i’m moving to a dorm (5 hours away) in 1 week and im nervous about transporting percy there. i’m only taking one of my boys right now because idk how it’s going to go but he will have to stay in a cup over night because we’re going up the day before move in. does anyone have any suggestions on how to do this with the least amount of stress possible?
and if anyone has any tank packing tips it will be greatly appreciated! (chip will move into the 10g and i’m taking the 5.5g with me)
percy!
chip!
Comments (10)
what i would do is use an old tupperwear with a lid and poke small holes in and then carry the fish that way and then with the tank do what swincess said
For the tank - Lower it’s water as much as possible, lay a wet paper towel over any live plants or put them in a baggie with a wet towel. Save as much tank water as you can in a couple jugs. Make sure to keep your filter media wet in a bag as well, that’s the most important piece to keep. When packing up, be very mindful of what you put near your tank, you definitely don’t want anything hard or heavy falling down onto it of course. I just put mine in the car with some towels around it to help protect it.
For the betta - Since it’s only a 5 hour drive, you’d be fine putting him in a pet store cup if you have one or a small butter bowl or something with a hole in the lid. This would make it easier to monitor him throughout the trip and easier to clean since he’ll be having to stay overnight. Get a jug of new conditioned water (with tannins if you want) and change out his water when needed. I used a turkey baster to gently get out the feces and whatnot when I was changing out mine. I also put their cups in a cardboard box and put towels in there around them to make sure they couldn’t see anything or get shifted around, this helps lessen a lot stress.
This is what I did when I moved 1,600+ miles away. The drive I had is over 26 hours if you drive it straight in one go, but we stayed in 2 hotels so it took around 2 1/2 days. I snuck the fish I had into the hotels with me and cared for them there as well as while we were gas along the way :joy:
Beautiful babies!
For the fish you can use food containers with lids full of their current water. I’d drill some holes in the lid so they have air. Or you could use fish bags if you have any. Make sure you fill the bag mostly of air but enough water to cover the fish. Then double rubber band the bag so no air escapes.
I would recommend you get gallon jugs to bring some of their tank water with. Then you won’t have to re cycle it or do a fish in cycle.
For the tanks I’d get boxes for them and either pack with styrofoam on the sides, bubble wrap, or newspaper.
Reply to: a.chip
I’ve heard mixed things about stress coat. I’ve used it before with no problem but I’ve heard times where people’s fish die because the new slime coat it gives covers the gills.
I’m not sure how people fill the bags with air. See if you can find a breeder here who uses that shipping method.
Reply to: Lord_Farquaad
alright i’ll do some research on that. do you think something like a large plastic cup (like dunkin) would work and i could add some floating plants and indian almond leaves would be good? someone else suggested shipping but i don’t really trust it, i’m trying to think of what would make him most calm
Reply to: a.chip
I don’t think I’d do a dunkin cup because of how tall it is. Do you have any Tupperware you’d be willing to sacrifice? I used a small Tupperware bowl and it worked perfectly. Really anything small and shallow is your best bet. If you can find something similar to the pet store cups, that would work as long as you make sure to drill or poke a hole in the lid
Personally i would go and find videos on how they're packed for shipping in the mail. If you follow that as closely as possible, then you should be setting them up for the best chances of success over a long trip
i don’t really trust the mail personally and would rather he stayed with me. would it be safe if i put him into a pet store cup and secured him in a dark box mocking mail shipments? my school is located in a smaller town and idk how good their system is :grimacing:
Reply to: a.chip
I'm not saying that you should send him in the mail, I'm saying you should pack him *as though you were* and then take him with you.
The main reason why I say that he should go into a bag like this, is because if the air is open, it makes the ammonia Spike way faster. I can't explain it very well because it's the complicated sciency thing, but that's why it's important to get them out of bagged water as soon as the bag has been opened. Once that water comes into with air, the ammonia develops ( not an exact explanation! I highly encourage you to look into that in order to understand it better in order to help your fish