Moving!

[Jess Puff]

Hey everyone, I am about to relocate to Paducah, Kentucky. Guess what this means... I have to move all of my crap.

Here is the situation:
37 gallon with about 10 Mbuna cichlids and a crib full of fry
29 gallon with 4 Kribensis and 5 tetras
29 gallon with a male and a female peacock and plecostamus
75 gallon with 8 peacocks/haps and 1 catfish
75 gallon empty
10 gallon empty
I am about to acquire 2 more 10 gallon tanks

The move is going to be about a 2 hour drive and I'm not really sure how to go about moving all fish so that they all live. Does anyone have any suggestions? I know I need to keep at least 50% of the water and keep the fish in buckets with air. I will also keep the filter media in tank water. I have no idea how the logistics of the move will work. If you have experience, please share! Thanks!

[allierw]

You don't need to keep water, IMO. You can just use fresh treated water.

This is what we did when we moved. We used the 10g rubbermaid containers with a lid (they take up less real estate than buckets and can stack). I divided the Mbuna up according to aggression and didn't put harem groups together. Large fish I put about 3-5 in a tub, smaller up to 10. Don't feed them for about 3 days beforehand. I would fill the tubs/containers with fresh water, so you don't get a nitrate spike during transport. Old water doesn't give you any bacteria or anything useful. Definitely keep all the filter media wet.

At least all of your tanks are relatively small. It shouldn't be too bad. Good luck with your move!

[Jess Puff]

Thanks for all your help! That seems a lot better than what I was thinking.

[rickl]

Is there any chance of setting up some of those empty tanks on the far end before you move the fish? You obviously don't have enough empty tanks to immediately rehome all the fish, but it might be just a little less stress.

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)

[b0caj1985]

i moved mine in a tote i with some air and i moved 16 hours away im about to go back in Dec

[mruble]

I will lend you some fish buckets - 5-gal w/screw on lids, battery operated air pumps, cycled sponge filters in the buckets.

[Jess Puff]

That would be great Mark! We don't have a hard moving date yet but I'll let you know. Thanks everyone!

[ree123]

I have not moved in close to 20 years now, but way back when I moved several times.
I always put fish into 5 gallon buckets, 1/2 filled. I put fish in sparingly. There were lots of buckets, and when I had to many I made more than one trip.
The tanks were all siphoned down to the gravel level, then picked up by 2 or more people, and moved on a flat truck bed surface to their new homes.
Everything was removed from the tanks but gravel, and with any tank bigger than a 55 I even removed part of the gravel.
All filters were kept moist in plastic bags to preserve some of the bacterias.
All inanimate objects just boxed up.
Fish, and the water they were in, was added back to new set up location with tanks filled 1/2 way with new water. Then over a couple days tanks were brought back to full level.
Store bought bottled water conditioners can be added also. ie: cycle, etc...

[davidtcb1]

Not an easy task either way you do it, but these are all good suggestions. Main thing is keeping the fish oxygenated, and keeping the filter media wet so you can use that to seed the new water. Existing gravel will also help with this. I wouldn't worry about taking too much of the old water, but you could probably use the water the fish travel in mixed with the new water as well.

[ree123]

Something else I should have mentioned....
If you need more buckets, they can sometimes be gotten, for free, from the bakery @ local grocery stores. Cake icing comes in 5 gallon buckets @ these retail stores, and they can be washed out and used without concern of anything having been in them that could hurt your inhabitants. Just food for thought when you begin preparations. You may have to ask more than one store, since some will part with them and some won't. Ask for the lids too.

[allierw]

If you have a local Firehouse subs, they will give you a 5g pickle bucket w/lid for a $1 donation to their Firehouse charity.

What I like about the rubbermaid tubs, though, is that once you use them, you can dry them out and store anything you want in them. Only so much you can do with buckets.

[ree123]

True about the rubbermaid tubs.
On this same subject, I have numerous glass 1 gallon pickle jars I use to hatch out Angel and sometimes other fish fry.
Wide mouth so easy to use and clean, free from many resturants or stores or even concession stands, and glass, so inert.

[Jess Puff]

Thank you to everyone!!! I'm so dreading it but it has to be done eventually.

[bnoel210]

I told if i can i am more then willing to help

[Jess Puff]

Thanks Bryan! I'll let you know when we get an actual move date.