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Roger's Aquatics Pages |
The whole essence of house moving is to plan. If you get it right then it avoids a lot of heartache. This is how my plan went including all the highs and lows. We were only moving 1/2 mile but I had a fish room to move.
It may seem odd to have a step zero, but it is quite important. The time will come when you KNOW you are going to move. You must at that point make a hard descision and stick to it.. Do not under any cercumstances buy any new fish between now and the move. I know this is a very hard thing to do for any keen fish keeper, but if you don't buy any more there will be less to move.
If you are really lucky you will know a good while in advance and you can allow your stock to run down. So now is the time to plan. I don't just have one tank to move, but a whole fish room. I knew a year in advance about the move, so hadn't bought anything in ages. By the time it came to the move only 4 tanks had fish in them.
The new house has a "pond", but If I put my Koi in it I'd have no space for water! Much more like a water feature really, although it does have a few goldfish in it. So talk to friend Chris who has 4 ponds and plans for an even bigger one. He will take them on Lease-Lend (If I do decide to put in a pond I get them back).
Three weeks before move day, pump out the pond and transfer the fish into 2x5 gallon buckets and the 30 gallon filter tank which I've put in the back of the Galaxy. The buckets are lined with black bin liners and the filter has a lid. This stops spillage and also keeps the fish calm. Drive the 5 miles to Chris' house and deliver fish safely. Next day he phones to say they are shoaling with the existing fish and up and feeding.
Chris agrees to loan me space a 4' and 2' tank in his fish room. Empty the tanks bag and ship fish round in record time. Only problem is that one of the Ancistrus has pierced her bag and that of some adjacent tetras, but the whole thing is done so quickly that no harm is done. Fish are fairly happy. Filters are taken off the empty tanks and put into the Malawi tank to keep them allive ready for step 3.
Not all good news - a couple of days later one fish is dead, but it is the last of a group of Melanotaenia maccullochi so it was an old fish anyway, and wasn't expected to last long.
All tanks except the 6' are stripped, cleaned and in the garden ready to go.
The Malawi tank is a 6'x2'x2' although it is very under stocked due to the stock run down. I estimate that the fish in it will just fit in my 48x15x12 tank. I had a word with the people we are buying off and they are happy for me to ship my now empty 4' and stand around the day before to get it filled and up to temperature. At this point the plan starts to go wonky.
The 4' stand won't go into the Ford Galaxy MPV! I know I should have measured it but when you've got a Galaxy you get complacent. Quickly dig out the 1950's Angle Iron tank stand and some chip board to shelve it and ship round a 3' and a 2'. Install in "shed" soon to be renamed "Fish Room" - fill with water and rocks and put heaters in. Nothing lost so far.
Morning of the move. Removal men are due 08:30, and expect to be clear by 13:00. I start to strip down the 6' at 8:30. The pond pump empties most of the water in what seems like nothing flat. The rockery dismantled and put in the trailer and fish bagged by 9:30. Trouble is no removal men, they turn up at about 9:40 - they've gone to the wrong Road. Second problem - only one crew and one van - we were expecting 2 of each. Second van will arrive later we are assured.
By about 13:00 they have loaded the first van and go to get the second. Same single crew return with 2nd van at about 14:00 and carry on loading. I check the fish about this time - they are showing signs of distress - they should have been in there new homes by now. At 16:00 the men are still loading and one of the Aulonocaras looks on its way out. We agree I will stay were I am and the fish will be taken to the new house as soon as possible by my wife and daughter. Loading finishes at about 17:30 and the second crew finally show (off another job).
I finally get to check the fish in their new home at about 18:00 and install the (hopefully still alive) filters. I'm told there are several floaters, including the large Syno. The Syno has miraculously decided that it isn't the upside-down variety after all and is now in more normal mode, but I've lost a pair of Aulonocara Baenschi, a male and baby Yellow Labs and the male Sciaenochromis fryeri.
Moral - planning is all but don't assume that the plan won't go wrong at any point, just because it hasn't up until now, and leave bagging the fish until the last possible moment.