The Big Move!

Well, here it is... the big event ... the BIG MOVE.

House is a disaster. We finish boxing tongiht, load the truck tomorrow, drive Friday, and unload Saturday. Dogs are confused. Cats are happy with all the empty boxes. Fish are... well... fish are in the works. I'm tearing down the tanks tonight. I've already removed a huge driftwood (that Charles and I picked up in Alabama a couple years ago) so the dust can settle and I can see the fish. Tossed in some peroxide in case I disturbed the bottom too much. Did a little plant thinning. I figure tonight I'll net the fish into a cooler, put the plants in a separate cooler, and toss the soil. The soil at our new place looks interesting and I may use that when we get there. Sort of a dark sandy loam.

If anyone has any advice, I'd be glad for it. I'm moving a longear sunfish, some turquoise darters, and yellowfin shiners, and what may be bluehead chubs. I'll have peroxide at the ready if they look stressed. The drive on Friday will take about 11 hours I figure. Thankfully it's cool out. Turtle gets her own little cooler with a wet towel. There may be a couple crayfish, too, if they haven't escaped.

I'd suggest soft styro boxes rather than hard plastic cooler, to minimize snout damage. Use black plastic leaf bag as a liner (dark background is comforting), but make sure they cant get caught in folds. Add kosher salt 0.5 to 1 teasp/ gal. Have CYCLED sponge or box filters and air pump for each cooler ready to plug in when you get there, and good dechlor on hand so you can top up the coolers enough for the filters to work. (A barrel of cycled water at the new house would have been REALLY great but prob too late for that now). Keep filter media wet during travel. Sometimes i let cycled sponges (remove hard base) bounce around in the cooler with fish. Open the box lids in dim light and leave em alone awhile; darters especially can spaz out & die if startled by sudden light. good luck! --gerald

Well, here it is... the big event ... the BIG MOVE.

House is a disaster. We finish boxing tongiht, load the truck tomorrow, drive Friday, and unload Saturday. Dogs are confused. Cats are happy with all the empty boxes. Fish are... well... fish are in the works. I'm tearing down the tanks tonight. I've already removed a huge driftwood (that Charles and I picked up in Alabama a couple years ago) so the dust can settle and I can see the fish. Tossed in some peroxide in case I disturbed the bottom too much. Did a little plant thinning. I figure tonight I'll net the fish into a cooler, put the plants in a separate cooler, and toss the soil. The soil at our new place looks interesting and I may use that when we get there. Sort of a dark sandy loam.

If anyone has any advice, I'd be glad for it. I'm moving a longear sunfish, some turquoise darters, and yellowfin shiners, and what may be bluehead chubs. I'll have peroxide at the ready if they look stressed. The drive on Friday will take about 11 hours I figure. Thankfully it's cool out. Turtle gets her own little cooler with a wet towel. There may be a couple crayfish, too, if they haven't escaped.

Where are you moving to? Here it is, you knew it was coming:

Update your profile with your new location information.

I have expectations to live up to, don't you know. Really, though, good luck on the move. And I suggest one of those converters that take your car power and convert it into 110V AC. That way, you can aerate on your trip.

I have one of those converters, they work nice. They just plug into your car outlet/cigarett lighter and have a regular outlet and you can plug in your air pump or anything else you might want to use in the car. I think they can be bought for around $20.