Need advice about fish evacuations.In an emergency situations here.....

[F15CathyShark]

Hi everyone,

I'm live in Santa Rosa, California and I'm in a bad situations here.....The wildfire has been really really bad, there is going to be some power blackouts and the fire might affect my neighborhood.My family and I are going to evacuate to my sister's place in San Francisco and I want to bring my fishes with me specially my gold nugget who is my favorite fish.
I'm looking for some advice for packing and transporting my fishes and my sister has 10 gal tank(for her moss balls) in her place running they might just going to stay in there for now.

The fishes I have right now are:
1 gold nugget (might be a 085?)
1 albino Cory
4 Black Harlequin Rasboras
1 Koi angel
1 male HM betta

P.s the angel and gold nugget are in the same tank, others are in the betta tank
GN and angel are not big yet

[Dis]

Put them in one or two 5 gallon buckets and drive safe.

Do a water change at your sisters. Also bring your filter from your tank and put it on her tank.

You can also store your fish in a larger tote, use a sponge filter and a heater. Doesn't have to be an aquarium

Goodluck, hope you guys and your house is ok

[F15CathyShark]

Put them in one or two 5 gallon buckets and drive safe.

Do a water change at your sisters. Also bring your filter from your tank and put it on her tank.

You can also store your fish in a larger tote, use a sponge filter and a heater. Doesn't have to be an aquarium

Goodluck, hope you guys and your house is ok

Thank you so much,Dis!

[MarcW]

As Dis mentioned you can use anything to hold your fish which is food safe. I would get a plastic storage box or tote with a tight fitting lid, move the gravel/sand and any decorations/wood which fit into that container as well as any filters you have if they are sponge or internal, and your heater. Then fill the container to 50% or more with the water from your aquarium, then top off with dechlorinated water like you were doing a water change.

Then put the fish in clip the lid on securely, once you get to safety you can plug your filter back in and leave the fish in the container for as long as needed, just continue water changes like you would do at home.

If you have an external filter like a canister or hang on back, you could put the media from within the canister into the container to keep it wet, then re-load the canister with it once you arrive at your sisters.

I kept all of my fish, in a plastic container which held about 40-50 gallons for a couple years after I moved as I was too busy renovating our new house to sort out the fish. I kept doing water changes every week and had a filter/heater and they were fine.

Good luck, I hope things go well for you and the fires are put out soon.

[TwoTankAmin]

Just this person's opinion, here, so you should do what you are most comfortable with and which is possible. You may not be able to get the things I suggest below.

If you can bring your tank and it has no live plants, I would do the following:

1. Get a bunch of fish bags from a local fish or pet store, pay them if you must. Get more than you think you need and get several sizes. Bear in mind you will be double bagging everything.
2. Get a 5 gal bucket and lid (Home Depot etc.). Use it to hold tank water and filter media. (Not knowing your current tanks size, you may need 2.)
3. Do a 50% water change unless you have done your weekly maint. in the past few days.
4. Remove the filters and put the media in the bucket. Put any decor in the bucket as well. The actual filter can get try in transit, the media should not.
5. Catch the fish and bag them in tank water. Bag the pleco, angel and betta in their own bags. The rest can go in one bag. Bag is filled 50% with tank water and 50% with air. The second bag should face the opposite way as the inner bag. (Fish must be submerged whether the bag is upright or on its side.)
6. Transport the tank with just enough water to keep the substrate damp. Tanks are not designed to be moved with much water/weight in them as it will cause them to crack if it becomes too much when it is carried or placed on an unlevel surface or is only partially supported.
7. At the other end reverse the process. Set up the tank, add the tank water from the bucket(s), get the filter and heater set up. Add some tap water to the tank (remember to dechlor). Make the tap warm enough to help warm the tank water you added.
8. You want the water at a good temp for the fish, the heater in place and turned on and the filter running, then you can pour in the fish and the tank water from the bags.

I have never had good results moving fish in bucket and fish will travel better bagged and placed in the dark vs buckets and other hard sided containers which they can be thrown against while in transit. Using as much of your tank water as you can will prevent most problems with the S.F. water being different than your's.

If you have live plants this changes things some. If they will lay down and stay covered in about an inch of water above the substrate, you can move them with the tank. If they cannot, then you remove them and use a bucket or bags to transport them in water or wrapped in wet newspaper and then bagged with an ounce of water or so.

