Question: Moving Day

Hello again,

This Saturday I am going to be moving into my college dorm. I was wondering what I should do with Squishy?

I know I am going to have to take her out of the tank to transport her there. I was planning on maybe taking the water out of the tank, putting Squish in a container of water (should it completely cover her or just enough to cover her back?) with a lid on it and popping her in the fridge until Saturday. Then Saturday waiting until the last possible second to get her, have my dad hold onto her container until we get down there then quickly set up her tank etc etc and plop her back in.

Does this sound like a good idea or not? I do not want to stress her out or hurt her, I just want to get her to my dorm safely.

Also the road trip is about an hour or so, would I need to put her in a cooler or anything to keep the temp down?

Thanks for any advice!

Hmmm...are you going to take the old tank water with you? because you can't just empty the tank and then fill it up with tap water again and 'plop' her back in.

Well every time I clean out the tank I always empty out all the water and then put new water in and let it sit and drop in the dechlorinator stuff I have and then after a few hours I put her in, there has never been a problem with it before.

When I took my axie on a trip with me, I bought one of those little terrarium-like fish tanks, it was a 1 gallon. Then I bought a cooler that the terrarium fit snugly in. It worked very well.

I kept the cooler in my passenger seat rather than the floorboard to reduce the bumpiness. I also put the seatbelt around the cooler to keep him strapped in, because I just love the little guy that much!

And my trip was 3 hours, so you should have no problem transporting yours. You might not even need a cooler.

I refridgerated my axie the night before I left, and put him in the cooler at that temperature. But whenever I would stop to check on him, I would look in and see him not moving hardly at all and think he was dead or hurt, when really the water was just cold and he was lethargic because of it. But that kind of freaked me out. If I were you, I would just try to keep him at his normal tank temp for the trip, maybe a little cooler.

And I'm still relatively new at this, so correct me if you guys disagree. However, I did manage to bring home a perfectly fine axie after my road trip.

I've transported them in a large bucket that is only filled about 3 inches. Just put the top on it. An hour drive is nothing.

Thank you so much!

I am so nervous about moving her. The last time she was out of the tank she got stressed out and threw up!

I think I will just take apart the tank and everything and put her in a bucket with a lid on it and then since there will be like 5 people going with me someone can just hold on to her and keep her steady while we drive.

Thanks again! This has helped me to calm down ha.

Erm... by the by, before anyone else says it (and I don't mean to sound preachy) but emptying out and replacing all of the water each time you clean your tank isn't really recommended, even if it has worked before so far.....

You really need to let your water cycle for Squishy's sake

el301 said:

Erm... by the by, before anyone else says it (and I don't mean to sound preachy) but emptying out and replacing all of the water each time you clean your tank isn't really recommended, even if it has worked before so far.....

You really need to let your water cycle for Squishy's sake

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Not to slam you down on this but as long as the water quality is maintained it is quite feasible to change the water completely. That is how most laboratories maintain their animals. What we need to avoid is sudden changes in water quality and temperature. Therefore if we must change the water completely then it should be done on a regular basis (even daily) to avoid the stress of varying conditions.

However for pets I do favour the permanent aquarium with a good nitrogen cycle. It looks nicer too!

Yes, you are definitely correct John, and complete daily water changes were how I managed to keep my axies healthily in the fridge over the worst part of summer.

I guess I was assuming that someone doesn't completely clean their tank out daily, or twice a week even, but more often than not lets a week or even two or three go by before a tank clean out, especially when it's a complete clean.

But if you clean it out quite regularly AGreenDarkness, then good work! And I apologise for knocking your water techniques :blush: Let's see if you can keep it up over the semester

I don't know, everyone always talks about water quality and temperature and stressing the animal out. I clean my tank about once every 3 weeks, I use regular tap water and then put in dechlorinator. Squishy is happy and healthy. I might be doing a lot of things wrong, but she isn't suffering from it.

I used to check my water parameters and make sure everything was fine, but it always was so I don't worry about it anymore. When I clean out the tank I take the water out, I put more water in. I pretty much treat my tank like there is a gold fish in it. Squishy eats well, swims around, lounges in her hiding place and is actually quite personable. Not trying to put down anyones advice because it is always welcome as I am still a little bit new to this whole thing. But Squishy has done great in her tank even when I first got her and she was itty bitty.

If something should turn sour, I would obviously fix it but as for now she seems quite content in her home. Thanks for the advice though.

Hi there, when I transport Axies - I usually put them in a fish (or freezer bag); with some tank water in ~ and tie it up (as they do with fish from aquatic shops). Then, I pop the bag in a 1ft plastic tank. Squishy should be OK in there for hours, as long as it doesn't get too warm.

Also, I don't fuss too much with water either; I've got 13 Axies at the mo - been keeping them the same way for a few years now; never had a problem. Every one has their own way; as long as the Axie is healthy and happy ...all's good

Hello again,

Everything went ok on moving day.
The morning of the move I emptied her tank and put her in a container with plenty of water and stuck her under a blanket to keep her cool and calm.

We packed everything into the car and headed out.

About 3 minutes into the drive we went around a turn and half the water spilled all over my mother. She did not find this as funny as I did. We had to stop and check on her and everything seemed fine. We got to the school and I took her up and set the container in the shower with the blankets still covering her so she could have some time to chill out.

We filled up her tank and I put in the dechlorinator. We headed out to get books and such and when we came back a couple hours later I put her back in the tank and all seemed well.

A few hours later as I was laying on my bed she swam over to the side of the tank closest to me and proceeded to have a hissy fit. She swam back and forth slamming her nose into the sides of the tank and then she would stop and look at me like HELLO I AM HERE! so I figured she was hungry. She ate about 3 pellets and then decided she hated me and is now hiding in her vase and refuses to come out.

I hope this is normal. I am going to keep feeding her the pellets since I havent located a bait shop close to here. I hope she will calm down and return to her old self.

Any advice is welcome.
Thanks!

Sounds pretty normal. She's just had a major change in environment (even if it is her old tank, the outside looks different). Give her a couple of days to settle in.