How to move adult Discus

[RichardTN]

I have to move my adult Discus fish and wonder how to best do this.

It will be about a 20 minutes ride to get them to their new setup so it should be less than an hour to get them in their new tank.
Water is the exact same on the "receiving" end.


Should I back them individually for this trip?
Do I need to stop feeding them before this move?


Thank you for your advice!

Richard

[LizStreithorst]

The easiest and least stressful way for the fish would be to put each of them in 3 gallon bucket with a snap on lid. There will be more than enough 02 in the water for Discus for that short amount of time. Don't feed the night before and the morning of the move. They'll settle in to their new home fast.

[Second Hand Pat]

Liz has definitely posted the best way to move your fish Richard. It may seem simple to add more then one fish per bucket but suggest you do not do that. The fish will panic in the bucket and can hurt each other, rip fins etc.
Pat

[Iminit]

I’d also move media from old tank to new. Good luck with your move.

[pablos]

I was moving few months back and it was as far as 5-10 minutes drive.
I took 20g plastic container filled 1/3 with water. I put few discus there. It's was not too heavy to lift, and water level didn't splash out into a car.

In meantime tank was drained then restored with the same media on other side. All worked well.

For same small Betta and shrimp tank, I just removed 70% of water and transfer as is :-)

[Willie]

I use those 5-gallon buckets from Home Depot/Menards/Loews and fill them with clean water. Plop the fish in, 1 - 2 per bucket, and drive. Back in the day, I drove discus from Minneapolis to St. Louis, ~10 hours, to compete in their local show. No aeration, no heat, no ill effects and I came back with three trophies. I keep a stack of buckets labelled FISH ONLY in my fish room these days.

[pablos]

I use those 5-gallon buckets from Home Depot/Menards/Loews and fill them with clean water. Plop the fish in, 1 - 2 per bucket, and drive. Back in the day, I drove discus from Minneapolis to St. Louis, ~10 hours, to compete in their local show. No aeration, no heat, no ill effects and I came back with three trophies. I keep a stack of buckets labelled FISH ONLY in my fish room these days.

It just proves that you have amazing fish! It get hits from left and right for ten hours and still win!

[Vinni Smith]

I keep a stack of buckets labelled FISH ONLY in my fish room these days.

I do that too~!

[Willie]

It just proves that you have amazing fish! It get hits from left and right for ten hours and still win!

That's nice of you to say, thanks. For competition, I only put one fish per bucket. I learned my lesson, albeit at someone else's expense.

Quite a while ago, someone wanted to buy a tankful of older discus from me. He wanted some big discus in a large planted tank and I had a tank of very average fish that won't pair off. He showed up at my place in the middle of winter (this is Minneapolis) with a single styro and asked me to put all the discus in there. He didn't want them bagged and he was in a hurry. So I put the fish in and watched him slosh his way down the walk into his car.

A week later I asked him how they were doing and he told me that all the discus had spiked their styro mates in the eye. Like Pat said, don't put adults together!

[RichardTN]

Thank you all for the advice!

Buckets it will be for this move.

I will have a few fish I need to find a home for also since I will only set up one tank ;)

130105

[RichardTN]

130106

[Willie]

If you were closer, those Blue Diamonds would be in my fish room now...

[danotaylor]

Very nice discus Richard!

[RichardTN]

Thank you Daniel!

I purchased those from Jack Wattley Discus earlier this year and I believe they have all developed nicely.
The odd thing is, they would not even touch the beef heart mix I bought from Wattley's but they did grow well eating All's blackworms and Tetracolor tropical granules.

[jeep]

A cooler would work as well. Insulated and has a lid :D

[RichardTN]

Cooler should work!

Just moved a few in buckets today, worked great.