Moving with Multiple Aquariums: Have You Done It?

[DTC512]

Hey all, 

 

As always, thank you for the help. This community is immensely helpful and kind.

 

Just like the title says,  I'm moving from East to West Coast and, after breaking down and rearranging gear, I have 5 aquariums ranging from 5 gallons to 30 gallons that need to be transported. I love all my fish (have had them for quite some time) and don't want to donate any (unless I really have to).

 

Do you know of any legit companies that can assist with this, or any methods that you've tried that work? 

 

Thanks again and happy holidays! 

-dtc 

[Gator]

There are several ways you can do what you need to do, and I've done two that have worked very well for me.

My father was in the military for 22 years and I was around for the last 16 of those years, so I've done a lot of traveling, and some of that was with a steel-framed, slate-bottomed 10 G tank that I still have and I'm still using. 

You can hire a reputable moving company in your area to move your furniture, aquariums and all related equipment, but not fish. They will pack and ship your aquariums for you and there should be no damages, if there are damages, they are required to compensate you. This is the way we did our moving when I was growing up.

A salesman for the moving company will come to your house to give you an estimate on the cost and will probably arrange for professional packers to come to your house to pack everything for you, at an additional cost, of course.

An alternative is renting a U-Haul and I've done this also to haul belongings over distances, to do this you'll need to do some planning first, and your own packing. 

Plan on putting your tanks on top of dressers, end tables, and dining tables. You'll want to put pillows, folded blankets, and folded sheets between your tanks to keep them from bumping into each other during transit. When you pack the truck, make sure there is nothing higher than the tanks that may slide off of where you packed them and fall into or onto your tanks. You can use mattresses and box springs to lock everything in place and U-Haul will provide you with packing blankets and straps you can use to strap in different sections as you're loading the truck. If they don't offer them, ask for them and use them.

Back in '97 when I still lived in Orlando, FL, a friend decided to move to Olympia, WA and asked me to pack a 24' U-Haul for him to take all of his belongings to Olympia, I packed that truck very tight. He has a 29 G tank that I wasn't worried about as I packed it, but I was worried about an antique, Mahogany corner hutch that had beveled mirrors in the back and etched glass in the doors. 

After he had moved everything into the house he had already bought before moving, he called to say that he had made it and had everything in his house. I had to ask how well everything in the truck was and he said that nothing had shifted, nothing was scratched, and nothing was broken, but when him and his brother-in-law were emptying the truck, his brother-in-law dropped his end of the hutch which broke the etched glass on one of the doors.

It's probably better to give your fish to someone else, I believe the stress of moving that far will be too hard on them, it gets cold in the Rockies at night in the summertime. Besides, you'll be able to buy new fish at your new location, and who doesn't like new fish? 

[PineSong]

I moved my tanks a two day drive away by emptying them of water (I left the substrate in) and wrapping them in packing blankets and they rode in the back of my van. The fish themselves traveled in 5 gallon buckets. I did not have an airline or heater in the bucket while driving but I did overnight the fish in the vehicle, in a relative's garage, with an extension cord providing power for the airpump and heater. I lost one Endler during transit and a couple of platy fry did not survive the transition to the water/tank in the new state. My other fish (goldfish, endlers, platies) all did fine and all tanks were unharmed.

[1moretank]

I moved about 800 miles with multiple tanks.   My best tip is to talk to your local fish store - even petco or petsmart - and ask them if you can pick up their styrofoam boxes - they usually will since they throw them away.  I bagged small numbers of fish into 1 gallon freezer bags - 2 plecos, 2 angels or 10-15 guppies per bag.  I used existing tank water to fill each bag 1/2 to 2/3 full.  I packed the ziploc bags into the styrofoam boxes so they held each other upright, then I taped the boxes shut.  I had some fish boxed almost 2 days before the drive and didn't unpack until the day after I arrived, so 5 days.  I set up the tanks in the garage added new water, prime and dumped all the fish & water into the correct tanks. The next day I flew back and found I had failed to pack one box - so dumped them all back into a tank until the final move.   Poor fish were bagged 7 days.  None died.   2nd trip went just like the first.   Over all, I moved 2 55 gallon tanks, 4-5 29 gallon tanks and several 10 gallons.  I lost a black skirt tetra and a couple guppies.  I gained endlers and platies between bagging and unbagging.   I lost one angel about a month after the move.  I did this between May and August.  If you added heat packs and wrapped the boxes in blankets while they were warm you might be able to do it during the winter.  If you narrowed down to just the fish you dont want to lose, you might be able to keep them in your car/into motel rooms - mine stayed in the back of a UHaul.  Good luck. 

