Can I move my fish to a smaller tank?

[BirthdayRainbow]

My goldfish is the last of three I bought together and he is around 17 years old. The tank is 30cm by 60cm and has a lid. The reason I ask is I'm moving house so need to transport him but also I can't lift it easily to clean it out. He has been in this tank since very soon after he came home if not the total time. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

Also, how do I move a fish?! Do removal vans carry pets?

How far have you got to move, as in would fish be out of original for hours? Also fish do get lonely, if a gold fish would it not be better in a big pond with other gold fish? People always offering gold fish to pond's round here.

When I moved my tropical fish I drained the tank down to about 6 inches and the removal men lifted it into the back of my car where I secured it with seatbelts and packing round it. They weren't allowed to transport it for me as that requires a license, but were happy to help with lifting. I've also moved goldfish in a plastic box with a clip lid with holes in it in the foot well of the front seat.

I wouldn't recommend moving a fish that has been indoors for 17 years into a pond, the temperature difference is huge.

It will be a five hour drive. When the two fish died we did buy more smaller fish but he saw them all off so we haven't bought more. I'm not giving him away ! I want to keep him. He's certainly not going into a pond.

I also have three cats and a dog to transport and can't fit them all in my car as it is.

Your fish so your choice, as long as happy. You can transport him in a plastic box with secure lid. Just use same water from tank. He won't need a new tank to just transport. You can get special boxes from fish shops, they often give them away. Doesn't need to be massive or anything.

Good luck with the move

Put him in a bucket with tank water and keep him in your car. Or see if anyone can mind him for a few days. Keep as much tank water as you can (buy economy bottles of water, empty them and fill with tank water) and put the filter sponge in a bag with tank water in it so you don’t kill the beneficial bacteria.

A tank that size will hold about 50-69 litres…just so you know, a goldfish needs about 200 litres to be really healthy and thrive. They’re really intended for ponds. So maybe use the move to upgrade his tank, if you can.

This is confusing as we told the shop we have three fish and they said this size tank so I'd expect it to be plenty big enough for just one fish.

Plus he's 17. I'm sure he's fine.

Pet and aquatic shops are notorious for selling tanks that are too small for the fish and giving bad advice unfortunately.

Remove some of the water and the fish into a bucket to transport it and then drop the water level down to a few inches and transport the tank in a car. Ideally save as much of the water as possible in containers so you don’t end up replacing too much of it. Keep the filter in the tank water.

Pet shops know nothing about fish. Do some googling and you’ll see I’m right. They also don’t sell hamster or rabbit cages that are anything like as big as required, incidentally. But bigger cages and tanks are harder to store and a lot more expensive, so while there are no legal minimum requirements, they stock smaller ones and tell customers they’re OK.

Lifespan means little - animals can subsist in very poor conditions. I’m not saying you’re not doing your best, as you only know what you know. But that doesn’t change the fact that the tank is too small. Goldfish can live for 30 years and grow to 10-12 inches in optimal conditions.

It’s unbelievably cruel to keep a goldfish in a tank that small.