Can you transport fish from New York to Florida without it dying?

Question

I have two fish tanks with a total of 5 fish and I am going to be moving to Forida in a month. I really don't want to give them away but what can I do.

Answer 1

Your local fish store should be willing to bag them in oxygen. I live in Toronto and many of the fish for sale here have been shipped from Florida fish farms and make the trip without any problems. Just try to keep your tanks filters and substrates slightly damp throughout the trip so your tank doesn't have to cycle again.
A

Answer 2

I moved from Fl to TN with a bunch of fish from 5 different tanks. Buy (depending on size of fish) one of those 10 or 20 gallon storage containers with the lids (what you put your christmas stuff in). Use at least 1/2 of the tank water, and put the fish in. Buy a battery operated air pump. We cut a whole in the lid to put the air hose in for the pump. We moved them on the back of a pickup truck. Pick up a smaller container too, add some of the tank water, and put any decorations, gravel, filters, etc in there, because that's where all your beneficial bacteria is. Be sure to keep them wet, and use those when setting up the tank-then at the most, your tank will only go through a mini cycle as opposed to starting all over. Here's where I bought my air pumps, not a bad price, just buy good batteries. Mine lasted the whole way, and then some.

One thing I just thought of, it's been cool, here anyway, at night. might want to check into some kind of heater also. I moved over the summer so that wasn't an issue for me.

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Answer 3

Stores like Wal-Wort or a Bait Shop that sell Fishing supplies have this Battery operated air pump. They work well for this, use a air stone. I usually put the fish is a clean 5 gallon plastic bucket about half full of water. Cover loosely with something to keep water from sloshing out best you can and place a towel around the bottom. Also, be sure to have some Chlorine Remover or some extra gallons of Distilled water. This far of a trip you may want to change a gallon of water when you stop to sleep or eat somewhere.

Answer 4

What I would recommend doing is using UPS SonicAir Same Day Service.

The way you could make this happen is similarly to what fish farms do when they send fish to people (like yourself) from their facilities. Get a large and heavy materialed see through bag - fill it with their tank water, and put them in. I would go to your LFS with this and have them fill it up with air for you (provided that you live fairly close to one that could fill the bag up with enough O2 for 24 hours - which isn't hard, but make sure in advance of this that you have one that will do it (that lives reasonably close).

Get a shipping box that has styrafoam inserts lined inside of it. Place the back in there - conform it to the space in the box. Make sure there is a styrafoam lid to cap it with, then close the box - take it to your nearest UPS Store and ship it Sonic Air on the day you are leaving for Florida.

The box with arrive the same day you do. If you can have someone at your new place to receive the box when it get there - have them take it in - keep them in a darker part of the your new place until you arrive.

Once you get the tank setup - you will need to get them reacclimated to the new environment (and this may mean a whole new Nitrogen cycle, so be ready for lots of water changes - the last thing you want is to lose any of them to that after all this effort).

Slowly get them use to the new water buy taking the bag and putting it into a 5 or 10g bucket. Make sure you use a water conditioner if you do not have purified water so that they don't get any Chlorine exposure. Slowly add conditioned water to the bucket they are in, and then after about half an hour or hour - put them into their new tank.

It's a lot of work, but it can be done if you are Hell bent on moving them with you.

Good luck!

Answer 5

If you keep a few bags of large freezer zips, and change the fish to new ones as the oxygen is used up, you should be fine if the move is in your car, at room temperature, in only a day or so. The shock of the new water would be more hazardous than the move.
There are exceptions to this with a few species of fish, but most are quite hardy. Dont forget the fish food !

Answer 6

Yes you can. I once made a long move and my fish made it. The big question is how and that all depends on the type of fish. Talk to the people at the pet shops and your vet before attempting moving them, but you should be able to get them there without them dying.

Answer 7

I assume you are driving? We used to move every year or two and always had at least a dozen tanks and a pond, we used to pack all the fish in large plastic garbage cans (50gal) and sometimes used the battery operated air stones. Do not move your tank with ANY water in it
Good Luck

Answer 8

It would be a lot of trouble for you and would be pretty hard on the fish. The good news is: There's no shortage of fish in Florida.

Answer 9

are you flying in a plane? becaus eif you are, it's far from beig possible, with it dying, maybe try to get a little fridge and put it in the plane's kitchen, and make shure it does not fall....there are 95% your fish might die. so... the best thing, if you want your fish to be happy and not die is to give it away, it will 100% happier than to go in a plain and take the risk to die!

Answer 10

when in the military i transported my fish all over the states to expensive to replace..use a large ice chest or 2..and if you stay over night plug in a air stone in your room ...the car moving with oxygenate the water while moving ..check it to make sure it not getting to hot....if so cool with a little ice...i was lucky as i didn't lose many fish...good luck..