It is often risky and impractical to try to move fish. Fish are most sensible to to temperature changes that can hardly be avoidable during a move. So if they don’t have any special sentimental value to you – just don’t move them. Many aquarium stores may accept them and even offer a store credit, which you can use in another location close to the place you moved in. But if you don’t have this option here are some suggestions you may consider during your move:

Firstly, you need to take fish out of the aquarium and move them separately. Tanks are rarely built to withstand the stress of a move, especially with water inside. So you need to drain it after, of course, you finished putting all your fish in carrying containers. The main concern when moving a fishtank is its filtration system. The aerobic bacteria needed to preserve the life cycle of an aquarium and the life of fish starts to die after few hours without a flow of oxygen-laden water. It is not as crucial when you move short distance. What you need is to move about half of the water you’ve had in you fishtank to a new location to make sure the colony of aerobic bacteria survive. If you are moving long distance you’ll have to set up the tank exactly like a new one at your destination including one week delay.

Disassemble your aquarium before the move; heaters, pumps, filters and other media should be packed separately like fragile items. The tank itself should be in bubble wrap and packed in moving blankets. If possible, it is better not to use a moving van for transporting a fishtank but to put it in a trunk of your car.

Provided you are moving local, the actual move of your tank can take about a week with all the neccessary precautions making sure your beloved fish won’t sufer from the New Tank Syndrome. During this period you can put them either into your friend’s tank or into the pet store aquarium. Some pet stores do it for free, some can even offer additional services like packing and air shipping your fish for additional fees.

Now we came close to the actual packing and moving of the fish. Long before the move prepare the accessories you’ll need to move your fish. It might be styrofoam boxes, polythene bags, a cooler or other compartmentalized container. Take the fish out of the aquarium 15 minutes before you’ll drain it and put them in bags or styrofoam boxes: one fish per each container. Fill the fish containers with tank water and don’t forget that about a half of a container space should be left for the air pocket. Don’t feed your fish 24 hours before the move in order to make water in the containers as clean as possible. As a matter of fact, fish would feel too stressed to eat during the whole move – so don’t worry about feeding them; fish can live more than a week without food. Seal the styrofoam boxes with lids and bags – with rubber bands; to reduce the chance of leaking you can double bag your fish. Put the water plants in the separate containers too – they also need to be wet during the move. After you’ve finished packing the fish put all the bags with your pets into a container that can hold steady temperature during the whole period of the move – it might be a cooler. If you are moving far – it might be a good suggestion to get a battery powered air pump and occasionally change air in fish containers.

When you arrive to the place you’re moving in – set up the aquarium first. Add gravel, preferably from your old home; gravel contains ammonia-eating bacterias that are crucial for the aquarium not to go through New Tank Syndrome. Then fill the tank with the water you brought from the old place adding some chlorine remover. Fill the tank up with tap water of proper temperature, and turn on the filters. As the water is clearing out you may add a fish or two and watch closely for their reaction. It is absolutely normal for fish to panic and breathe harder in the new surroundings. But if a fish lies on the side and doesn’t move for few seconds put it back to a travelling container and check the tank for the proper temperature and water chemistry. Watch your fish and regularly check the tank during the first week to be sure your beloved ones haven’t got any disease.

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You would think that choosing a pet travel carrier would be a relatively simple matter — until you begin to shop around a bit online and learn about all the different types and models that are available. With all of the various features and different design elements, it is easy to become confused! Added to this situation is the fact that, as a pet owner, you want to choose only those pet travel carriers which will enhance your pets traveling experience and contribute to their security, comfort and health.

So where do you begin? I think the best place to begin is to think about the kinds of travel that you will need to do with your pet. Will you be traveling for short periods of time, or for hours and hours on end? Will you be going down the street, or to another continent? Will you be traveling on a cruise ship — an airplane — or in an automobile? These are not irrelevant considerations, because different modes of transport can require different types of travel carriers for your pet. If you begin with a consideration of your travel environment, you will be in a much better position to choose an appropriate travel carrier for your pets.

As a general rule, choosing a travel carrier for use in an automobile or airplane environment is a bit more difficult than choosing other types. Pet carriers designed for use in automobiles are generally designed to fit the sizes and dimensions of the interior of particular types of cars — so you must be careful to choose one which is designed to fit safely and snuggly within the interior.

Choosing a pet travel carrier for use on an airline presents special challenges. The best procedure is to contact your preferred airline and determine the specific requirements that your travel carrier must meet before they will accept it on their flight. Be aware of the fact that a pet travel carrier will need to meet certain size and weight requirements before your airline will approve its use.

An important quality of any pet travel carrier is that it should be “humane.” For example, I do not find the models that contain a wire mesh bottom — like a cage — to be particularly humane, as walking on these types of bottoms will certainly not be a comfortable experience for your pet. Another important characteristic of a humane pet travel carrier is that it should provide an adequate amount of room for your pet to move around.

At the very least, your pet should be able to turn around, as well as lay on its side, if it needs to. A humane pet carrier also needs to provide an adequate amount of ventilation as well — and if your pet will be traveling by airplane in a cargo hold, it may need additional protection from cold or hot environmental conditions, as cargo holds may not be air-conditioned or heated.

For long-distance traveling, when your pet must be restrained in a carrier for long periods of time, you should make sure that it is equipped with an adequate supply of food and water — this will be particularly important if the pet carrier will be stored during your trip in a place which will not allow you to constantly monitor the condition of your pet. And because any pet that has eaten or who has ingested liquid will need to relieve themselves, you will also need to make certain that your pet carrier has been properly lined with some sort of absorbent material — particularly if you are using a simple cage that has a bottom panel that is not solid.

Another important aspect of using a pet travel carrier is to make sure that your pet has become properly acclimated to its new home before you begin your travels. Don’t wait until the last minute to try and do this — your pet will need several weeks, at a minimum, to get used to the look, feel, and smell of their new traveling environment. So at least a month or two before you begin your trip, you should introduce your pet to its carrier.

The easiest way to do this is to allow your pet to go in and out of the travel carrier at will, with the door left completely open. If you can encourage your pet to spend the night sleeping in its carrier (again with the door open) so much the better. You can also try to place food and water, as well as its favorite play toys, inside of the pet carrier to encourage it to enter and be comfortable.

Learn more about Pet Travel Carriers

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