I plan on moving soon to another state but have some cichlids.It is a 14 hour drive.?

Question

Can i take the fish without them dying? How? If not what should i do with them.

Answer 1

You can move them with some care and preparation. You will need a polystyrene box with a lid, plastic bags (thich plastic suitable for fish), elastic bands, bubble wrap, and a small heat pad.
The day before you move do not feed the fish, this reduces the waste they will excrete whilst moving them. The day of the move put them in the bags (3 or 4 per bag), inflate the bag by blowing it and then twist and tie. Secure with a tightly wrapped elastic band around the top. Place in the box and pad with bubble wrap. Once all the fish are in the box, use bags of water and bubble wrap to fill any space left so they fish will not move around. Warm the heat pad and tape to the top of the box before you close it. Seal the box with plenty of tape.
As soon as possible get the fish back into a tank. Take the tank, filter gravel etc (dont wash them!) and as much water as you can from the tank (put it in well washed out soda bottles). They should be fine. Oh dont forget to make sure the tank water is back up to teh correct temperature before putting the fish back in.

Answer 2

We moved from Colorado to New York. It is risky depending on the health and size of the fish, but... You can go to an aquatic store, maybe even PetSmart, someone who buys fish. Ask them for any styrofoam containers, they should be pretty big. Most of the stores will give them to you for free. Or better yet get the plastic bins from Wal-Mart. Now, cichlids can go up to 3 days without food, so that is not a worry. They won't want to eat anyway. But, the water needs to be kept warm because if it drops in temp then you have to worry about 'Ich' and other problems. Here is what we did... We got an adapter for the car lighter that would allow you to plug in a normal plug on the other end and we plugged the air bubbles into that, rotating between containers every 20 min or so. We kept the heat on in the car the whole time to insure they stayed warm and rotated out the small heater thats for a ten gallon. (The large heaters are too big for the bins) (The heaters have to be secure, they can't touch the sides of the bins)We used the styrofoam containers for the lil guys and we went to Wal-Mart and bought the plastic bins for the big fellas. You can drill a hole in the top or side to string your air hose through (Which I suggest because your vehicles carpets are going to be wet when this is over, lol) This minimizes the water splash out of the container. Sadly, you can only put so many fish in one container. We had one Oscar that HAD to be alone, yet the other two were fine together. We had two Red Devils that were ok together. All plecos need to be away from the regular fish because believe it or not, they are aggresive if they want to be.
You really may loose some though, so be prepared. If they are fully grown, they will be hard to transport. Just make sure they stay warm and have plenty of air. Oh, and for water, use the water from their tank to fill the bins so their nitrites and all that don't change. New water can hurt them as well. Water changes in their own tank are stressful, but a water change and then a stressful trip... yikes.
If you have to give them up, most reputible shops will take them and care for them until they sell. If you give them to someone else, make sure the person has raised them before so they know what they are getting into and don't end up getting rid of the fish later on. Try to keep mates or 'friends' together, that will help their survival in a new tank.
I hope this helps... Good Luck

Answer 3

you can buy a small battery operated pump for live wells to keep the bait alive. wally word had them when i got mine and they were about 7 bucks. takes 1 d cell batteryand lasts for about 4 hrs. a hose comes out the top and has an airstone at the bottom