My fish moving adventure...

[kitten]

Sorry for the length, but I figured I'd give a little description on how the move went for those who may try this in the future or were interested to know how it went... 

My original thread is here: http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=12305.0

Well all the fish have been moved.  I ended up buying two medium size hard coolers for the pleco and the oscar, plus to large fine mesh nets.

As worried as I was about the pleco it was easier than the oscar to move.

Thank goddess I took all the rocks out of the tank before trying to get the oscar out.  As soon as I tried to move the nets into position it freaked out and practically flew out of the tank, then proceded to beat the crap out of itself as it very quickly swam from one end of the tank to the other as it flopped around.  Meanwhile the pleco is still in the tank with it so the pleco got freaked out before I even tried to catch it.  ::sigh::

Anway, once everthing calmed down again I decided to leave the oscar alone at the one end of the tank and take the pleco out.  No sudden movements is definitely key with a pleco this large.  Once out of the water it stiffened up and I was worried it's spines might get caught in the net, but I slowly lowered it into the awaiting cooler and to my surprise it swam out of the net and settled on the bottom of the cooler.  Too easy 

Well now back to the oscar.  At this point the oscar is resting partly sideways leaning on the side of the tank, there are now a few scales missing and it's colours are fading.  Oh great I thought, now I'm going to loose my oscar.  So with a heavy heart I slowly put the nets in place again, going slower than I did with the pleco.  Well I get the oscar in the nets, and keep them together like a clam shell... the oscar started to freak out as soon as I had it out of the water.  I moved as fast as I could to get it into the cooler, and shut the lid.  Well it continued to freak out in the cooler for what felt like forever but was probably only a few seconds.

While hubby put tape on the lids of the coolers I got the tank ready for transport, and rescued as many baby snails as I could find.

The tank was moved without a problem, refilled with half orignal water which I had saved in large jugs and half water from the new place.  I didn't clean the filter in any way just to try to make the adjustment as painless as possible.  But at this point I really wasn't sure the oscar was going to make it.

The oscar and the pleco were in they coolers for about 4 - 4 1/2 hours from start to finish.  Getting the pleco back in the tank was as easy as getting it out.  The oscar was more docile this time, but I think it was seeing stars anyway from flipping around so much in the cooler on the trip to the new place.

I left the lights turned off in the tank for the night... I kept hoping the oscar would be ok, but I really wasn't sure.

Got up in the morning, flicked the light on and everyone looked fine.  The oscar was missing a few scales from the ordeal but otherwise was back to normal.  Even the snails were none the worse for the trip, one was even laying a new batch of eggs that very morning. 

All in all it was an adventure I'm hoping I don't have to repeat anytime in the near future. 

Thanks for the helpful advice guys I appreciated it 

[beowulf]

Good to hear things went well.  BTW are you related to Babble by any chance?  Just wondering due to the length of your post. 

[sas]

Great all went well, all that worry and stress for not . Being an Oscar owner myself I've experienced this also . It certainly gets the ole ticker pumping especially if there's a peanut gallery shouting advice  . Before we moved our Oscars I had read somewhere that in Florida people actually release they're Oscars into the wild when they get too big , and fisherman catching them love the fight they give but apparently they taste terrible . I didn't believe it at the time but after moving them I can see it.