Fishkeeping - Moving Advice

Tynk seems to have pretty well covered it. More information *would* be
helpful.

I just want to reassure you that this can be done. Five years ago, when we
finally bought a house, we moved two very heavily planted aquariums ( 45
gallon tall and 46 gallon bowfront). We only moved five miles though, so
our method might not work so well, or even at all, if you're moving farther.

We used the same method Tynk recommends for the heaters and the fish, except
for a few kuhli loaches which we couldn't catch, so they stayed in the tanks
with the plants. Since our trip was so short, we merely drained most of the
water out of the filters and left them otherwise assembled.

If you have just gravel for a substrate, Tynk's advice is probably your best
bet. We had (and still have) clay cat litter covered with sand, which would
have created a nightmare if we had attempted to remove the plants. So we
left all the plants in there and taped plastic sheeting over the aquariums
to keep the parts of the plants that stuck up above the water moist.

I should add that we had only one anubias, which was pretty short at the
time.. All of our other plants (cryptocorynes, crinum, Amazon sword, some
kind of lillie) bent down almost to very low water level during the trip. I
don't know if your anubias would do that, so they might have more of a
problem staying moist.

We set the aquariums back up immediately and the plants survived quite well,
as did those uncatchable kuhlis.

You've probably figured out that a 45 gallon aquarium with any kind of
substrate and even just a few inches of water will be quite heavy, so be
sure to have sufficient muscle to move it safely.

Timing is essential too, as Tynk mentioned.

Good luck.

"Tynk" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Aug 28, 3:29?pm, Steve Giannoni wrote:
In a few months, we will be renovating our house, and will move
temporarily into an apartment for 2 or 3 months, while the work is
being done. We have a 45 gallon tall tank with about 30 of typical
fresh water tropical favorites, with a flourishing annubius on each
side of the tank. We need any and all good advice on moving our
aquatic charges, all in the realm of practicality and feasibility,
etc. Thanks in advance for good advice, etc.

How far away will you be moving to temporaraily?
If it's not too far, you'll be able to move the tank without losing
too many nitrifying bacteria.
You'll need gallon Ziplock type bags (freezer ones are quite strong).
Bag all live plants in the gallon bags and add enough tank water to
cover their roots.
Rinse out the filter media in old tank water and put it into a baggie.
Leave it wet though.
Rinse out other parts of the filter and tank decor.
Un plug any heaters and let them cool down before removing them or
draining the tank.
Fish can go into a 5g bucket (or 2 depending on what you have) while
you do all this.
I wouldn't bag them until the last minute.
An air stone can be running in the bucket if it's going to be a while.
Drain the tank as much as you can, and do vacuum the gravel while
doing it.
Leave enough water to keep the gravel wet.
Pack it all up, and bag the fish last in gallon Ziplock type bags. I
like to double them for large fish or fish that have spines.
Don't put too many fish in each bag, and be wise about which types you
put in too.
Go to the new place.
Set the tank up where it's going to be.
Fill the tank with tap water of the proper temp, and use a dechlor
that also removes chloramines (just in case).
Add heaters but do not turn on until they have adjusted to the water
temp.
Add plants, decor, set up filter and get it going as soon as possible.
You should actually get the filter going after refilling the tank.
As long as the ride wasn't too long, and you don't wait in between
draining and refilling it, you shouldn't lose too many nitrifying
bacteria. They're sticky and adhere to every surface in the tank, as
well as the gravel and filter media.
They don't float about in the water, so there's no need to save old
tank water.
If there were a drastic difference in water chemistry in the
temporary place, then yes...old tank water needs to be used to refill
the tank half way.
That and having delicate fry would be the only reasons for saving any
of the old water.
Float bags of fish in the tank. Every 5 minutes add some new tank
water to the bag.
If you have to, remove some of the bag's water to make room and
discard.
Do this for about 20 minutes if it's the same type of tap water
they're used to, or an hour if they need to be slowly acclimated to
it.
Discard bag water.
Turn on heaters if you have them, and regulate the temp slowly if any
changes are needed.
When you need to bring the tank back home, just repeat. = )
It would also help to know what types of fish you do you have and how
many of each.