Moving House with a Fish Tank

Jun 09. 2022

When you’re moving house with pets, it’s important to factor their welfare and safety into the logistics of moving day. You’ll need to give dogs, cats, guinea pigs and the like special care and attention. This is from before the removals company arrive through to moving into your new property. One of the most challenging pets to move will be fish.

If you have a fish tank to move to your new premises, be prepared that this will take an investment of time and effort to ensure that it’s done correctly. This will give your fish the best chance of adapting to their new location. You’ll need to consult with a veterinary practice, a pet shop or an aquarium to get specialised advice. Different species of fish, for example, will need different provisions to ensure that they are safely transported.

Here are some tips in the run up to moving day:

Preparation is key
There’s equipment that you’ll need in advance of the moving day to make sure this process goes smoothly. To retrieve the fish from the tank, invest in nets as well as the bags and polystyrene fish transporting boxes to keep the fish in during transit. Have containers ready to store the water from the tank. It’s important to save as much of the existing water that the fish have been used to, as possible.

You will also need containers to store the plants and accessories from the tank. As you remove each piece check throughly that there aren’t any fish hiding inside holes in the rocks or inside any of the decorative pieces. The plants will need to be kept in water during the move to stop them from drying out. There will also be the need for specialist equipment such as a dechlorinator, an air pump and a PH testing kit.

Its also important to clean the filters prior to the move and know where you will be locating the tank in the new property. Choose somewhere for water pumps/ filters to be plugged in. The tank should also be somewhere with reduced exposure to sunlight. This will reduce the formation of algae.

Make it swift
Reduce the time that the fish spend out of their usual environment. This will make the move less stressful for them. They will need to be the last that comes out of the old property once the removal company have emptied everything else. They’ll also need to be the first that goes into the new property. Make building the tank and re-introducing your fish the priority once you’re in the new home. Remember that the fish themselves will not be able to travel in the removal lorry. You will need to arrange for them to travel with you to the new destination.

Even after you’ve unpacked and settled into your new place, remain vigilant about the welfare of the fish. They will still be under stress and it will take them time to fully adapt. So don’t, for example, buy new fish to add to the tank whilst the exisitng fish are still acclimatising.