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Because I will be moving house in a few months I want to hold off adding any more stock (want to add crabros).

But that makes me wonder how my existing mbuna's will cope with moving as it will involve emptying a lot of the tank water out.

Hints...it isn't for a while yet but want to give it some thought so tips would be appreciated.

Last edited by wish-ga at 23-Mar-2005 20:29

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Well for one thing youll want to take about 60% of the current water with you if you can, ive used totes filled with water before to move a 55 gal. And i throw the fish in the totes and this works fine as long as you have a lid. Of course this is only for moves under, id say 4 hours. And if the lid is tight you want to open it every now and then to let some air in. Some people say use large plastic bags with oxygen in them but my method works fine. Throw the gravel in a bucket and rinse it beofre you put it back in, and change your filter carts a week before you move and use the same ones after you move to try and maintain the bio filter. Dont be suprised if your tank cycles again though, mine didnt though. Also take the water with oyu off the top of the tank where its cleaner.

From my experience mbuna handle moving quite well, if you follow all the general rules about moving. They are pretty hardy little fish when it comes down to it. I've moved my mbuna tank 4 or 5 times and have never lost a fish because of it (heatwaves are another story ]:|)

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

i just moved 2 months ago. i had 2 55g, one with haps the other with mbuna and the fish made it through great. didnt lose any. i wound up keeping about 40% of the original tank water and didnt have any cycling issues whatsoever. the whole move took about 8 hours.

How to go about moving your fish all depends on how long the move will take...sometimes tubs/buckets are your best bet, sometimes Bags, however, if its a Long move, you may want to look into a bubble box that will go into a cooler

short move, 20 mins away in car...setup diff matter....


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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

20 min move, isn't that bad. Just put the fish in tubs & cover them well, to keep them warm & less stressfull. Try to keep 50% of the water in Jerry Cans & try to set up the tank on the same day. You must also keep the ceramics & the filter media wet, with the aquarium water. You'll have to do it all in 1 day & so start as early as possible.


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I moved my Mbuna tank back and forth to college with me, at least 15 trips to and fro over the years....which is a 90 minute drive at best. I put my fish in tupperware bowls filled with tank water, then drained the tank totally. When I got to school, or home, as the case was, I moved everything in and filled the tank, using a tap water conditioner, let the filter and bubble screen run for a couple minutes, then readded the fish. Never lost a fish in the process. So its really up to you. The fish experts from this site will tell you to keep as much of your water as you can, which is logical, however, if its a troublesome prospect, it may not be necessary