I recently had the pleasure of moving from Seattle to Starkville, MS in order to pursue employment. I learned a lot from my moving experience. So I can benefit from this experience in the future, I’ve made a journal. This is mostly for my own benefit, but I was thinking the list members might find it helpful.
Because of the length of the move, I had professional movers ship my household goods. I had them move the tanks. For my fish and aquarium plants, I had a good friend keep them for a while, until I could get some tanks set up in my new digs. After about 6 weeks, I returned to Seattle, at which time I packed up my fish and plants and moved them as my carry-on luggage with Delta.
First, I gave away all of the fish I had gotten tired of, or knew that I could get locally. This meant I got rid of the adult angelfish and marble hatchet fish I had for a while, but had tired of. The remainder of my fish (the breeding pairs of N. anomala, the pairs of rams, the cories, the Farlowella, etc.) I planned to bring. I pulled out the plants and drained the tank as much as I could. Because I have a lot of plants and have spent some time on the substrate, I kept the gravel in the tanks.
Packing the tanks involved taping the lids on securely and wrapping the glass surfaces with bubble wrap. This part of the move went pretty well. Movers are accustomed to dealing with glass-sided furniture, so the tanks weren’t damaged. I do wish I had enjoined them to carry the tanks right-side-up, however. It seems obvious, but one mover complained bitterly about the water leaking out of my 30 gallon tank as he carried it on end into my kitchen. Needless to say, this made a mess of the substrate.
The maximum dimensions of carry-on baggage are 24Lx16Wx10H. I found a box close to this size that opened on top. I also got several large fish bags. I was planning to double-bag the fish, so I got plenty. I had to pay $1 apiece for these at the fish store! Actually, I don’t mind paying for them, but the employee told me the owner wanted them to charge $3 a bag. This is outrageous.
The carry-on information was for Delta. It’s probably standard but a really good idea to check. I also should have called the national 800 number to verify their procedures for carrying live fish. When it’s time to fly, Delta Airlines will be the annoyed, irritated employee standing in front of you interpreting their policy. If he/she decides to jerk you around, it’s good to have the facts.
Stop feeding the fish at least 3 days prior to the move.
Plan to spend a couple of hours bagging the fish. Leave plenty of air in the bags and use Amquell or equivalent. Bag the fish securely. We double-bagged the fish by filling and sealing the first bag, then putting it in the second upside-down. In retrospect, this wasn’t the best idea. Because of the pressure loss on the plane, the bags will leak out a little during the flight. If the top of the inner bag is up, you won’t lose any water. Be sure the bags are full of air when you leave.
Pack around the bags with foam peanuts or crumpled newspaper. If possible, also place a layer of peanuts or paper on the bottom of the box. Since the overhead compartments are directly over the AC ducts, the bottom of the box could get a little chilly. The packing will reduce the jostling of the bags and add thermal insulation.
Don’t seal the box too well at this point. You will probably need to open it at some point. Seal it prior to boarding your first plane.
At the airport, check in at the counter, even if you don’t need to check any bags with them. Verify with the airline rep that it’s ok to bring the live fish on. Remember her/his name. (More on this in a minute).
Don’t put the fish through the security x-ray machine. It probably won’t kill the fish, but I was worried that it might affect the fecundity of my breeding fish. Ask for them to inspect the fish. To my surprise, this was the only hitch in the process. The security guard wanted to know who I had checked with at Delta, was this ok, who had I spoken to, etc. This is where the airline rep’s name comes in handy. You don’t want to go adding other people with their varying interpretation of the regulation to the mix. The more people, the more likely you’ll get someone who thinks the regulations tell you not to do this.
Once you clear security, seal the box up tight. At this point, you should be ok with the airline. The flight attendants couldn’t care less what’s in the box, so long as it fits in a compartment and the bags don’t start leaking. Because of the AC ducts in the bottom of the overhead compartment, try to position a blanket under the box (see above).
Get out of the airport and home ASAP, and get those bags floating!
I had a pretty good experience, losing only two rams. One was dead in the bag when I arrived, and the other was in obvious distress. From the symptoms, it looked like ram #2 had swim bladder damage (difficulty staying off the bottom, difficulty staying upright). I think this happened on the plane, caused by the pressure drop that makes your ears pop. It could have also have been injury due to all the jostling from carrying the box or simple ammonia poisoning, however. I’m not sure what I could have done differently to improve their odds.