Post pictures of your beloved catfish aquaria here. Also good for pictures of your (cat)fish rooms or equipment discussions. If you are posting pictures of identified catfish, please do so in the appropriate husbandry and reproduction forum above.
Hello.
I moved a few months ago, but the weather did not permit me to move my 75G aquarium. Now I'm about to bring my tank to its new home. The drive is a little over two hours. I plan to double bag all my "cats" and place them in styrofoam coolers. I'm gonna try to save most of the water in several large drinking water containers. Besides keeping the filters wet, what should I keep in mind? I've been told to remove all the gravel and make sure the tank is dry (that's gonna be fun cause I have a bunch of Kuhli loaches to catch). This is the biggest move I'd had to make so far... ANY info/shared moving experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Stephanie
try to remaove all the gravel by syphon, it can scratch the hell out of the glass attemting to remove it by hand. Big bags for the fish, and a good volume of air n each bag, although a two hour drive isn't too bad. Good luck.
Don't feed the fish for 36-48 hours before bagging them, and they should be good in the bags for a couple of days.(as far as not polluting their own water). Try to keep the styrofoams dark. When you get the tank set up again, let the water and gravel and filters run for awhile (at least hours) before dumping the fish in. And then leave them in the new tank for a day or so before feeding. The nitrogen cycle bacteria will have a taken a big hit under the best of circumstances and the worst thing for the fish is feeding too much too soon and creating an ammonia problem or even having a bacterial bloom ruin the water quality.
hi cfg
some friends of mine that bring back fish from differing locations around the world all say putting a drop of ammo-lock into each bag does help..they claim that since they started doing this the ammount of DOA's has diminished a lot.
I ‘Doc I can’t stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home’
“That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome.
‘Is it common?’
“It’s not unusual.”
I've used Amquel Plus to deal with situations in my hospital tank where the use of antibiotics damaged the biofilter, resulting in ammonia and nitrite spikes. It is touted to convert ammonia and nitrites to less toxic forms still usable by the nitrification bacteria, and from the water tests I did before and after (and the reaction of the fishies), I'd say it does what it says. Supposedly, it remains active in the water until it's needed, so one of the ways the product literature says it can be used is for shipping... I can't vouch for that use.
As for adding beneficials back in, the only product I've used that has worked worth a darn is Bio Spira. My experience has been that it works best if used once when the tank is set up and then again a week and a half or so later, when the nitrites have started to build.
Would it be out of the question/inappropriate to transport some/all of the fish in 5 gallon buckets? I ask because that would give you the opportunity to put an airstone in (run the air pump off a power inverter plugged into the 12V) and also some plants which might make the fish feel lessed stressed due to having some shelter. I've not done it this way, so this is just a thought... the buckets could also serve to help you with the transport of your tank water, too...
jen.nelson wrote: Would it be out of the question/inappropriate to transport some/all of the fish in 5 gallon buckets?
I am probably gonna use a couple large rubbermaid plastic totes for the more spastic fish and bag the smaller fish.
I plan on using portable airstones, like the ones people use in bait buckets. They are battery operated and uber convient for moving fish.
I have plants in that tank, so they will be evenly dispersed throughout the containers to give all the fish some down home comfort during the move.
Thanks for the info and the luck, I'll take all I can get.
