The Puffer Forum

Hello to all,
In a week or two, i'll be moving myself and my Figure 8 George home for the holidays. Seeing as I'll be gone for close to a month, i have to bring him with me. My question is, has anyone ever moved a puffer for a short period of time before? any tips or ideas you have would be greatly appreciated. My plan at the moment is to get a couple of 5 gallon buckets and fill them with the water in the tank. I plan on transporting him in one of the buckets. I don't live to far away so i don't think i'll need an air stone. Once i get home, i plan to fill the tank back with the existing water, then scoop him back in. does that seem feasible?

Thanks

How long are you going to be gone, most puffers will be ok with out food for about 5 days, just feed him well on your way out

It's a month, aksamit.

A big bucket should work, or a (new!) plastic cooler. If you use a bucket, I think the shape would allow you to cut out a big circle of plastic craft canvas and place it just at the water's surface. It would allow for oxygen exchange while keeping him from jumping and puffing air.

Just make sure to keep everything wet. Filter and decorations can go in a bucket. Substrate can stay under an inch or two of water.

A dark bucket would probably be best for George, since it will let in minimal light and decrease stress.

So far that sounds good, but...You need at least 3 5 gallon buckets to transport. #1 for the fish as planned, #2 for decor and substrate, and #3 for filter media. If the tank is small enough and you don't have much décor you can combine #2 & #3. Your biofilter resides on your décor, filter media, and substrate so they need to be kept wet at all times. Any time spent dry will start killing off bacteria and your tank will crash when you get it set up again (bacteria will also start to decay making things worse).

What I do when I have had to move tanks is exactly as you plan with your fish, in tank water with, move the gravel and filter media and décor. When I reset the tank I do it quickly, trying to keep everything wet, and then add half new water and half water from the previous tank. The reason for not using completely new water is, IMHO, that there will be some trace amount of ammonia in the old water for the nitrifying bacteria to use as food immediately and I feel there is less chance of a biofilter crash. Haven't lost a fish or biofilter yet doing it this way and I've moved some over 1300 miles....

LilGreenPuffer wrote:It's a month, aksamit.

A big bucket should work, or a (new!) plastic cooler. If you use a bucket, I think the shape would allow you to cut out a big circle of plastic craft canvas and place it just at the water's surface. It would allow for oxygen exchange while keeping him from jumping and puffing air.

Just make sure to keep everything wet. Filter and decorations can go in a bucket. Substrate can stay under an inch or two of water.

A dark bucket would probably be best for George, since it will let in minimal light and decrease stress.

lol must of missed it

No problem.

Well, if it's a drive or something and you're keeping him in a 5 gallon bucket, buy a couple of heat packs. They're what most people use whenever they have to ship live fish. They'll keep your water warm for awhile. The brand Tom's also sells "airstones" that'll produce bubbles in your water for a month. They're about 2 dollars a piece and are an inexpensive alternative to using battery operated air bubbles.

Hey, neat! Too bad I didn't know about that earlier or I would have gotten some to go with the fish I'm shipping. Here's a link:

http://www.aquatichouse.com/Pumps_files/airstones.asp

I transported a gsp from IL to PA used a 20 dollar black and decker converter from walmart to plug in the heater and air pump.That would be the safest way as long as you trust your heaters thermostat.I did the same as you with tank water just dont let rocks or filter media dry out.

Well, considering i live in florida, i don't think water temperature will be to big of a problem, though i may look into those air bubblers. seems like a safe alternative for only a couple bucks. and i'll also look for that craft canvas. even though i'm covering the buckets, it'd be nice to have something so he can't jump out of the water in transit. i still have a week or so to plan this whole ordeal out. Do you guys think stress coat is necessary? i'll let yall know how it goes. Thanks for the Replies!

We get a lot of power outages in my part of California, so I keep a bunch of those airstones as backup for whenever we have a blackout. It's pretty nice when considering a battery operated backup would cost me much more, and I'd need one for every tank in my house.

I usually won't admit this but when I move a fish for a long distance I use Stress coat. Just because of the Aloe in it.

I purchased one of the expensive battery operated ones and the thing kind of blew up! I guess the batteries exploded or something but it made me mad! I'm going to check out the ones Tom's makes!

Dadof4 wrote:I usually won't admit this but when I move a fish for a long distance I use Stress coat. Just because of the Aloe in it.

I heard that it has a sedative in it?

Nope, no sedative, just aloe and some polymers that are attracted to the the skin and make a synthetic slime coat. It also contains electrolytes that ward off electrolyte loss through the gills that is caused by stress. Aloe has somewhat of a healing effect (has to do with mucopolysaccharides) and I've used it on injured Plecos and on an injured Dragon Goby with good results too.