Even though you are an hour+ drive to S.F., the fish have to be put into whatever container you use in advance and then at the other end it will take time to set things up for them. So it is likely they will be "in transit" more like 4 or 5 hours.

[F15CathyShark]

Just this person's opinion, here, so you should do what you are most comfortable with and which is possible. You may not be able to get the things I suggest below.

If you can bring your tank and it has no live plants, I would do the following:

1. Get a bunch of fish bags from a local fish or pet store, pay them if you must. Get more than you think you need and get several sizes. Bear in mind you will be double bagging everything.
2. Get a 5 gal bucket and lid (Home Depot etc.). Use it to hold tank water and filter media. (Not knowing your current tanks size, you may need 2.)
3. Do a 50% water change unless you have done your weekly maint. in the past few days.
4. Remove the filters and put the media in the bucket. Put any decor in the bucket as well. The actual filter can get try in transit, the media should not.
5. Catch the fish and bag them in tank water. Bag the pleco, angel and betta in their own bags. The rest can go in one bag. Bag is filled 50% with tank water and 50% with air. The second bag should face the opposite way as the inner bag. (Fish must be submerged whether the bag is upright or on its side.)
6. Transport the tank with just enough water to keep the substrate damp. Tanks are not designed to be moved with much water/weight in them as it will cause them to crack if it becomes too much when it is carried or placed on an unlevel surface or is only partially supported.
7. At the other end reverse the process. Set up the tank, add the tank water from the bucket(s), get the filter and heater set up. Add some tap water to the tank (remember to dechlor). Make the tap warm enough to help warm the tank water you added.
8. You want the water at a good temp for the fish, the heater in place and turned on and the filter running, then you can pour in the fish and the tank water from the bags.

I have never had good results moving fish in bucket and fish will travel better bagged and placed in the dark vs buckets and other hard sided containers which they can be thrown against while in transit. Using as much of your tank water as you can will prevent most problems with the S.F. water being different than your's.

If you have live plants this changes things some. If they will lay down and stay covered in about an inch of water above the substrate, you can move them with the tank. If they cannot, then you remove them and use a bucket or bags to transport them in water or wrapped in wet newspaper and then bagged with an ounce of water or so.

Even though you are an hour+ drive to S.F., the fish have to be put into whatever container you use in advance and then at the other end it will take time to set things up for them. So it is likely they will be "in transit" more like 4 or 5 hours.

Thank you, TwoTankAmin. Unfortunately I don't have any resources available to that for now but I will try this in the future.

[F15CathyShark]

As Dis mentioned you can use anything to hold your fish which is food safe. I would get a plastic storage box or tote with a tight fitting lid, move the gravel/sand and any decorations/wood which fit into that container as well as any filters you have if they are sponge or internal, and your heater. Then fill the container to 50% or more with the water from your aquarium, then top off with dechlorinated water like you were doing a water change.

Then put the fish in clip the lid on securely, once you get to safety you can plug your filter back in and leave the fish in the container for as long as needed, just continue water changes like you would do at home.

If you have an external filter like a canister or hang on back, you could put the media from within the canister into the container to keep it wet, then re-load the canister with it once you arrive at your sisters.

I kept all of my fish, in a plastic container which held about 40-50 gallons for a couple years after I moved as I was too busy renovating our new house to sort out the fish. I kept doing water changes every week and had a filter/heater and they were fine.

Good luck, I hope things go well for you and the fires are put out soon.

Thanks,MarcW. I just checked my house and the only thing with lids I got is a large pet turtle carrier box which can fit in my GN's dift wood and fill up to around 2 gallons of water

[MarcW]

I guess as its for turtles it has several holes in the lid? Maybe not the best thing to put water in for a car journey.

As TwoTank suggested bags would be great for fish, in the absence of 'fish' bags do you have any large sandwich/freezer bags which you can securely tie a knot in, they could be used in an emergency, so long as you double/triple bag the fish and pack carefully, preferably in a cooler with screwed up newspaper filling any gaps, just be aware of any fish getting trapped in the corners of the bags and make sure there is plenty of air in the bags (50%+).

Certainly try to keep any filter media/sponges wet if you can, it would be fine in a Tupperware lunchbox if it has a rubber seal or again a few food bags securely sealed.

Hope this helps, good luck.

[F15CathyShark]

HI,
We are safe now, the evacuations gone well. Thank you everyone as much!