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I will be moving cross country in about 4 months. I have 5 fish in a fish tank and would like to take them but wondering if they will even survive. Has anyone done this? Is it better to give them away? BTW, 2 tetras, 2 catfish, 1 pleco Thanks
I have moved, mine were sea horses, moray eel, lion fish. I bought a battery powered air pump, keep the water level to half tank. Everyone one survived, did it twice.
We moved with ours, but it was only 30 minutes away. How many gallons is your fish tank?? To be honest, since your fish (tetras, catfish, and pleco) are so common and inexpensive I would just give them away and buy new ones once you move and have your tank re-established. However, if you really have an attatchment it is possible to move them!!
What we did was saved as much of the water as we could in empty Hawaiian Punch bottles. Then, we put the fish in those and moved them. However, since you will be moving across the country I am not sure how to keep them alive with oxygen, etc. Hopefully someone on here will give you good advice! (ferretkona's advice sounds good)
My DH said to get rid of them. They are all about 5 years old, surprised they lived that long (cept the pleco). The attachment is from all the work i've put into the tank. It is a 30 gal. tank (used to have a lot more fish but since i planned on moving i stopped buying) so i would transport them in something else.
thanks for the advice.
anyone else??
oh, now the more i think about it, they've lived 5 years in the same water (well water) that we'll have a different type of water where we move, unsure if well or public. that may not work for them.
how would i give them away if i dont know anyone else with a fish tank?
I did it last year... from Los Angeles to Chicago (about a 2,000 mile drive over the course of 3 nights and four days)
Here's what I did... I kept my fishies (2 large goldfish + 1 small baby goldfish, 2 cory cats, 1 large pleco... and I think I also brought my striped kuhli loach with me then) in a rubbermaid tub with a cover (I filled it with water about half or less than half of the tub size). I too researched about moving fish across country and a lot had suggested buying an air pump to plug into the car, but I ended up not buying any of that... each night we stopped at a hotel, I took the tub out, topped off the tank with water (w/ water treatment) and plugged in my filter and let it run over night. In the morning, I dumped out half the water.
I'd also like to note, I didn't feed my fish for about 24 hours (I think) prior to my trip, so that they wouldn't have a lot of poop in the tub... I know this is particularly important for goldfish, because they excrete a lot more ammonia/waste than other fish... I also didn't feed them for the three nights of travel...
All my fish survived, and I had a new 46g tank awaiting them upon arrival. I also suggest padding the area the tub will be in with a lot of towels (which I had, but wasn't enough)... because the water splashed around on our commute and got on some of my other things...
I only did this because I had an attachment to the goldfish. I had them since they were tiny, watched them grow, managed to have them spawn and was able to save one baby goldfish...
But, if you need to sell them, I'd try craigslist (I've been able to sell fish, tanks, and other supplies under the PETS section)... you can always donate them back to your LFS or places like Petco and Petsmart (they won't give you money though)...
Last edited by s0nginmyheart; 09-28-2009 at 10:09 AM..
My daughter did twice...salt water stuff...a few stars, octopus,living rock, corals, etc. She just a few weeks ago made the trip from Utah to Fl. Put them all in tupperware containers...the sloshing of the water was enough to keep them all aerated. She had a air stone, but said she didn't use it...Everyone made it fine during the 3 day trip and even a few days afterward as she set up the 65 gal. tank.
If you decide to not take them...I would not offer them on CraigsList and like places. They are bound to be used as "food".
I've moved with fish several times (with my cherry barbs... LOL... I've just had them for SO long and they're, like, immortal, I can't let go).
I bought a separate 10 gallon tank for the move, a nice long one. I filled it halfway, put it in the back seat and strapped it in...we brought it into the hotels every night as we moved. I fed them less to keep the water clean and made sure they got at least 12 hours of darkness per day. Honestly they seemed to enjoy it!
If you need to give them away, just put up an ad on Craigslist or in the paper. Also -- you can gradually get them used to the water, or use bottled and/or boiled tap water (that's what I do).
I moved by car from Georgia to Pennsylvania. I divided my fish into 3 containers by species. My car has an electical outlet so each container had a little cheap $5 filter that took turns on the air pump through out the day and then at night in the hotel everyone got aerated. I used the clear plastic containers about the size of boot boxes. When I move again I will do the same except I will use larger plastic containers ( taller/higher sides) and I will fill the water 1/2 way up and use styrofoam boards covered in the clear trash bags on top of the water to keep the water from splashing as much. So the plastic covered styrofoam will float on the surface of the water and my air tube will go through a hole in it to aerate. And I will pack as much preconditioned old water as possible. My major problem was the change in water composition in Philly versus Georgia. My fish survived the drive fine but they did not take well to the local water and subsequently got sick and a lost a few of them as I needed to add new water the first week.
To be honest, since your fish (tetras, catfish, and pleco) are so common and inexpensive I would just give them away and buy new ones once you move
I just moved 450miles last month, and moved my 3 goldfish and pleco....sure, I could have just given them away and gotten new ones, but i guess some people do get attached to their fish, especially if they only have a few. Personally, I cant give any moving advice, though, as my fish are surface breathers....but after the move, I did upgrade them from a 29 to a 55 gallon tank after going thru all the stress of moving...as well as switched to live plants, so I think they're quite happy =)
I agree Jersy86, my corys were 2nd generation, I knew them when they were just eggs, I couldn't give them away, I would never think anyone could take care of them the way I could take care of them.
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