whetto

Ok, i wasnt sure where to post this, so i chose a general category. Here in about a month i will be moving about 10 minutes down the highway into a house, and I am so far at a loss as to how to safely move my fish to the new locale. i have a twenty gallon with a rainbow shark, 5 tiger barbs, and 6 serpae tetras, and i also have a ten gallon with my beloved green spotted puffer, three otos, and various ghost shrimp. what would be the best way to move these two tanks, and at the same time, ensure that they fish make it through the trip and survive. At the very least, as horrible as it may sound, but if fish are to die during the move i especially want to make sure that my rainbow shark and my puffer make the trip, if not everyone else. any suggestions would be EXTREMELY helpful and MUCH appreciated.

JMatt1983

im in the same situation as you are, only im moving in about 2 weeks, and the same size tanks, your fish will the trip no problem, what you have to worry about is the filter, make you get back up and running as soon as possible, wait too long and the beneficial bacteria will die and you will be recylcing your tanks. what im planning on doing is moving the two tanks separately, that way i can keep one running at the old place while only worrying about getting one setup at the new place, but in both cases, empty almost all the water, leave just enough to cover the gravel, put the fish into a 5G bucket with a lid and get the filter over to the new place and running as quickly as possible doesn't matter if its in the tank or the bucket

COBettaCouple

Moving them at the same time, hmm.. you could:
1) double-bag your fish from 1 tank - leaving the bags open just a little bit for now but supported so they won't roll
2) empty that tank, putting the gravel and filter media in a bucket/cooler (something with a good lid) of tank water to stay wet for the duration.
3) double-bag your fish from the other tank - leaving the bags open just a little bit for now but supported so they won't roll
4) empty that tank, putting the gravel and filter media in another bucket/cooler (something with a good lid) of tank water to stay wet for the duration.
5) decide which tank to transport the fish in (using towels as cushioning)
6) put the buckets with the gravel & filter media in your vehicle along with the tank that you won't be putting the fish in.
7) seal up the bags and arrange them in the tank that you picked, cushioning them real good with lots of towels to hopefully keep them from moving around in the tank.
8) move
9) get the bags in and opened so new air can get into them, but find a place that you can safely leave them open like before you moved.
10) set up a tank, seal the bags for the fish in that tank and float them while setting up the 2nd.
11) release the 1st tanks fish when acclimated and float the fish the same way for the 2nd tank, then release them when acclimated.

hope it helps, kind of a spur-of-the-moment plan, but it should be the least risky to the fish and allow a 1-trip move.