosa, CO