Transporting goldfish

[kirkland795]

I am moving to a new house this weekend that is about 30 mins from where I currently live. I have my three goldfish that I was going to transport in a 5 gallon bucket. I bought a rain barrel to transport their tank water so I don't have to recycle the tank in the new house. The goldfish are still young and small and can comfortably fit in a five gallon but I was wondering how long can they stay in the bucket without filtration?

 

[jlk]

Transporting the tank water really isn't necessary as your water contains very little bacteria. The important aspect is transporting your cycled filter media in tank water. Once the tank is set back up and properly conditioned, you can add the filter media. Take the time to drip acclimate your fish to the new water as it will likely have different parameters and temperature. Make sure you test your new tap water too so you have a baseline for your parameters.

Your fish should be fine for half an hour up to a couple of hours in the bucket as long as its open and not covered/sealed. If your concerned or afraid things may take some time, add a battery powered aerator. Skip feeding that morning/day altogether until they are settled back in their tank. This will help limit the ammonia production a bit. Please ask any questions!

 

[kirkland795]

Transporting the tank water really isn't necessary as your water contains very little bacteria. The important aspect is transporting your cycled filter media in tank water. Once the tank is set back up and properly conditioned, you can add the filter media. Take the time to drip acclimate your fish to the new water as it will likely have different parameters and temperature. Make sure you test your new tap water too so you have a baseline for your parameters.

Your fish should be fine for half an hour up to a couple of hours in the bucket as long as its open and not covered/sealed. If your concerned or afraid things may take some time, add a battery powered aerator. Skip feeding that morning/day altogether until they are settled back in their tank. This will help limit the ammonia production a bit. Please ask any questions!

Thank you all this was very helpful. I think I'll be using an aerator for sure!

 

[kirkland795]

I did have one more question. What filter media do you recommend? I have carbon right now but I've seen different recommendations from different sources. This forum has had the best advice so far so I was wondering what you would recommend.

 

[kirkland795]

Oh I also forgot to mention I use a Marineland bio-wheel power filter as well. So with the use of the biowheels and carbon I wasn't sure if I needed any other filtration media.

 

[jlk]

Oh I also forgot to mention I use a Marineland bio-wheel power filter as well. So with the use of the biowheels and carbon I wasn't sure if I needed any other filtration media.

Do you use the standard cartridges for the marineland filters? What size filter is it? Just make sure you transport whatever media you may have in tank water to keep it viable.