moving....

[TheFishman]

hello all i will be moving soon and was wondering what is the best way to transport my discus.its about an 8hr drive,, so i figure that i will be about 10hrs of transportation/setup time. any helpful tips/hints/suggestions so that my fish will survive the move?

thanks in advance...
paul

[Merrilyn]

Paul, the safest way to transport your discus is to bag each fish in a separate bag, with just enough water so the fish can swim upright, fill the top of the bag with pure oxygen, and tie off carefully with a strong elastic band.

Large discus need to be triple bagged (that is each bag tied off separately with a sheet of newspaper in between the bags). Adult discus have strong spines and will often puncture bags if you only have one or two bags. Three bags just gives that added insurance.

If you transport the whole lot in a styrene box with a heat pack, they will be fine for up to 24 hours.

It may be a good idea to make friends with your LFS and ask if he will help you bag the fish for travel. He may even sell you the plastic bags and allow you to use his oxygen (for a small fee). He would also have plenty of styrene travel boxes too, as no doubt he receives all his fish from the wholesaler packed that way.

Dont be tempted to pack them all into a large tub with an airstone. The ammonia will build up to such an extent, that you will soon have a tub full of dead and dying fish.

Fish are transported all over the world in plastic bags and styrene boxes, and it's quite safe for them.

[FishLover]

Hmmm... I thought a large tub with an airstone was the better option. I guess I was wrong.

Last time I did bring 3 7" discus from about two hours of driving with a big bucket. Did not have much problem with that. I guess if it goes longer than that, the ammonia will start to build up.

Thanks for the info. Ladyred.

[TheFishman]

thx for the help,,, lol i was thingkin about seperating them into 3 tubs with an air stone and was wondering how fast the ammonia would build so i guess ill just go with plastic bags,that sounds like the safest thing to do, like you said this is how they ship fish around the world so an 8hr trip should be ok. i just dont want to lose any of my guys.

one other thing what do you mean by heat pack? like those hand warmer packs?

[Merrilyn]

That's the thing. Is it cold in your part of the world at the moment? I guess it must be.

The heat packs will keep the temperature in your boxes at an even level, although I guess if you have the heating on in the car, it won't be such a problem.

Transporting them for 8 hours in tubs is a really bad idea. You won't have any control over the temperature, and even in three tubs, they will damage each other.

Be sure to put a few drops of Prime or something similar to neutralize the ammonia that will build up in the bags.

[FishLover]

One more thing, don't feed them 24 hours before moving. That will cut down the waste they produce in their bags.

[Merrilyn]

You can keep your bio filter alive by putting all the used media into a tub with an airstone. Temperature doesn't matter, but it must have oxygen.

At the end of your journey, you will still have an active bio filter ready to set up. No need to recycle your tank. :P