[wendyzim]

My husband and I are moving from PA to SC.

I have 3 tanks total, 2 fresh water (10 gallon community and 35 gallon with a 6" oscar and a 4 " pleco) and 55 gallon reef tank with a carpet anemone, tube anemone, toadstool and mushroom corals, 2 clowns, 1 tang, 1 gramma, 1 cardnal, various snails and hermit crabs and 50 lbs of live rock.

Needless to say these fish are my "babies". I've had them for years and I really want to bring them with us.

Has anyone ever moved their fish? Will I need to recycle my tank once I get to SC and if so where can I keep my pets in the meantime? Do you think it would be less tramatic to ship them or drive them?

Any suggestions would be greatly appriecated!

Wendyzim

[glampka]

I did a long distance (300+ miles) move 1 time & a number of short distance moves as well so I speak from experience. With your kind of move you no doubt will end up killing the bacteria. You'll probably have to recycle the tanks. To move the fish & inverts I would stop feeding them a few days before the move to keep waste products to a minimum. Get a couple 5 gal buckets with lids. The smaller fish/snails/crabs can go in 1. I'd put the tang in it's own bucket. Put LR in a bucket or cooler & cover with wet paper. Get battery operated air pumps & pump air into all buckets. Depending on when you're moving you'll have to keep an eye on water temp as well. Probably best to transport in the car. If you have sand bottom, dump it & start fresh on the other end. Hope that helps & good luck with the move!

[wendyzim]

That is a great help! TY!