Moving house and the fish coming with me!

[HarryDk]

So we will move to our new house soon, 1hour and 15 minutes driving distance from our current place. If we are lucky, we will be moving during warm season
Moving 20 adult discus will be a massive task for me as first timer :(, so I would like to have some opinion on how to move them.
I though of 2 options:
1. Get an esky, ton of Stress Guard with a batteried air pump. It will be tight space, and I hope they are not too jumpy and hurt themselves in there.
2. Bag them. Each fish will have 2 fish bag ...then put them all in a large container .., may be with some heat pad. I have never bag fish before, but I hope I can .

Which of the 2 options are better, please share your experience. :book:

[Altum Nut]

Personally I would get if you can 5 x 5g buckets with lids and 4 Discus in each. Your move is minimal and think bagging them will stress them more. If you have a power converter that plugs into you car you can rig a small air pump and feed all 5 buckets via airlines instead of buying battery powered air pumps.
Stop feeding 24 hrs prior to move and add a dash of prime/safe to buckets half filled.
There are many who use this method when transporting via road trip monster discus to shows without issues.

...Ralph

[HarryDk]

Thanks Ralph,
But what is the benefit of the buckets method over the esky? I would fit all fish in 1 big esky and it contain heat.
Thus I actually afraid of them jumping in the plastic bucket/esky during transport :(.

[Altum Nut]

Any container with lids including an Esky (Cooler) will work, however it must be a big cooler to feel confident to transport 20 large Discus together. My only thought is you can drill a small hole on bucket lids for an airline with lids securely shut so no issue with jumpers. With buckets being round shaped water movement is less violent then it would be with a square shaped.
Either will work because we are only talking as you say over an hrs drive and my suggestion was only to say I would not use bags so option 1.

...Ralph

[DonMD]

I had 15 adult discus in my 150 gallon tank before moving from Virginia to Maryland. I sold them all, and glad I did because I had so many issues to deal with in the house we moved into. Now, 7 months later, I'm cycling my tank and getting ready for fish again. Sold my fish through craigs list, no problem.

[Larry Bugg]

1 1/2 hour drive time is not a big deal. I use 5 gallon buckets to transport discus and I don't use heaters at all. A drop into the 70's isn't going to harm your fish for a short period of time. I also only use air if they are going to be in the buckets for longer than 5 or 6 hours.

[HarryDk]

1 1/2 hour drive time is not a big deal. I use 5 gallon buckets to transport discus and I don't use heaters at all. A drop into the 70's isn't going to harm your fish for a short period of time. I also only use air if they are going to be in the buckets for longer than 5 or 6 hours.

What was a drop in the 70's Larry? I wasn't born back there :P

[Larry Bugg]

Sorry. I said I didn't use heaters and then said a drop into the 70's wasn't a problem. I was referring to the temp. I don't worry about keeping the heat in the 80's while traveling. I once ran my truck heater in the 80's to keep the temp up. Glad I learned that wasn't necessary, lol. Sure was a hot 6 hour ride.

LOL, I was born way before the 70's.

[Megalodon]

No bags. Bags are for shipping where weight and space are at a premium or bringing fish back from the LFS cheaply. You would probably need nearly pure oxygen for a 75 minute trip (actually longer since you'd have to bag and unbag the fish).

Since it's only 75 minutes, I'd make several trips instead of risking low dissolved oxygen levels by trying to move all the fish at once.

[White Worm]

I moved from Sacramento California to Portland Oregon and stayed over-night at a hotel during the trip. Used a large cooler like the esky with air pump/heater plugged into the cigarette lighter converter. Everyone did just fine.

[Willie]

My experience is the same as Larry's. I've driven large discus in 5-gal buckets for 8-10 hours for competition and they come out perfect. Fast them for 2-3 days. I go with pure TO to avoid fin burns, but that's for the fish show.

If you put many large discus together in a large container, I've seen them spike each other in the eye.

Willie

[HarryDk]

My experience is the same as Larry's. I've driven large discus in 5-gal buckets for 8-10 hours for competition and they come out perfect. Fast them for 2-3 days. I go with pure TO to avoid fin burns, but that's for the fish show.

If you put many large discus together in a large container, I've seen them spike each other in the eye.

Willie

Now you genuinely scare me ! @_@

[Willie]

Had a guy buy several adults from me a few years ago. He decided to put them all into one container and drove to St. Paul (30 minutes away). Later he told me several fish got spiked in the eye. Keeping 2 - 3 (depending on size) in a lidded 5-gal bucket is the absolute best way to go.

Willie