# transporting fish



## Goz99 (Oct 14, 2007)

I am moving at the end of the month and what is the best way to move my fish i was reading on some forums and they said to bag each fish and put the water in a cooler. I have a 55 gallon with 14 fish i dont really want to bag them all could i get 2 coolers like these (http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/produ ... earch=true)

put half of my tank water with sand in it and the other one with my fish in it??? or do u think this is a bad idea?


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

juss get some 5 gallon buckets with lids....it should work great for ya especially if theyre a little bigger...i find the buckets to be a little less stressfull than the bags


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## Goz99 (Oct 14, 2007)

how much of the tank water should i keep???


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

i would just get new water for the buckets heat it in a tank and have all declorinated and ready...wen u put the fish in the buckets theres no bacteria so any waste can escalate pretty quick (so u also wouldnt want to feed id say at least a day before you make the trip) ...but jusst heat up some fresh water in a spare tank that way its fresh and clean for the ride


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## Goz99 (Oct 14, 2007)

its a 10 min drive from the one place to the other so could i just do a 50% water change (night before the move) and use the tank water?


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

ya that sounds great...id go with that and u should be gravy :thumb:


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## Goz99 (Oct 14, 2007)

thanx i will keep ya posted on how it goes :thumb:


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

sounds good


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

You didn't ask about transporting the filters, but they are alive too with a biologically active bacteria culture that protects your fish from ammonia poisoning. These bacteria need oxygen more than water, so transport them drained of water but protected from drying out completely. They just need a little moisture. Don't clean them or much anything else in the tank. Once the tank is back up running, let it settle in for a day or longer before cleaning up dirt and mess, and only clean up half of a tank or filter at one time.

Here is a possibility. If you can get another tank, setting it up beforehand and seeding it with used filter media from your tank would be helpful. That way you don't have to transport both fish and equipment at the same time. Of course if you don't want to end up with two tanks, or if you can't set up the new tank in advance of your move, it won't work.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

good point...and not only the filters but ure substrate and decorations as well :thumb:


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## dartman (Apr 17, 2003)

I have moved several times. Every time I use 2 round blue tubs that I bought at WalMart. They have rope handles and hold more water that you can lift. I just lined them with a black garbage bag, put about 10 gallons of water from the tank, and put in the fish.

Never had any problems.


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## Goz99 (Oct 14, 2007)

i have a rena xp2 should i just leave the water i got in there??? or drain that too? i also have a ac 70 that i know i have to drain. i am going to try the walmart bins to transport them that sounds pretty easy. I hope lol


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

Goz99 said:


> i have a rena xp2 should i just leave the water i got in there??? or drain that too? i also have a ac 70 that i know i have to drain. i am going to try the walmart bins to transport them that sounds pretty easy. I hope lol


 You can leave water in the Rena if you are sure you are not going to spill it. Without counting the bin, ten gallons of water equals eighty+ pounds. You might need one of those flat dollies to move the WalMart bins.


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## JALOOS (Sep 6, 2008)

Instead of using bin which present a problem with carrying I would sooner go for twice as many 5 gallon buckets just for the sake of moving easier. Your 55 gallon tank I would say is more than likely only holding 50 gallons with substrate and decorations. Thata at best 12 buckets to move, do a 30% water change anyway and your down to 8, to me its worth the hassle to move that many buckets and you can move the fish in the buckets. Problem solved.

:thumb:


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## Goz99 (Oct 14, 2007)

kewl ya i am going to pick up 8 5 gallon buckets, should i just split the fish in the buckets or put them all in one, or what is the max i can put in a bucket just to make sure i dont kill them


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

I can find buckets with lids at a donut shop for less than Lowes or Home Depot. Where ever you get them don't expect a five gallon bucket to actually hold five gallons of water. Most lids are not 100% water-tight except the screw-on type so even if five gallons were possible, you want a few inches of air to reduce the drips and if there are fish in the bucket, to give them a little oxygen even on a short trip. BTW Most cichlids can handle a 50% water change or more if the biofilter is active and a chlorine/chloramine neutralizer has been used. When raising Tropheus, I drain their tank empty, catch out the females and any fry in the tank, setting them in buckets. Then I start refilling the tank, pop the eggs and the fry from any carrying females, and then put them back in the tank as it refills. You will see a lot of spawning while the tank fills. then four or five weeks later, you do it all over again.


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## padlock 08 (Jul 31, 2008)

just put the filter media in 1 of the buckets of their own as if you are only going to have the filters off for 10-15 minutes they should fine as bacteria only start to suffer after 30 minutes


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## Goz99 (Oct 14, 2007)

ok thanx for the info, it should be only 20 min max for the trip, 2 days and counting now before the move. lol hope it goes well. should i feed my fish tomorrow or no?


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## Nathan43 (Jul 9, 2007)

It's ten minutes, a 5 gallon bucket with tank water will be more then fine. Geesh, I transported 2 12" red texas each in their own 4 gallon bucket for 2-1/2 hours and they were just fine. And most filter bacteria should be okay for about 1/2 hour - 1 hour but as most people said, its better to at least have it sit in or submerged in tank water until they are to be used again.


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## Goz99 (Oct 14, 2007)

everything went well, thanx for all the info!!!!


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## edouthirt (Jan 22, 2008)

> just put the filter media in 1 of the buckets of their own as if you are only going to have the filters off for 10-15 minutes they should fine as bacteria only start to suffer after 30 minutes





> And most filter bacteria should be okay for about 1/2 hour - 1 hour but as most people said, its better to at least have it sit in or submerged in tank water until they are to be used again.


I don't mean to hijack the thread, but where did you all learn that bacteria starts to die 30 mins after filters are shut off? I've always heard that they can easily go 24 hours without any bioload and not starve... or is this simply a matter of oxygen? Do they start to die from oxygen starvation in 30 mins? Either way... where did you get this information? I'm curious.


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## Goz99 (Oct 14, 2007)

i had mine out for about a hr and everything was fine but i kept the filters wet


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