Fish tank courier
empty tanks, door to door
A fish tank carrier for aquariums, stands and cabinets, anywhere in the UK. One driver from the collection address to the door at the other end, no depots in between.
- Tanks, stands and cabinets
- Vetted local drivers
- Nationwide, seven days a week
- Fixed price before you book
Get a quote anywhere in the UK in 10 seconds
Fast, free, no obligation
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Same-day available • No hidden fees
Getting a fish tank moved
Tanks travel drained and empty. Once the water is out, a glass or acrylic tank is a heavy, awkward, fragile box with no good handholds, which is the exact job Porta was built for. Pick your tank size from the list, add the two addresses, and the platform matches you with a driver whose vehicle suits the load.
Second hand buys collected from a seller, tanks going into storage, tanks following a house move a week after the fish did. Most tank jobs are one of those three, and none of them involve livestock.
Fish, plants and water are not carried. Keeping fish alive over a long journey needs oxygenation, temperature control and someone who has done it before, so if the livestock is moving too, book a specialist aquarium service for that part and use Porta for the tank itself.
What we move
Tanks, the cabinet underneath, and the kit that goes with them.
Tanks up to about 80kg
The two, three and four-foot tanks most people have at home. One driver can usually transport aquarium glass at this size with a hand at each end, and it is the cheapest thing in this range to send.
Large tanks, 80 to 150kg
Six-foot and bigger, thick glass, often braced. These are heavy before anything goes in them and they are a two-person job every time. Worth measuring the doorway before booking rather than on the day.
Stands, cabinets and sumps
The cabinet usually weighs more than people expect, and sending it with the tank is better value than booking it separately. Sumps, external filters and lighting rigs travel alongside.
What stays at your end
Water, substrate, rocks and livestock. Tanks travel empty and dry, and there is no draining service to book alongside the job. Fish, plants and invertebrates are a separate move: keeping them alive in transit takes oxygenation and temperature control, which is what specialist aquarium firms are for.
Nationwide, seven days a week
Loaded once, secured, and unloaded once.
Why book it through Porta
The same network that moves furniture and white goods, pointed at something more fragile.
One pair of hands, start to finish
Glass does not enjoy being sorted. Your tank is loaded once, secured, and unloaded once, with no conveyor and no hub in the middle of the journey where something heavy can land on a corner of it.
Door to door, not kerb to kerb
Collected from the address and delivered to the door at the other end. Where a tank has to come out of a room rather than off a driveway, the two-person option puts hands on both ends of it.
Big tanks are a van job
A four-foot tank on a stand is heavier and more awkward than most furniture, and it travels flat and strapped rather than upright in a car boot with a prayer. If it fits in a van it goes. Anything wanting a lorry, a tail lift or a crane does not.
A van already going that way
Matching the tank to a driver already making the trip is what keeps a long route sensible, and it keeps empty miles off the road.
How much does it cost?
Real prices, worked out on distance and the weight of the tank.
| Item | Local (~30 mi) | Regional (~120 mi) | Long-haul (~200 mi) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fish Tank (<80kg) | £77 | £134 | £185 |
| Large Fish Tank (80-150kg) | £195 | £337 | £463 |
One item, one driver, door to door. Prices include VAT. Distances are approximate and your exact price is worked out postcode to postcode and shown in full before you book. A two-person team is extra and scales with distance, so it is quoted with the job rather than as a flat fee.
Anything over 80kg is a two-person job, and the second person is priced with the job rather than added as a flat fee. Send the stand at the same time and it is one trip, not two.
How to move a large fish tank safely
Whether a courier is doing it or you are, four things decide whether it arrives intact.
An evening is kinder than an hour
A four-foot tank holds well over 200kg of water, and "mostly drained" is not drained. An inch left in the base still sloshes and still flexes the silicone on every corner the van turns. The last of it comes out with a sponge.
Substrate and rocks are the real risk
Gravel and sand grind against the base pane every mile the van moves, and rockwork left in place is the single most common reason a bottom pane arrives cracked. Bagging it separately is worth the rebuild of the aquascape later.
Tape belongs nowhere near the glass
Packing tape pulls silicone and leaves a residue that is worse to remove than it was to apply. Lids, braces and light units travel better as separate pieces anyway.
Corners are what fail
A tank almost never breaks in the middle of a pane. It goes at a seam or a corner where something caught it, so that is where the cardboard and the blanket earn their keep, along with both top rails.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to move a fish tank?
A tank under 80kg is around £77 on a local run of about 30 miles and roughly £185 over 200 miles. A large tank between 80 and 150kg is nearer £195 locally and £463 long distance. The price follows the postcode-to-postcode distance and is confirmed in full before you book.
Do you move the fish as well?
Porta moves the tank and not the fish, so livestock, plants and water stay behind. That is not a hedge: fish in transit need oxygenation, temperature control and experience, and specialist aquarium services exist for exactly that. If the whole working system has to move, one of those is the right call rather than a courier.
Can you move a fish tank to a new house?
An empty fish tank, its stand and its cabinet can be moved to a new house anywhere in the UK, collected from one address and delivered to the door at the other. The fish, plants and water are not carried, so those need arranging separately, either yourself over a short distance or through an aquarium specialist.
Does the tank have to be completely empty?
A fish tank has to be completely empty before it travels, and dry if you can manage it. Water weighs a kilogram a litre and it moves as the van does, which flexes the seams. Substrate and rocks come out too, because they grind against the base. A tank that arrives cracked almost always went in with something still in it.
Can you move the stand and cabinet too?
Stands and cabinets travel with the tank, and sending them together is usually better value than booking two separate jobs. Add the cabinet to the job when you get your quote, and put its rough size in the notes box so the driver knows how much space it takes.
How do I move a large fish tank without breaking it?
To move a large fish tank without breaking it, empty and dry it, take out the substrate and rocks, remove the lid and lighting, then protect all four corners and both top rails. It travels flat rather than upright, and a big tank should never be carried by the top brace. Beyond about six foot it is two people or it is a repair bill.
Is the tank covered if it breaks in transit?
Goods-in-transit cover is included on Standard and Premium bookings, along with SMS updates. Essential is the stripped-back booking option for when you want the lowest price and need neither. Photographs of the tank from all sides before it goes turn any later conversation about a chip into a five-second one.
How quickly can a tank be collected?
Collection is usually days rather than weeks, because it depends on a driver already heading that way. If it genuinely has to move today, book it as a same-day courier job instead, where the timing is guaranteed once a driver is confirmed.
Do you cover the whole UK?
Porta covers the whole of the UK for fish tank transport, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, seven days a week. Longer routes cost more because the price follows the distance, but nowhere is off the map.