Moving cross country, help..?

[deangelr]

Alright so I am relocating for a job from Austin, TX to Kennewick, WA. A bit too far to just throw everthing in a bucket and drive.

I am really only concerned about keeping my Platinum Clowns (I call mine panda clowns cause platinum is just a stupid name). Anyway..

I am actually considering two options. First since I will have to drive, I could throw the clowns in a bucket with LR and a airator for 3 days. The other option that I think may actually be less stressfull is to put them in a shipping container (fill bag with 1/3 h2o and 2/3 o2 the ususall stuff) and just put them in animal cargo on the plane... I already have a new tank set up in WA.

Does this seem possible..?

im too lazy to post pics photos are under the thread "One year old platinums!!"

 

[mike_cmu04]

I would drive them so you can keep an eye on them and make changes if necessary. If they are on the plane and something goes wrong there is nothing you can do.

 

[deangelr]

This may be true that I will be able to "watch" them.. sort of. They will be in a dark trashcan for 3 days.. I will be cross country driving so even if something were to go wrong.. what would I do>??

Also the plane is trip is about 7 hours total travel time.. The fish were shipped to me as juveniles overnight from wisconson about 32 hours in a bag.. The comparison makes the plane flight look easy..

 

[deangelr]

im just arguing to see both sides not that because I am right and you are wrong or anything

 

[Paco]

Do you have someone who can bag them for you so you can receive the at the other end? I guess that would be my concern. Or were you going to fly the same flight? If that's the case, then yeah, I'd fly them.

 

[JeF4y]

If you drive them, put them in a cooler with a battery powered airstone and buy an inverter to run a heater. Keep an eye on the temps throughout the trip. 3 days is not that big of a deal so long as they are kept aerated and heated. Mine were in a cooler with heat/airstone for 4 days by the time I got them back in the tank when I moved this summer and I only lost a few corals & some snails.

I would *NOT* put liverock in the container!!! It can/will shift and crush your livestock.

 

[DeathWish302]

This isn't my first rodeo when talking about moving livestock. In June moved my 2 systems (~70gal & 12gal nano) from Eastern PA (near Philly) to Detroit area. I started on Sunday morning around 8am and loaded the last box of equipment in the van around 12am Monday morning. I drove the whole way to Detroit and arrived around 7:30am. Took a 30min power nap and started unloading. After about 2 hrs unloading I could start placing the livestock in the temporary holding tank on-site. After about 5 hrs I had everyhting back in a glass cube.

All livestock was out of circulating, temp controlled water for 31hrs in multiple coolers. I carried liverock and sand in 5gal buckets. When I starting returning the liverock to the temp holding tank only one bucket out of 4 had an ammonia spike and smelled like hell. The sand was bleached and rinsed, so no issue.

The poor clowns looked so freaked out and were very pale in color. No corals or fish were lost in the move. After a couple months my tank crashed hard from a few random corals and RTN. I lost half the corals from this, but they didn't flinch from the 65F, non-circulating conditions of the move.

If I were you and had only a couple prized clowns, I would get the invertor, shatter-proof heater & ari pump and roll with a cooler 'mobile home'. I wouldn't think twice about driving livestock again, as I have thinned out my coral herd to only those that survive in the worst conditions and know I would have no porblems in the future. If can be done with some planning, but the week of a move is not the time to prepare. Get your list of supplies a couple weeks in advance and have any help you may need available. I went above and beyond on planning and can likely thank not losing everything due to that.

HTH,


.....On the other hand, you can always sell those to a loving clown freak! (Hint, hint)

 

[deangelr]

I also feel like putting them in a cooler with an airstone is a would work, I moved a 120g from CO to texas in a uhaul two years ago and didnt lose any fish. However, Driving from TX to WA is not exacly Philly to Detroit. This a longggg trip.

I am just wondering if the plane would be less stressful. I already have tank up here in WA running so that makes things a little easier.

 

[deangelr]

oh and yes I undstand that LR can move around.. Im talking about a 30g trashcan with a small piece of LR or even an aquarium sponge. just to keep cycle going

 

[deangelr]

And I would sell them... But an activly breading (as in laying eggs) pair of platinums.... i mean what is that worth? probably a lot more than anyone would want to pay me..

 

[Scott-CapeCoral]

What is your hold-up with the plane trip? Extra $ ? You can travel with those in a bucket or a storage bin for weeks, Go to Wal-marts fishing department and buy the aerator that hooks up to a car battery. Then go get 2 alligator clips for the ends of those wires- to clamp it to your car battery. I've used that system in the back of my pickup truck to keep bait fish alive for fishing, for weeks at a time.

--> DO NOT USE A COOLER <-- Coolers insulate, and will insulate the heat generated from the pump. I know from my own error. As the pump is slowly heating the water, the water is less able to cool the pump because the water isn't being cooled by the outer air or temp exchange through a thin wall, such as a bucket or plastic storage bin. I used a cooler as a fish transfer container, and opened the lid 15 hours later to find everything not only dead, but cooked.

Good luck with your move, you'll be fine with driving them.

Scott W.

 

[DeathWish302]

--> DO NOT USE A COOLER <-- Coolers insulate, and will insulate the heat generated from the pump. I know from my own error. As the pump is slowly heating the water, the water is less able to cool the pump because the water isn't being cooled by the outer air or temp exchange through a thin wall, such as a bucket or plastic storage bin. I used a cooler as a fish transfer container, and opened the lid 15 hours later to find everything not only dead, but cooked.

Are you using a submersible air pump? A standard external air pump is all you need for water circulation and aeration. I understand the concern with coolers and high temp zones and you should understand the environment you will be traveling in. I disagree that coolers are not a requirement for long-distance moves.

Just my $0.02...