What to do with fish during my move?

Hi All.

Set to move to a new house on the 1st of december, problem is, what do i do with my fish during the move?

Here is another problem, i have a new tank arriving around the 15th of december. So what is the best thing to do?

Move my entire setup, set it up, then setup the new tank a few weeks later then tear down the old setup. (mission)

Is there a place that can keep my fish during the move or until i have the new setup up and running.

Also what is the best way to transport them, is a cooler box a good idea?

:wacko:

Thanks in advance.

 

I have some tips and advice I can help with, but need to know some answers first:

How far are you moving.
How many fish
How big are the fish

 

@fugdup what is the size of your current setup? Your new tank will have to cycle first before adding the fish from your old setup, so what is your time constraint for having the old tank removed.

 

@Zoom

My Fish range in size, From fully grown cory's to Bala Sharks that are approx 10-15cm.
I have about 25 fish
I am moving about 5kms.


@JP01
My current setup is a 4ft.340l There is no real time constraint its just trying to find the easiest quickest way of doing things and what will be the least stressful on the fish.

 

Get a temp tank. (2-3ft)
Set up temp tank at new house 3 days before move and a place that will not be in the way. (If possibly, use 50% existing water, and existing filter media.) NO SUBSTRATE. Use Microbelift Special Blend as per bottle instruction. If possible, give a few hiding spots for shy fish. If in a well lit room. Don't set up lighting. The dim lighting will keep the stress levels down.

DAY BEFORE MOVE:
Transport fish in bucket, container and put into temp tank.

DAY BEFORE MOVE:
Empty existing tank completely and take apart.

MOVE.

Get yourself settled. During this period, keep dosing Special Blend (according to bottle instructions). Feed minimally. (Once a day is more than enough!) Do a 40% WC every alternate day.

If you absolutely have to put the fish into a bigger tank, set up the tank again where it will not be in the way and will not need to be moved to fit the new tank in. Otherwise when the new tank arrives, set it up, scape it, Special Blend it, and add fish 3 days later. According to Microbelift, you can add fish the very next day... but adding 25 fish may put strain on the filters... so if you do this, keep up with WC until you are happy that everything is stable.

 

Thanks for the advice. Will try do my best. Do you reckon a lfs would mind keeping my fish? do any of them do that?

 

@Reedfish. Sounds like the best thing to do. Just gotta find someone willing to keep the tank now! Thanks

 

When I moved in feb i sent my fish to my sister for a few weeks, and because she is a fish fanatic herself, i knew they were in good hands. Good pointer reedfish. It was nice to be able to set up my new home and not have to stress about the fish or the tank.

Some Lps will fish sit for you, however i really wouldnt go this option. You stand a very high chance of you fish contracting some disease... Or worse... Sold.

 

If you can get them to me in George will gladly look after them whilst you move. Busy baby sitting fish whilst owners busy with renovations. No losses experienced here with me and have helped out a number of customers.

 

we did what reedfish suggested - we have a large tank about 400L capacity, we were only moving about 2km down the road, but the day before, we didn't feed them, put the same water and any rocks etc into one of those containers and the filter material. As soon as we moved into the new place, we put water and all the rocks etc back and put the fish back in within a couple of hours. Happy to say they all survived the move.

 

When i moved my tank (5ft +- 800l ) the last time i just removed as much water as i could so that the tank was lift-able and fish were able to swim.
we moved it to the new house also about 10 -15kms away with the fish in the tank. put a blanket over to help keep it warm.

i setup the tank and filled it using normal tap water with purification drops.
To get the water in the tank i used a bucket and some normal air filter tubing with a flow restricting attachment on it.
This allows you to siphon the water out of the bucket as slow as a constant drip.
this means that the water temps don't change and the fish have a chance to get used to the water as you fill it.
granted this took a few days to fill but it worked for me and wasn't much effort besides filling the bucket every now and again.

flow restricters i used

 

GOOD LUCK with whichever method you try... One suggestion, keep your original tank water so that it is not such a shock to the fish when (re)introduced back into the tank...

 

Well, I made the move from Joburg to George with a bunch of big fish and they all survived the whole trip. What you need is a huge 'big Jim' container, a battery operated air pump and some destressing drops you get when you are introducing new fish to a tank. When you reach your destination, just plug in the heater and you'll have a nice temporary tank.