Hello. In relation to another thread I have going we are in the process of moving some fish to another pond.

In essence I am getting rid of a largish pond in the garden. It breaks my heart as we love the fish. the house is a family house and we have purchased it from the parents of my wife. The pond has always been there. We are removing it as we have a small child and intend having another one, although we could get metal grills made and the like, I feel it totally destroys the point of a pond as a feature.

As a result of the age of the pond there are some large fish in there. They have been breeding as well. I think there are probably 40 fish in there of varying sizes. But I would say 7 of them are at least 1.5 foot and one is easily 2.5 foot.

There are lots of black fish as well, will silver/gold undersides. Would be nice to know what they are but they have obviously been going like rabbits in there haha.

Anyhoo, to the point.

The great news is my stepdad is going to take ont he fish and has built a custom pond for the task. Specialist materials were used its basically a big concrete square, which has been lined with fibreglass and a final coat of black stuff specially for ponds. We have been told to leave it to dry/cure for two weeks then fill with water and over flow for two days (!) then leave the water in for at least a week before introducing fish.

The plan is as follows.

Today I will take the main pump from the current pond and set it up in the new pond. This includes a three pass filtration box which has lots of good stuff in the bottom which I will leave in.

Then a week Saturday is the big move. I need some serious advice on how to get these fish out of a very mature pond and transported 20 miles to the new location.

I have been told to wrap the big ones in pond weed then cover with a bin liner. But this scares the hell out of me, we really want the big ones to survive.

And advice great fully received.

I wouldn't wrap the fish in anything as it will only stress them out the best way is to put them into separate plastic bags if you can and transport them in a polystyrene box of some sort, failing that a large tub of some sort

I know this says koi but the basics are the same

http://www.pond-doctor.co.uk/longtransportingkoi.html

The only thing i would say about pond-doctor artivle, its finical unsound to hire an oxygen cylinder and then you would have to purchase a regulator, and the cylinders are very unsafe unless you know what your doing and even then the experts get hurt and get it wrong. Instead just try and trap as much air as possible in the bag. Then during the journey, keep the car nice and cold and keep the fish covered (if ur using a box you willnt need to) and just try and do the move on a cold day if you can

i have been poking around on ebay to buy fishbags for fetching lango's goldfish and moving mine to other tank, and found some which you fill with water because they are supposed to be breathable:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-KORDON-BREAT ... ZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

what do people think???

I dont trust anything which is suppose to be waterproof but still breathable, to me it sounds very hard to do. Only way i can see it working would be some special material which can use osmois .

Save your money and just buy normal ones

Just found this from TFF although they are talking about fish out of a tank the basic still applies to pond fish too

Preparation

Do not feed the fish for at least 24 hours before moving - 48 hours would probably be better, especially if the journey time will be longer, or the time taken to set up the tank again will be extended. A day or two without food will not harm any fish, and will minimise wastes in the transport container, which definitely could harm the fish. This is particularly important for large predatory fish, which may regurgitate food when stressed, which will rapidly pollute the water.

Try to obtain plenty of fish bags (a local store might be willing to give you a few, or failing that, at least sell you some cheap). It's also useful to obtain a polystyrene/styrofoam box to put the bags in. A plastic cooler box would also be suitable. This will provide some physical protection and help to maintain temperature. An alternative to fish bags is buckets with lids which fasten down tightly. These are particularly suitable for fish with spiny fins or fish which are likely to bite through bags. Make sure the buckets have not been used with anything potentially toxic, and rinse them well before use.

Buckets with lids can come in very handy for transporting fish!

Whichever you use, you should only fill the bags or buckets about one-third full of tank water. This leaves a good size air gap above the water. The fish will be fine as long as they have enough water to swim freely in. Water can only hold a certain amount of oxygen, so having an air gap above the water is vital to allow extra oxygen to dissolve into the water. Pinch fish bags near the top as you close them, so that they contain as much air as possible - this might take a bit of practice if you're not used to doing it. Use as many bags or buckets as possible to minimise the number of fish in each one.

Thanks for the help everyone.

I have managed to secure some fish boxes. Not what you might think, These are large polystyrene boxes that fish mongers use.

The fish will be transported in a large Merc Van which does not have soft suspension and the base is low to the floor, so hopefully we can nearly keep the boxes open for the journey.

If your going to use open boxes make sure you put the fish in a black bin liner or cover them with something so no light can get in, this will keep them calmer.

Can't remember where I read this and sorry if it is really obvious but if you put the fish boxes in the van so the fish face the side of the van rather than the front it stops them banging their noses every time you have to brake

That sounds like a fair solution to me.