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On Saturday, May 19th, I'll be packing up my belongings and heading back to Michigan, my home turf. I've aquired a few tanks and around 60 fish since I've been down here and they're going with me! Has anyone ever attempted to move across the country with their fish before? I imagine it wont be too difficult to keep them alive. If people ship fish all over the world you would think that I could keep them alive on a 13 hour car drive with a controlled climate.

I'm trying to decide if I should put them loose in styros with plants so they can swim around and hang out, or if I should stop by one of the local shops (Brandon had offered to help out) and have them bagged up with oxygen and then placed into styros? I supposed if I keep them loose in styros or in 5-gallon buckets with lids, I'd be able to run an air pump with a gang valve using a power-inverter through my cigarette lighter, but that sure sounds like a lot of work and my cigarette lighter compartment is kinda broken at the moment... If I do decide to bag them up with O2 I'm going to have to leave during business hours of one of the stores, which is gonna kinda suck cuz I'd rather leave early in the AM.

Any tips?

FYI I have a few discus, a ghost knife, angels, loaches, rainbows, denesonii barbs, peacock eels, etc, etc, etc

I moved from Indiana to Arkansas several years ago. I went the styro route and had no problems. You might want to consider Bag Buddies or some other tranquillizer. Also pack them out of direct sunlight. You'll need some sort of cycled tank on the other end. Denny

Yes I have a cycled 75 gallon running at the house I'm moving to. Also I'll be bringing all of my gravel, filter media, sponge filters, so hopefully I can throw everyone in the 75 while I quickly cycle the 40 gallon. Do you think it would be immediately cycled since I'm moving all the substrate and media or will it still take a few days?

Does anyone know where I can procure some of these "bag buddies" and also I'm gonna need to buy a few styros and several 5 gallon buckets with lids.

I've got some Ship Right (I think that's the name anyway). Where are you located? I will be at the May meeting on May 12th at the Rogers Police Department (6:30pm). Denny

Ok great! I'll come to my first and last meeting, haha. I still owe ya $10 anyway because at the auction I took a gift bag but no one charged me and I didn't realize it 'til I was driving away.

See ya there. Maybe someone will bring some styros to the mini-auction.

I moved back from NY (1200+ miles) 7 years ago and I used old 5 gallon water cooler jugs. They are good if your fish are small enough to fit in the opening. Something like bag buddies would be a good choice. I didnt worry about aeration though since the water will constantly be moving during the trip.

All good advice, I have done that a few times.

I have also in the past just lowered the water level to a few inches and moved the fish in the tanks.

I moved here from Baltimore. I just lowered the water in the tanks until there was just an inch or two-- enough for the fish to swim. You couldn't do that with big fish, though. It was a two-day trip and I just left the tanks in the car overnight. (It was the right time of year where heat and cold weren't an issue.)

The best way is probably to bag 'em and use oxygen, but even the bucket method works. And air pumps aren't necessary, unless there are going to be long stops. The jostling of travel agitates the water enough to aerate it. There are battery-operated air pumps available if you want.

For cheap 5 gallon buckets with lids, hit up walmart. Their bakery will usually have extra 5 gallon buckets that their icing comes in, and they only charge you like a dollar or two. I have gotten several buckets from them. You will probably have to find someone who knows about it. Last time the person there had never heard of it, and had trouble finding the barcode. The barcode should be in their binder, though. I know they found it for me last time.