Moving... need to find new home for my fish...

[sasegurson]

Hi,

I'm moving from Sacramento, California to Boston and can't figure out a way to bring my fish with me. (i'm flying, not driving across country- but even driving would be difficult)

Is there a way I can ship my fish to me at my new home? If this is a significant risk to my loaches, I would rather find them a new home, which leads to my question.

I have 3 yoyo loaches, 4 burmese boarder loaches, and 2 misc loaches (bought them as yoyos, but they're not, they both have solid stripes). And 5 serpae tetra. Is there a way I can find a good home for them? Can I give them back to the fish store where I bought them? I'd rather find a home for them, because i'd like to reduce the stress that TWO environment changes would bring...

Thanks!
Sheila

[plaalye]

Fish are shipped all the time so it would be possible to ship them to yourself if you could work out having a tank ready and cycled for them when they get there. I haven't shipped fish myself so hopefully someone with that experience will chime in.
As for finding them a new home I would try to contact the local Aquarium society in Sac., post on your local craigslist and other fish forums and hopefully you will find someone who knows how and is willing to care for them. Might even get lucky here with someone from your area? Good luck!

[mistergreen]

you need breather bags
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... n+breather

and pump it with O2 before tying it off.

and cold packs for summer shipment.

[Mike Ophir]

another bostonian, welcome!

[sasegurson]

thanks for the replies! And thanks for the welcome to Boston!


I prefer to keep them as i really like my fish, if shipping isn't a significant risk and isn't outrageously expensive. i thought i read that shipping them was risky?

thanks for the info re: the bags. is there a general rule of thumb in terms of inches of fish per bag? and any particular company to use for shipment..

This is my first fish tank, and have a question about cycling, and what is the best thing to do, if i can ship them...

My things (and aquarium) are being picked up July 3rd. I move to Boston on July 23. I can probably temporarily keep the fish in a smaller tank whlile my 55 gal tank s being shipped

Will the new setup cycle faster if i bring my filter (rena flistar) as a carry-on and keep it moistened with tank water? Flight is 6 hours. or should i ship the filter when i ship the aquarium? Does anyone know if you can bring a canister filter on a plane as a carry on?

Thanks!

Sheila

[Diana]

Local fish clubs are very active. There is a Sacramento fish club (sorry, I do not have a link) and www.SFBAAPS.org in the San Francisco Bay Area. Many people are members of both.

If you want to ship the fish to yourself, perhaps a Loach member in the Boston area could take the shipment and have a tank ready for them, and babysit them until you get settled. Big order, of course. You might find out if a store in the area has any sort of service like this, too.

Alternatively, perhaps a store or a friend at this end would baby sit the fish for you and ship them when you are ready for them.

[mistergreen]

boston is fun.
I used to live there for 3 months as an intern.

you can ship the canister with the tank but keep the filter media with you and the fish. Then ship the fish & the media a day before you fly to boston. You guys should get there about the same time.. The less cr@p you have to bring with you on the plane, the better.

You can ship with anybody, FedEx, UPS, USPS.. You can overnight if you can afford it or 2 days ship is fine too.. Just box those guys up with the cold packs and insulation.. The route will be hot with the heat wave in Cali and all.
And maybe 2-3 fish per bag. All the tetras can go in one bag.

Check the local fish clubs or a local fish store for supplies.. They'll even have O2 for you to pump into the bags.

[grizzlyone]

You can also get those O2 tabs to put in the bags too as an extra precaution.

Kevin

[Batch]

You can also get those O2 tabs to put in the bags too as an extra precaution.

Kevin

O2 tabs? What are theses?

Batch

[YoyoGirl]

If you're not going too far, driving the fish over is really not as terrible as you would expect. I moved recently and just used 4 gallon buckets to move all my fish. Secure lids and Glad Press and Seal Wrap kept the car from getting wet at all. We put the buckets on the floor between the back seat and the front seats, one with all the fish in it the other with water and filter media. We used a battery powered air stone in the fish bucket. (You can get them in fishing and tackle shops, they use them for bait).

I had some little 10G that I put the fish in as soon as we got where we were going and got the filters set up on and they lived there for about a week while we were situating the larger tanks. I floated the plants in these and put all the decor in them as well to keep it wet and keep the benificials from dying out.

We didn't lose any fish or even any plants in the move at all.

[grizzlyone]

I stole these from the net:

A) Packing fish
- use double bags in case the inner one leaks
- tie off the pointed ends with rubber bands or taped back to create round corners (small fish may get into corners & become crushed or suffocated)
- bag width should be at least twice fish length
- Bag should be at least 3 times as deep as wide, for adequate air space
- adults of territorial species & fish larger than 6 cm should be packed separately
- plastic jars can be used instead of bags, easier to open en-route to allow fresh air in
- if using water from the existing tank, check ammonia & nitrite levels are zero & nitrates as low as possible
- if existing tank water quality not that ideal, use about 2/3 tank water & 1/3 new water in the packing containers
- suggest to put a bit of zeolite in packing containers to remove ammonia excreted by fish in transit
- put enough water in the containers, about 3 times fish body depth and add some stress coat conditioner
- aerate the water in the containers vigorously for several minutes before adding fish and use as deep a bag as possible. If possible, get the local shop or someone with an oxygen tank to fill the containers with oxygen. You can also use your airpump to inflate the bags, better than nothing. Never inflate by blowing into the bag, your air is 'used' air that already has oxygen removed by your lungs.
- seal the bags tightly while trapping as much air as possible
- place the bags in a dark & opaque insulated container, pack empty spaces with newspapers or bags filled with air to serve as padding to prevent the fish bags from sliding around

B) During the journey
- get to the destination as fast as possible. It is the time taken, not the distance, that is important in transporting fish
- don't be tempted to keep peeking at the fish. It'll stress them more to have light repeatedly flashing into their eyes
- only open the containers if you think they need fresh air, jars are more ideal than bags for this purpose

C) Finally there
- Get them unpacked as soon as possible, but keep them in the transport containers in a darkened area to let them calm down (just a very quick visual check that they're still ok)
- once in the new tank, keep the tank lights off and don't feed immediately. The fishes will take a few days or at least a day to recover from the stress of travelling.



Actually I'm backing off on the Oxygen tabs...looks like those are more short term and can release other nasties in the water like hydrogen Peroxide.

This might me of interest though:

Bag Prep from Aquascape

http://www.inyopools.com/Products/12601 ... 003=905978

It's $12.99 for 400 tablets.

It has a mild tranqulizer and oxygenates the water.

Reduces fish stress by promoting their slime coat. They also neutralize heavy metals and add benefi cial electrolytes. Bag Prep™ is excellent for transporting fish because they release oxygen into the water and contain a mild sedative. 400 tablets.


Either way I'd put some Prime in at the very least. The zeolite seems like a good idea too....

Cheers,

Kevin