Moving with Discus

[buctrose]

I will be moving in April with my four 5" Discus and some angelfish. Mapquest says that the drive will take close to 12 hours. I will likely use a couple large styrofoam boxes and battery operated air pumps for the drive. However my largest concern is the fact that I will not be able to have a tank set up at the new apartment before I arrive. How should I plan to complete this move?

[Yassmeena]

I will be moving in April with my four 5" Discus and some angelfish. Mapquest says that the drive will take close to 12 hours. I will likely use a couple large styrofoam boxes and battery operated air pumps for the drive. However my largest concern is the fact that I will not be able to have a tank set up at the new apartment before I arrive. How should I plan to complete this move?

That is pretty stressful. I would store your biomedia in a spill proof cooler with an air stone as well if you can.

Is it possible to put all else on hold when you arrive, and take a couple hours to setup your tank, fill it with water and let an airstone run in it for a couple hours. Park your discus in a safe place, double check on the battery of airstone and plug in a heater for them to be comfortable. Set the heater in the tank to the same temp as the discus container.

Then unpack for a couple hours as your tank water airates, and then place the discus?

Moving is stressful, and sometimes it's hard to put everything on hold to setup the tank. But as long as you do that and plug in a heater for your discus in the container, you should be fine.

Also, for the trip itself, will you be taking rest stops? If so, is there a way to prevent them from being in unheated car in the winter?

HTH?

Yasmin

[Harriett]

Good suggestions, Yasmin--this should work fine. I would use heat packs taped to the inside lid of the fish cooler in the car--you don't want an actual heater in there that fish would slosh against, but you need to keep them warm. I have used a regular heating pad under a 5 gal bucket and an airstone [on a battery] several times--that worked well. If you can get a giszmo that converts juice from the car utility port [cigarette lighter] to a regular electric cord, you could plug in a heating pad and an air pump--that works the best with no guess work..
Harriett

[Jhhnn]

Probably wouldn't hurt to use bag buddies or similar in the shipping water, or at least a stronger than usual dose of prime... pack some cycled sponges and care for 'em the same way as you care for the fish, maybe even in the same boxes...

I'd pack an aquarium and all the fixin's at the back of the truck, so it's the stuff that comes out first...

[Yassmeena]

Probably wouldn't hurt to use bag buddies or similar in the shipping water, or at least a stronger than usual dose of prime... pack some cycled sponges and care for 'em the same way as you care for the fish, maybe even in the same boxes...

I'd pack an aquarium and all the fixin's at the back of the truck, so it's the stuff that comes out first...

Ditto. Because packing/moving can be unpredictable, I'd do nothing to the fish tank until everything else was packed in the truck.

That way you don't underestimating how much time moving will take, and leave your fish packed in less than desirabe conditions while you hustle to load the truck...

Do good mental planning, including lists of sequence and supplies needed to move your fish so you can set them aside. Pack your house, leaving the fish tank alone. Then in an empty house, start breaking down your tank and packing up the fish. Load the tank and supplies, then the fish, and say good bye.

Also, where are you putting the fish? (I know in a box, but in the truck? in your car? etc)

[buctrose]

Thank you for all of the suggestions. The fish will be riding in the backseat of my car. Would it be a good idea to set up a 20 gallon tank with the sponge filters so that the fish can get more comfortable while I set up the tank?

[Yassmeena]

Thank you for all of the suggestions. The fish will be riding in the backseat of my car. Would it be a good idea to set up a 20 gallon tank with the sponge filters so that the fish can get more comfortable while I set up the tank?

I dont really see benefit in that. Your fish will be comfortable in the styrofoam box as long as the water temp is right and their is air.

A couple things:

1 - You may want to do a 40% WC on that styrofoam box when you arrive, and put in a heater. If the water temp in their box is say, 78, don't set the heater to 86. Set it a couple degrees higher, like 82.

2 - Now that I think about it, styrofoam boxes are so brittle and break rather easily. I wouldn't feel comfortable using it to transport discus. How about a large cooler? You can prob get one that is the same # of gallons as your styrofoam box.

HTH

Yasmin