Hello all,

I wonder if any of you have ever thought about having a tank in an RV?

I'll be traveling across New Zealand for 6 months with my daughter in a RV following Te Araroa soon and I was thinking about taking this opportunity to teach her about the hobby and the magic life in general, it's probably crazy idea but here is what I'm thinking.

Gear

If I am able to get it I plan to use a 40L+ storage bin as a "tank", with a  hygger single head sponge filters USB air-pump USB water pump and a diy heater. This will all be strapped down with compression straps some where in the middle of the car.

Livestock

Some nano fish like guppies or white clouds,  a cory gang/kuli loach, the local mud snail or some other snail and hopefully the endemic freshwater glass shrimp to complete it.

Plants

I would like to use native aquatic plants and mosses though i'm unsure if i can take take them from the wild? Either way I plan to use loose river gravel for the bottom so it can roll around a bit with Java Moss and  Anubias attached to an ornament glued to the bottom with some Lucky Bamboo or Pothos and floating plants for good measure and might even try to put some soil in a mesh bag to see if it will grow something.

 

Thanks for reading looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

p.s. I'd love to get livestock and plants from local hobbyist should any one be on my route and have something extra or want to show us round there fish room please contact me

I Googled car aquarium and got lots of interesting ideas but not quite what you had in mind ?

The Chinese have produced a car with an aquarium built into a seat rest console.

I'm sure there is a way to build your idea but, if the idea is to introduce your daughter to nature, I would be inclined to catch stuff to put in a holding tank, wherever you stopped. Find out all you can about what you have found in that location, then let it all go again before you move on.

The hardest part is keeping the water in the tank while travelling, i have used clip down lid eskys before with a battery operated pump powering an airstone and a riser pipe to allow airflow back out opf the container, that and screw top buckets has been the most successful.

On 9/1/2022 at 1:41 PM, Caryl said:

I Googled car aquarium and got lots of interesting ideas but not quite what you had in mind ?

The Chinese have produced a car with an aquarium built into a seat rest console.

I'm sure there is a way to build your idea but, if the idea is to introduce your daughter to nature, I would be inclined to catch stuff to put in a holding tank, wherever you stopped. Find out all you can about what you have found in that location, then let it all go again before you move on.

haha i never did try googleing that, that one does look cool, but probably just stocked when the car is booked, still shows the concept could work...

i am also planing todo the catch and let go , there is no legalities with doing that?

but it's a bit limited in scope and doesn't teach by doing just seeing, with guppies they might breed 2x on the trip

you'd see no problem with me taking tropical fish between the big islands? 

On 9/5/2022 at 8:19 PM, livingart said:

The hardest part is keeping the water in the tank while travelling, i have used clip down lid eskys before with a battery operated pump powering an airstone and a riser pipe to allow airflow back out opf the container, that and screw top buckets has been the most successful.

tell me about it, i'm thinking 20 different ways but its got to also be viewable, at the moment i think a 40l storage bin with cling wrap over the top compressen strapped together and then strapped down to something... 

i gotta find whats best for the fish... and van... if i could find something 40l clear plastic with screw top i'll take that.

tell me about this riser pipe please, do you have any photos of your setup?

O my gods! i just hope this was a 5 min art piece.

Catching and letting go back where you caught it should be fine. No problem taking fish between islands.

I transported fish in large 30L(I think) barrels with leakproof lids but they are dark blue so not see-through. I got them from a paint shop. They were used to bring paint powder into the country so maybe they are now using clear ones? You can lie them on their sides and they don't leak. I have never had any success with cling wrap for stopping leakage.

On 9/11/2022 at 1:33 PM, Caryl said:

Catching and letting go back where you caught it should be fine. No problem taking fish between islands.

I transported fish in large 30L(I think) barrels with leakproof lids but they are dark blue so not see-through. I got them from a paint shop. They were used to bring paint powder into the country so maybe they are now using clear ones? You can lie them on their sides and they don't leak. I have never had any success with cling wrap for stopping leakage.

i did look at many clear plastic paint pales and drink dispensers but sadly i have to realistic as to what i'll be able to get and for what price 

im going for more mitigation and containment will be a fun learning experiment as long as i can avoid any major disasters  

would it be ok if i found some of the local glass shrimp to add to the tank? they would just be such a wonderful addition, and might be ok at 22 if i get them far enough north...

 

 

The shrimp will be fine and can take 5 - 26C.

Not sure if you will be able to open this link...

 

17 hours ago, Caryl said:

The shrimp will be fine and can take 5 - 26C.

Not sure if you will be able to open this link...

 

 

and you don't think it matters where i catch them? 

As far as I know it doesn't matter as they are found all over the place.

sadly the plan has been poo pooed and won't be happing, probably for the best... but maybe we shall try buggies instead 

Bugs would be interesting. Just make sure their container is escape proof ?

so in the end sadly the van proved too small for this, o well maybe in the future 

Oh well, at least you had fun considering options ?