Moving fish - rubbermaid?

[pedzola]

When moving fish what do you all think of large rubbermade bins? I could fill 4 of these with maybe 15 gallons of water and that would be perfect for transporting all my fish and enough of my existing water for them to not be super-shocked at the new place.

Something like this: http://www.rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid/pr ... Prod150023

Are these ok? Is there anything in the plastic that would get into the water and harm the fish? Is there anything I'd need to do to them besides rinsing?

I'm thinking these would be great, but maybe I haven't considered all angles.

In Emma's writeup it says to bag fish individually, but that sounds like an awful lot of work... it would take forever just to bag them all. I would hate to have the first ones bagged sitting there waiting for an extra hour.

Big rubbermaid bins (or perhaps some kind of large buckets with covers) seem to me to be a very quick and painless solution to move a lot of fish and a lot of water.

[hemi]

i have moved large fish in 5 gallon buckets
were they were in the buckets for over 4 hours total
rubbermaids should be ok
i used them for temporary housen for fish

[WhtDragn101]

They work great, just make sure not to fill them too full because the movement of a vehicle makes water go all over (sure theres a lid, but sometimes they have a little hole drilled in the handles that it will spill out of), that and water is frickin heavy. Figure 15 gallons is gonna weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 150lbs. Yowza. As for preparation, give it a really, really good rinse and it should be fine.

[chefkeith]

It matters on the type of fish. If it was me and my clowns moving, I'd bag them and box them in a strong styrofoam container. I wouldn't chance losing them all if something stupid went wrong. I'd minimize every risk. I'd double bag my large clowns individually. I'd bag several small loaches together though. I'd seperate each species. I'd definately plan out every detail of the move. I wouldn't feed any fish for a few days before moving them.

[pedzola]

:\

hmmmmmm...

So where do I get these bags and styrofoam containers? Just ask at a fish shop? Knowing my local place they'd probably charge me $25 for each styofoam cooler....

[Rubix]

what if your only moving a mile or so. plus i dont have to move in a rush, i have a two month overlap on the current and new leases. i have a 30 and a 10 gallon, the 30 being my precious of course. i figure i set up the 10 at the new house and get it established, test out this whole procedure on the little tank. then if the procedure is a success go with it on the 30 or fix what needs fixing. the procedure would go as follows... move the fish and most of the water from the tank in a rubbermaid bin(s) like above, and the tank itself. the whole ordeal wouldnt take longer than 20-30 minutes, with a 2-3 minute drive time. i am thinking i may have to put the fish in the 10 gallon while the 30 settles... or just leave them in the tub for a night, with air, filtration, heat (wont be necessary but will be available).
thoughts, comments?
-sorry i dont mean to steal the topic

[chefkeith]

Try the LFS for the bags.
Many ways to improvise.
Styrofoam sheets you can get at Home Depot and cut them to size to fit any box or container. Or just use an old box with foam inserts or packing peanuts. Or just use a beer cooler.

[chefkeith]

Be sure to acclimate the fish slowly to the new water source.

[Mark in Vancouver]

Fish bags allow you to ease the temperature up and down, which reduces one aspect of risk to their health in a move. I think it is worth catching and bagging your fish, and then putting the bags in a temperature controlled setting like a warmed "cooler" box.

[Total Package]

I put mine in a 5 gal bucket with a lid (holes in it) and filled it 2/3 full or so. If you have a plant, putting it in seemed to help calm them down.

Then when you get there, i just removed some of the water from the bucket and slowly added new location water to it over the course of an hour.

My largest fish was 3 inches, for comparison. You may need something bigger, but 5 gal buckets aren't too hard to move. 50 lbs is managable, which is the nice part. With large surface area containers, you've got a lot of room for the water to get moving and splash around.

I've done this twice. Once was an 8 hour drive, the other was 45 minutes and haven't lost a fish.

[Icewall42]

Um... how far are you moving?? That will really dictate what you should do. For a 2-3 minute drive, yeah, put the fish in 5 gallon buckets with their water and plants. The water will hold warmth long enough for you to get to the palce. Trust me, I've moved my fish between 2-3 houses in the same city, and across the country in carry-on baggage, and I have a couple big 8-10" fish.

(My mass death problems are only happening now that I'm in the city... god knows what's wrong... but moving never really hurt them if I did it right).

If it's a longer drive, say an hour or two, I'd probably bag all the fish. But for the short drive, buckets of plastic containers like the Rubbermaid should be fine as long as you rinse them first and avoid making them too heavy.

[hemi]

with a short move like that you could do it all in 1 day
bucket up the fish
lower the tank water to about enuff to keep the gravel covered
also use another bucket to hold your filter media
toss all this into your vechical
and drive
when you get to the new place
set up your tank filters and what not
add the water from the bucket with the filter media into the tanks
and start running your filters
then add your fish and there water up to about 3 iches from the top
then add some new water
and your done

ive done/seen worse
and your tanks will be fine
trying to recycle your tanks will be a waste of time
and prolly do more damge to your fish

[Martin Thoene]

Rubix, in your case you have the ideal situation. It's almost identical to my last move.
With a 10 gallon or even a 30 you can drain down the water and save half of it in containers (including fish bags), catch out the fish, drain the rest of the water, then just pick up the tanks as-is......ok, you need 2 strong people.

Transport on a flat, well-supported base in the vehicle, carry to new place, set up and add all the saved water, add fish, then top up with dechlorinated fresh water.

It's like doing a 50% water-change as all the bacteria in the substrate remains intact. Transport the filters emptied, but wet and get running again as soon as you get the water-level up.

About the only decor you might want to remove for transport is any heavy rocks. Anything over a 30 gallon though is too big to move easily with decor in. That demands a strip down.

Martin.

[pedzola]

~30 minute drive from old place to new.

75g tank + 20g planted.

75g definitely will need to be emptied - some rather large driftwood etc in there.

I have 2 eheim 2028 filters - can I just disconnect and transport as-is? (w/the valves closed water shouldn't escape from these!) Or do I need to dump the filter media into a bucket so there is more "water movement" during the trip? I don't think they'll have to be un-running for more than about an hour. (I hope).


One thing that I've got going for me is that the move is going to take place in the middle of May. If I'm lucky, the temperature outside will be around 80, and I shouldn't need to worry too much about protecting the fish from the outside cold/hot air.

Of course this is New England, so the actual temp could be anywhere from 50 to 110. hahaha

We can hope for the best...


Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions.

[Tinman]

I purchased 4 new trash cans with lids when I moved that were made by rubbermaid. With 25 gallons in each or so the water held temp for my move which took just over an hour. Time it so the Sun doesn't heat your water.I moved the fish in the can too as they seemed less stressed in the dark. You should move all the water you can when you move your tank and do a minimum water change at your new house as the water may be slightly different