Moving home and taking my fish

[pinkrat]

Hi all,

I’m just looking for your thoughts and ideas. I am planning to move home in the next few months. I have 5 pond fish that I will be taking with me but there probably will not be a pond waiting at the new property. The traveling will be at least 2 hours and I have never moved my fish before so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have a ghost koi about 12 years old and a mirror carp the same age. The other 3 are offspring of the original fish I have had over the years. My fish are very precious to me and I am looking forward to building them a larger pond to spend the rest of their days. Many thanks.

 

[MitchM]

What size are the fish?

 

[pinkrat]

What size are the fish?

The ghost koi is about 12 inches and carp slightly bigger. The other 3 are about 5 or 6 inches.

 

[Lisak1]

Welcome back!

How long before you can get a pond up and running for them? If it's going to be a while, I would suggest a pool that holds sufficient water than you can put a filtration system in.

I've never moved big fish, but I know they need aeration during the move. Some people use the big Rubbermaid totes with holes in the top. Also the advice I've seen is to stop feeding several days in advance so they don't foul the water during the trip. Two hours isn't a terribly long time so with some preparation they should be fine. Just make sure you have something ready on the other end for them - water that's prepared for big fish.

 

[MitchM]

A few other suggestions:
-Purchase a pressurized filter rated for at least 5000L that you can take with you and use on the new temporary holding tank while the new pond is built. Purchase the filter now and get it running on the existing pond so it can establish a healthy nitrifying bacteria population to be used in the new location. Rinse the media in pond water before taking the filter with you.
-When you move the fish in the totes, also put in some Seachem Prime to detoxify any ammonia the fish will produce while being transported. Have an aerator with air-stones that you can use while in the vehicle.
-When the fish arrive at the new location, have a temporary pool of at least 4000L set up and the water also treated with Prime. Hook up your recently purchased pressurized filter to the temporary pool.
-Monitor the water quality by using a liquid test kit and acclimate the fish as required.

 

[qclabrat]

I re-homed 10 goldfish last year, the largest at about 10-12 inches. Was also concerned bout the travel and sloshing around. I ended up putting each fish is a really big zip lock bags with a lot of headspace for extra air. Then put the bags in rubbermaid totes and added water to fill the voids. Mid way, I opened each bag to introduce fresh air. My ride was a little short than yours, about 90 mins. All made the trip fine and none appeared to have motion sickness...