Help! Advice on moving an Eel

Hi everyone, im in need of some advice.

I have a small juvenile Snowflake Eel, i acquired him a month ago from a friend who had to give it up, wanting one myself, i was happy to oblige. hes about 6-7 inchs long now, and a bit on the skinny side - ive been upping his feeding the last week or so just to get him into the shape he should be. im currently housing him in a 20 gallon tank, part of a 30 gallon system, a 20 gallon sump ( the eels current tank) and a 10 gallon display tank. yes, i know the tank is too small for the long run, and pushing it as is, but im setting up a 55 gallon tank a few months from now, so until then, my sump is his home.

in the system he currently lives, im running a Aqua Remora C skimmer, a penguin bio wheel HOB filter ( no bio wheel ) and i have about 9 lbs of live rock, and a 3 inch deep sand bed in the 10 gallon tank ( i keep pretty good water quality in my system [ 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and between 5-10 ppm nitrate - depending on when the water change was )

Heres the problem - i HAVE to take him with me out of town for about a week ( 2 hour car drive ). The tank he is in now is part of a 30 gallon system, and all the live rock and the live sand bed are in the other tank, that i cannot take with me.

My question is, can i simply transport him ( i was planning on using a 5 gallon bucket with a battery powered heater and air pump ), and take the tank with, and fill it with tank water from the old system, and just run a basic HOB filter with a heater and an air-stone for a week until i return home to the main system? my concern is that with the lack of the biological filter, will ammonia levels rise to quickly and harm him? should i take a few pieces of live rock with me? would using an old filterpad from the old system in the HOB temp filter be a good idea?

The faster i get some answers, the faster i can start preparing.

Any and all advice is welcome!

 

I am curious as to why you need to take him with you? This seems like it would be very stressful on the eel. you are likely gonna cause a cycle if you move the tank for the week. IMO it would be best to find another option for him for the week if possible?

 

thanks for the input!
Its a crazy long story involving dorm policies and what can be moved over the break, and what we can leave when we are gone, so i cant really not move him, and there aren't many other options then to take him home with me.

Just to clarify, the tank he is currently in, holds no real value in the biological filter - the live sand bed and live rock are all in the other tank, which will be staying where it is.

 

Ahh I got ya, kinda the old rock and a hard place. You can do the HOB and heater for a week, I would take some pieces of pvc to make spots for him to hide in. Also you can start soaking replacement pads for the hob in the current tank so they have a good bacteria build up on them. Keep some Prime on hand in case ammonia and nitrites begin to rise. Keep on top of testing in case the moving causes a cycle and you should be good. Best of luck.

Jake

 

Personally, I would not recommend transporting the tank with water in it. Any shift in weight could break a seal or crack the glass. The eel should be just fine in a 5g bucket with 2 or 3 pieces of LR and a battery air pump. It is only a 2-hour drive.

 

Sorry, I agree with bill, move in pail.

 

Thanks so much! That was my general plan. He does have a decoration in the tank that he uses as his cave that i got when i recieved him, so im not too worried about that. i do have some AmQuel ammonia-out but i think ill buy some new / fresh of it, because the stuff ive had has been used over the last year or so and i dont really trust it

When you say soak the filter pads ( i plan on using the same type of filter i use on my main that im going to use on the temp tank ) should i just pop a fresh pad in a few days before the move and then bring that one with me for the temp filter / tank?

Also, do you really think there is risk of a cycle? im just curious because the sand has only been in his tank for a few week ( since i got him ) i feel like i shouldn't make that huge of an impact - correct me if im wrong, im only going of of what ive seen and read.

 

Oh definitively not! Great point though. i wasn't planning on moving the tank with any water in it, except what gets trapped in the sand. i was just going to put 5 gallons of it in the bucket with eh eel, and the rest in gallon jugs for the ride.

do you think i should put a piece or so of LR in the bucket and then the temp tank after arival? i would gues it ould move around and maybe pin him inside the bucket, and also it could have die off in the bucket causing more ammonia, stop me if im wrong. thats just what i would assume.

 

Does the filter hold 1 pad or 2? If it holds 2, i would switch one out at a time so as to not significantly reduce the bacteria load on that small of a tank. If only one, soak the other pad in the sump or corner of the tank for a week to get bacteria growing on it, then switch it out.

 

I'd put the LR in the bucket- just move it around until it kinda "locks" into place so it won't shift. Add a battery pump w/airstone and it should be fine. As long as you keep the sand and rock wet, it shouldn't cycle.