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Moving Betta to College

745 views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  sparrow317 
#1 ·
I'm going to college soon and wish to bring my little guy with me so I bought a 0.5 gallon to put him in temporarily during the trip. I plan to set up his tank as soon as I get into my dorm.
The drive is about 6 hours so I'm a little hesitant to keep him in the small container. I'm worried that he will get stressed out from the sudden enclosure and from possible decreases or increases in water temperature.
Is it okay to keep him in the container for the 6 hours? Should I put him in the container right before I leave or a few hours before?
 
#2 ·
What you want to do is get a box -cardboard is fine but styrofoam is better. Put your betta into the .5 gallon container and place it into the box and wrap it with blankets or bubble wrap (blankets are better). Make sure the box can close or put a piece of cloth over it if it can't (the darkness will calm him). Place the box of the floor or a place in the back that won't slide around. I wouldn't put the AC on too high in the car if you can but obviously you will want AC on. Also some cars have AC vents on the floor that blow cold air along the floor, do not turn these on. make sure who ever drives, drives very carefully and is mindfully not to slam the breaks or accelerate too quickly.

You should put him into the small container as close to the time that you leave as possible. You want to pack your car with everything besides to the fish tank and fish. Once the car is packed, move your fish to the small container and take down the tank.
 
#5 ·
You can hold him if you want. I just find that the fish are calmer when you put them in a box.

are your parents ordering anything online for any reason or they might have on laying around in the garage or something? Or maybe ask one of your neighbors? Or just check out the curbs on your street on garbage night :D
 
#6 ·
My recommendation is you get a six-pack insulated cooler, rinse it out really well (over-do it) and use that instead of your .5 gallon. It will have a fairly tight fitting lid, it will be more robust, will have a handle for easy carrying and you won't need to bother with blankets, you can just keep him in the passenger floorboards or hold him.

Food grade plastic won't be harmful and you can transfer his existing tank water into the cooler and his shock should be minimal. Put his filter media in there too, and you won't have to completely re-cycle. Heck depending on your filter, and if you have a DC/AC inverter in your car, you might be able to run the filter!

If money is a huge thing, you could use a styrofoam cooler instead, but you'd have to be more careful with it, of course.
 
#7 ·
I would get a 2 large fish bags from the fish store. Fill halfway with clean water, add Prime and Betta. Leave a lot of air in the bag. Seal with rubberbands fish store-style. Put second back over first (opposite direction) and seal with rubberbands. Store in an insulated box/cooler (no ice!). You can add packing peanuts or towels to stabilize the bag. He will be fine in there for half a day.
 
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