Tropheus: Transporting them

Q&A about Tropheus and Petrochromis

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Pam Chin
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Tropheus: Transporting them

Post by Pam Chin »

Dear Pam,

I'm going to be moving my 450 liters (120 gallon) tank from Indianapolis to Denver. I have 17 Tropheus duboisi and 16 Tropheus moorii "Kachese" and 4 Synodontis petricola, and will be bringing them along with me. Do you have any advise or have you seen any articles on helping me with the move? Any advise is much appreciated...

Thanks, Mike.
Pam Chin
Site Admin
Posts: 1798
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2003 9:11 am
Location: California, USA
Contact:

Post by Pam Chin »

Dear Mike,

The ideal situation would be if you could leave the fish with someone and have them shipped to you after your tank is set up. I have done this several times for friends that have moved. Do you have a local club, that might be able to help you?? If that is not a possibility, then I would individually bag the fish. This way you can at least see how they are taking it. The problem with moving them in a large container, is that they just get beat to death. They are trying to stay still and the water is constantly moving, and they are trying to keep their balance. They will be sloshing around in all that water, and it will literally wear them out. Tropheus are easy to stress out, and even though it will be dark this doesn't mean that they won't be fighting. I would not feed them for at least a week. Then bag them individually, and place the bags in fish boxes or coolers. You worst enemy on this move is going to be the cold. If you pack them with oxygen, they would be okay for probably 48 - 72 hours. If you check on them, and they are polluting the bags, then you can always do a water change. This might seem like more work, but I know what kind of work you have already put into these fish, if you have had them for a couple of years.
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Pam

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