# what to do with fish during a tornado?



## charliegill110 (May 19, 2014)

we had 2 days ago (completely missed my house, no damage) i don't have a basement and my city doesn't have working tornado sirens. we have frequent tornado warnings but haven't had a tornado in the past 22 years that i've lived here except for twice (both times very recently) so we honestly don't even have a tornado plan or anything. we do have a good hallway to go to but i mean do i just put my betta in the 1gal and set him on the floor? yesterday he was already in the 1gal to treat ripped/bitten fins so we just gathered all the pets on the hallway floor. if this would happen when hes in his normal 45gal tank i don't think there would be enough time to do anything for him. 

2 days ago, i was really stupid, i got a text at 1pm one of those emergency alerts telling me to seek shelter, i was cooking and dismissed it and didn't do anything. at 1:36pm i got an emergency alert on our house phone saying there was a tornado warning (i don't remember whether it said to seek shelter or not) but about 2 and a half minutes later the wind hit. it took me and my sister about a minute and a half running at lightning speed to get our 2 birds into travel cages and into the hallway, the dog and my fish into the hallway, close all the doors and windows and turn the stove off. the wind lasted about 5 minutes in total. but we left all the pets in the hallway until about 15 minutes after the tornado warning expired. if i had acted at the time of the original text i would have had almost 40 minutes to gather everything but i didn't. half because i didn't think anything was going to happen and half because i have no idea what i was supposed to do.


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Honestly, I love my fish and all my pets, but I think this may be a case where you just have to hope for the best. Get the pets you can move easily to safety without risking yourself or your family and leave it at that. How many fish do you have? If it's just the one, then I'd say keep one of those plastic breeder boxes next to or hanging in the aquarium so you can use it to quickly scoop your fish out and go. If it's a true emergency and you can't scoop him on the first try, leave him. Your safety is more important.


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## charliegill110 (May 19, 2014)

givemethatfish said:


> Honestly, I love my fish and all my pets, but I think this may be a case where you just have to hope for the best. Get the pets you can move easily to safety without risking yourself or your family and leave it at that. How many fish do you have? If it's just the one, then I'd say keep one of those plastic breeder boxes next to or hanging in the aquarium so you can use it to quickly scoop your fish out and go. If it's a true emergency and you can't scoop him on the first try, leave him. Your safety is more important.


i just have one betta, charlie. i still have the cup i got him in, for when i do water changes, and its always directly next to the tank. but he HATES that cup and i can only catch him in it when the water is very low or when hes in his 1gal tank. and even then it takes several tries.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

I agree with givemethatfish, if/when you get an alert keep your eyes peeled, first sign of heavy wind get him, if it takes more than 5-6 minutes go to the hallway and pray


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Indeed. We love our pets and we do our best for them, but we can't do anything at all if we're dead.

I've seen people talk about training their betta to accept the cup by putting the pellets inside the cup at feeding time. That might make things easier for you, given a few days time. It took one feeding for my boys to figure out food came from the eyedropper. They learn quick. :lol:

Huh, sudden thought - and I have_ no idea_ whether this is even relevant, since I don't live in tornado country - do you have a ground safe? You can't put a bird in one of those, but you can sure put a betta housed in a cup, and it'd probably be safer than a hallway. Wouldn't work for a fast emergency, but if you got the seek shelter warning and had enough time, you could probably do that.


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## averyecho (May 2, 2014)

I usually just put my fish in tupperware before a storm and keep them on the kitchen counter so I can rush them down to the basement easily. That way, I don't have to do it on the spot.


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