moving fish?

[mykaylis]

the good news is, i just bought my first beautiful house!

the bad news is, i have to move a 20 gallon tank in the middle of a frigid canadian winter

it's a half hour drive away from where i am now, but does anyone have any tips on moving fish? i'm conerned about:
-the cold (my city is famous for its cold winters)
-retaining as much of the biological filter as possible
-physically moving the fish with the least stress necessary. i don't want them to get jostled around too much!

the tank has a total of 7 fish (guppies and platies), and one guppy is obviously pregnant. hopefully she will give birth a couple weeks before the move, i don't want her to get stressed out and drop premature fry.

anyway if anyone can give me a few pointers i would appreciate it.

 

[NTidd]

I don't know, but I could use some help to as I will be moving soon. I have a 38g tho.

 

[colesea]

Get the big rubbermaid tubs. They're usually pretty tough and great for holding water. Warm the car up first, place fish and as much tank water as necessary for transport into the tub. Snap the lid closed (leaving air in the tub). And place in car and drive to your next location.

Moving as quickly as possible is what is most important, so outlining a battle plan before the move is best. In order to keep as much biofiltration as possible, keep your gravel and filter media damp. I like transporting these in zip-lock bags. Again, pretty water tight.

The tank should be broken down at the last possible minute, and should be the first to go up.
~~Colesea

 

[sinasster]

yes the rubbermaid tubs are great, but you should double bag them with trash bags, dont get them too big cause the water is heavy. After you have the tub bagged and filled with water you can put the fish in, then add some stress coat and tie the inner bag like the pet stores do, and you will be good to go!

since its only a 20 gallon you can leave the decorations and enough water to keep everything wet.

remember to bring as close to 75% of the water, or in your case 15 gallons, as possible.

I just recently moved a 30 gallon tank that i bought off ebay 150 miles using those common 5 gallon buckets with lids. using this method everything went smooth!

 

[sinasster]

yes the rubbermaid tubs are great, but you should double bag them with trash bags, dont get them too big cause the water is heavy. After you have the tub bagged and filled with water you can put the fish in, then add some stress coat and tie the inner bag like the pet stores do, and you will be good to go!

since its only a 20 gallon you can leave the decorations and enough water to keep everything wet.

remember to bring as close to 75% of the water, or in your case 15 gallons, as possible.

I just recently moved a 30 gallon tank that i bought off ebay 150 miles using those common 5 gallon buckets with lids. using this method everything went smooth!