How do I move my fish and aquarium from San Diego, CA to Northern CO?

Question

We have a 30-gallon tank with freshwater tropical fish such as guramis, tetras, a plecostomus and glassfish. They are all pretty established and I am thinking of emptying the tank half way, getting oxygen tablets (if there is such a thing) and wrapping the tank in saran wrap and poking holes in it so the fish can live but the water won't slosh about. My concern is the length of the trip and the water temperature. It is nearly 1,700 miles we are driving. Has anyone else done anything similar? Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you in advance for your help!

By the way, we are using a truck. Penske.

Answer 1

I moved from Florida to Ohio only about half that distance. I had Convicts and a Jack Dempsey at that time. I used 50% of the old water from the tank and 50% treated tap water. I put the water in about a 20 gallon plastic contatiner with about 10 gallons of water and a lid. I put nothing but the fish in the container. I shipped the tank in the back of the U-Haul truck with about an inch of water in the bottom to try and keep the bacteria alive and the fish in the front with me to help regulate the water temp. All of my fish survived and lived several years afterwards. It was about a 24 hr. trip. Your fish are of a smaller variety so they shouldn't use that much oxygen up. 10 gallons of water is a bit heavy but it can be moved by one person. Only fill the plastic contatiner up about half way to prevent water from splashing out. Believe it or not I used a bathroom trash can with a lid. Good Luck......

Answer 2

Keep your substrate and your filter media slightly damp, have your local pet store bag your fish in oxygen (and the water from your own tank) for you a put the bags in a Styrofoam container for the trip. Don't feed your fish for two days prior to the trip as the fish waste in the bag will make the water toxic in no time and that is more likely to kill your fish then water temp. Refill your tank with bottled spring water when you get there and add salt for freshwater fish and the fish. Your tank will take time to re-grow the beneficial bacteria so be prepared to do quiet a few water changes in the next few weeks.
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Answer 3

The other persons suggestion is a good one. You would have to make the drive in 24 hours anything longer and chances of survival go down substantially. What I would do is try to sell them on Craigslist or back to a pet shop before I leave. I would guess that for every successful fish moving story there are 10 bad stories when long distances are involved.

Answer 4

Here is my suggestion:
1. Here's what you'll need: a container, some trash bags, and some rubber bands. Here are more details.
(1) The container. It should be the right size. Not too small, or it will cramp the fish and not contain enough air. Not too big, or you may not have enough water to cover the fish. It's best, if the container is insulated. You might be able to get a box with a Styrofoam liner from your local fish store. Actually an insulated plastic picnic cooler, like the ones used by people to keep food cool, is ideal.

(2) Some plastic trash bags. Get several bags. Make sure they are big enough to fill the container, when you inflate them. Thirty-five gallon black trash bags will usually work. The translucent trash bags are better because they allow you to see a little bit about what is going on inside the bag. Of course, these trash bags should be new and not used trash bags with a lot of old coffee grounds inside that will pollute the shipping water.

(3) Some 1/4" thick rubber bands. You'll need these rubber bands to seal the bags.



2. Change 20% of the water in your aquarium each day for several days before you move. Click here for more about changing water. You can clean your fish's home too. Click here for more about cleaning. But don't do too much at one time. Click here for more about that. Be patient and do a little bit each day for several days before you move your fish.


3. Don't feed your fish anything for the last 48 hours, before you put them in the shipping container. Make sure there is no left over food of any kind in their home. We want their stomachs empty, when they go into the bag.

Do not feed your fish, while they are traveling. We want the water to stay as clean as possible.



4. Put one of the plastic bags inside the container. Then put another bag inside the first, so you have a double bag. that way if the first bag leaks, the second will hold the water. You might want to add a third bag inside the other two.


Get a ruler or tape measure and measure the distance inside the container from the bottom of the container to the top. Lets say it's 12 inches. You want to fill the container with 1/4 to 1/3 water leaving 3/4 to 2/3 for air. So if you measured 12" then you'd fill it with 3 or 4 inches of water and leave 8 or 9 inches for air.

Get a clean pan, cup, or ladle and scoop water off the surface of your fish's home and pour it into the plastic bags inside the container. Be careful not to scoop water off the bottom that may be contaminated with waste from the gravel. Do not use tap water from the faucet. Use good clear water from the surface.

Move the fish from their home into the container. Large or aggressive fish should be packed one fish to a container. Don't crowd the fish. Less crowding will mean more surviving.

Set the container with the plastic bags, water, and fish on a table. Bunch the top edges of the bags. Try to get all of the air out from between the bags. It's good if there is air inside the inner-most bag, but try not to trap air between the layers of bags. Squeeze the top edges of the bags together in your hands. Now lessen the pressure and maybe gently poke a finger in the opening so it's about 1" in diameter.
Keep your mouth about 12 inches from this opening and blow air into the bag. Don't put your mouth right on the opening, because the air from your lungs contains excess carbon dioxide. You should be blowing the air between your mouth and the opening into the inner most bag.

Fill the bag with air and then twist the top and fold it over. Put at least two rubber bands tightly around the top, making several loops to tightly seal the bags. Make sure the sealed bag will fit into the container, so you can close the container. Also make sure the bags fill most of the space inside the container.


Close the container. It is best if there is no light inside the container during the trip. The fish will be less active in the dark.

It is very difficult to say how long the fish can survive in this container. Using similar methods we have had fish survive for 48 hours. You should try to minimize the time the fish are in the container. Under no circumstances should you feed the fish in the container. Wait until they are released into their new home after the move before feeding them.

Be sure to keep the container warm but not hot during the trip. About 72 to 75 degrees F. would be ideal for most tropical fish during the trip. Cool water fish like goldfish might do better between 65 and 70 degrees F.
Cooler water will slow the fish's metabolism, so the fish will produce less waste and keep the water cleaner. But of course the water cannot be too cool or that will harm the fish.



5. If possible you should take 80% of the water from your fish's home with you when you move. Discard the last few inches of water in the bottom.
Of course this would not be practical with a 1500 gallon pond! But you could do it with a 40 gallon aquarium. You'd need to take 32 gallons of the water with you, which would require several containers. Some of the containers will have water with fish, and some containers might have water without fish.

After your move, set the aquarium back up. don't open the containers with the fish. But open the containers that have the extra water without any fish. Pour that water back into the aquarium, and let the aquarium's filter run for a couple of hours. Open the containers with fish. Pour the water and the fish into the aquarium, and top the aquarium up with at most 20% fresh tap water.
Also check out www.aquariumfish.net for more ways that people have moved their fish. Good Luck and happy moving!

Answer 5

Very carefully!

Answer 6

Fed-Ex.

Answer 7

why don't you try using a truck????i have no other suggestion