[Maggie]

Oh, I do not envy you at all. I recently moved (only about 450 miles) and ended up rehoming 2 tanks (45 and 20L) - all but my betta, who passed away 3 weeks after the move.

I'd suggest you do a cost/time analysis before deciding whether or not to bring them with you. There are a few fishtube vids that might help in the planning stage - what to remember to do, what extra supplies you need, etc. Then decide if you love your fish enough to go through that process.

Moving companies will pack and move your aquariums (how much they charge, I do not know), but you'd have to figure out a plan for your fish, plants, substrate, etc. during that time, and a plan for transporting them or having a friend hold them and ship to you. Furniture movers can take weeks to get your furniture to you. I used uhaul "u-boxes" (where you pack, they haul), and it took them 2 weeks to get here! I couldn't afford a third u-box, and had to give up a lot of my possessions.

I fussed and fretted for weeks - wrote down all the possible scenarios, before deciding to give up my fish and tanks, and it was even worse when I got here and Cos died and I had no fish! But the logistics just didn't work out and I had no fish friends on either end of the move to help me.

Best of luck whatever you decide to do!

[Guppysnail]

@CalmedByFishrecently had a detailed plan thread on here. I tried to find it because it was well thought out and detailed thread with tons of great info. I could not find it to link though maybe they can. 

[CalmedByFish]

As @Guppysnailmentioned, here are the threads associated with my move. I'm linking all of them so you can get the big picture, from planning to a few days after arrival. I think it's important to know that all my careful planning still landed me in a traumatic situation, even though most of my fish lived. My most solid advice is to make this move WAY less complicated than you can fathom that it would ever need to be. 

 

 

 

[CalmedByFish]

After reading some of the above comments, I would be amiss to not urge you to avoid moving companies. They're notorious for getting people's possessions into their hands, and then telling the owner that they can't have any of it back until some exhorbitant fee is paid. I'm not sure I would've believed my experience, nor that it's common, if I hadn't gone through it. I even found out in the aftermath that @Torrey has spent years trying to change laws to make it harder for moving companies to do this. I wish I'd left 3/4 of my perfectly good possessions out for the trash to pick up, just so what I had left could've fit in a small Uhaul, and been kept in my possession. 

[Gator]

@CalmedByFish; There are unscrupulous moving companies out there, but if a person sticks with the big-named companies like Bekins, United, or Mayflower, there shouldn't be any problems. Moving and Storage companies are regulated by several federal agencies such as the Interstate Commerce Commission and others. The Moving and Storage companies' regulatory license number is printed on the cab, but most people don't know this or know what those numbers mean and what can be done with them.  

The ABC affiliate, WFTV in Orlando, FL works with the Orange County Sheriffs' Dept. to conduct and film sting operations and then show it on the nightly news broadcast. I remember one broadcast where they placed a hidden camera in the bedroom of an elderly woman who had hired the unscrupulous mover who had several complaints against him. In the film, it showed the mover going into the woman's jewelry box and removing several items. When confronted, he swore up and down that he didn't take anything, when told that they had him on camera taking the jewelry, he again swore up and down that they didn't have him on film. They showed him the film footage, he was arrested, and her jewelry was found in his pocket. What a moron! 

[CalmedByFish]

On 12/18/2021 at 12:09 PM, Gator said:

The ABC affiliate, WFTV in Orlando, FL works with the Orange County Sheriffs' Dept. to conduct and film sting operations and then show it on the nightly news broadcast.

This grabs my attention. The company we hired was based out of Florida.