Fish in a bucket

fishboy15 · Jun 10, 2015

How long can my 2 clowns, 1 fire fish and 1 chromosomes survive in a bucket with a heater and airstone till I move my fish tank to my new house. I want the tank to be 100% ready before I put the fish back in. I want to get a big laundry bucket, fill it up with tank water, with a heater and airstone, and add the fish. How long can the fish stay in the bucket while I set up the tank and make sure everything is ready? Couple hours? 1 day? Couple days? Week?

Like I said I just want my tank that I am moving to my new house to be ready such as the parameters and temperature before I add my fish back in. So how long can they stay in the bucket for?

I want to take out all the water and put them in buckets, take out the rock and put them into those buckets, throw away my old sand and buy new sand. Then put the fish into the big bucket with a heater and airstone while I move my tank to the new house. Then set the tank back up, add the new sand, add 90% of the old water, add the live rock and make sure everything is good before I add the fish into the tank.

Does this sound okay?

Final questions. How long can the fish stay in the bucket for?

Is my procedure for moving my tank correct? Am I doing anything wrong?

Paul B · Jun 10, 2015

It all depends on the bucket surface area, which isn't very much, and the size of the fish. A bucket is stretching it for surface area and I don't think they will live "comfortably" for more than a few hours, if that. I would use two buckets if possable as that would double the surface area. If those fish are tiny, it should be OK

eatbreakfast · Jun 10, 2015

I would recommend a big rubbermaid storage bin, or even a 10g aquarium, they are pretty cheap, and provide added surface area. Also, throw in a piece or 2 of live rock. The first concern is oxygen, the next will be ammonia, the airstones will help with oxygen and the live rock with ammonia. Still, overnight would be the longest I would trust this, and preferably shorter.

HiddenUser · Jun 10, 2015

When I moved, I put my fish into 5 Gal salt buckets...one fish per bucket for the most part. They were in the buckets for approximately an hour? I moved in the late fall so it was actually below freezing outside when I was loading up my car. I cranked the heat in my car to help prevent a drastic change in water temp during transport. It was an uncomfortably warm ride over to the new house, but the water temp in the buckets didn't drop.

When I arrived at my new house I emptied the buckets (of fish and live rock) into a few 30 gallon rubbermaid containers, added airstones and heaters to each container, then started to put my tank back together.

I actually ended up being short on water because I added about half as much (new) sand as what I previously had so the fish spent the night in the rubbermaid containers while I was making more water. Since the fish spent the night in the containers, I actually put my Vortech pumps onto the sides of the containers to agitate the water surface as well.