Moving

[Lillie]

I'm going to move to a new town, what's the best way of moving my fish?
It's a 20 gallon tank with 7 Sunset Fire Platys and 3 algae eaters + plants.

[Komar]

The plants should be easy to move in a bag of water.

I believe that fish are shipped double-bagged in plastic bags, then placed in an insulate container to maintain the water temperature. There are chemicals added to the water to reduce the levels of toxins during transportation. I imagine a lot of air would be needed in the bag to prevent suffocation of the fish, too.

Don't feed the fish for at least a day before transporting them, to reduce any waste they may produce during shipment. You'll have to feed your fish very little when you put them back in the tank once you've moved, and slowly increase their feeding to what it was before they were shipped.

Some breeders ship fish through the mail with success, so moving fish is obviously possible to do. Check with your LFs and see how they handle moving fish.

[Lillie]

I imagine a lot of air would be needed in the bag to prevent suffocation of the fish, too.

But can they use oxygen from the air?

[Komar]

Only some fish like labyrinth fish can breathe the air directly. The water absorbs the oxygen from the surface, at which point the fish can use it. This has always been my understanding; if anyone knows differently, please feel free to jump in...

If I was moving my fish a long distance, I would consider putting the plants and fish together in the same bags. I would also put very few fish in each bag, so as not to deplete the oxygen or pollute the water too quickly. I suppose the bigger the bag the better, as well.

Definitely check with any online fish shops with mail ordering. They would most certainly know the best way to transport live fish.

[Lillie]

I'm just writing to tell you that all my fishes survived the trip, and is now happy in their new home. :D
I put them in big plastic bags, one fish in each bag. I had a big van to put everything in so I could give every fish a lot of space.