Moving fish to a new tank

[lisacush]

Hello. I'm new here and new to keeping fish. I recently got a 70 litre
tank and I got it set up and my first fish in - 6 White Cloud Mountain
Minnows. Everything seemed to be going well - the tank cycled beautifully,
the fish appear active and healthy and I've now added a small Ancistrus and
three ghost shrimp. Again everything seems fine, no ammonia or nitrite
build up, nitrate acceptable -- but then disaster, the tank sprung a leak!

Things are stable now. I've removed about a quarter of the water, which has
stopped the leak (the water was coming from near the top of the tank). There
are few enough and small enough fish for there still to be plenty of room.
The shop has replaced the tank and the new tank is currently sitting full of
water in my bathroom to check for leaks (although I did that with the old
tank too with no apparent problems). I was very lucky - the shop didn't
have a duplicate of my tank and said they couldn't get another the same - so
they upgraded it to a 121 litre at no extra cost!

The question is - how do I successfully move my fish into the new tank
without losses? Most of the equipment and so on will need to be transferred
(I have a larger heater for the new tank but the filter will be the same
one). Gravel, plants ect. all need to move too. So I have to move
everything quite quickly - I can't set up the new tank over days because
that will leave nothing in the old tank for the fish in the mean time
(except the old heater). Any advice on how to do this with the minimum
stress to the fish?

Thanks in advance,

sannse

[Flash Wilson]

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 12:53:45 +0000 (UTC), lisacush
> wrote:
>The question is - how do I successfully move my fish into the new tank
>without losses? Most of the equipment and so on will need to be transferred
>(I have a larger heater for the new tank but the filter will be the same
>one). Gravel, plants ect. all need to move too. So I have to move
>everything quite quickly - I can't set up the new tank over days because
>that will leave nothing in the old tank for the fish in the mean time
>(except the old heater). Any advice on how to do this with the minimum
>stress to the fish?

I would do this in the same way as moving house, only you don't
have the hassle of driving anywhere! That is, bag the fish and
plants, strip down, put new tank in place, build up...

http://www.gorge.org/fish/moving.shtml
describes how I moved house.

I would acclimatise the bagged fish to the new tank as if they
are just bought - floating, adding water to the bag gradually
over half an hour - because so much "new" water may be a surprise
to them, and they will have cooled a bit while waiting for you
to set up the new tank.


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[lisacush]

Thanks! That seemed to go well .... except for the bit when I dropped a bag
of fish - they flapped, I flapped, I miscounted and crawled all over the
floor looking for one that was already back safely in the bag (those minnows
are *tiny*).. maybe naturally clumsy people shouldn't keep fish!

But panics aside, all is now OK. The new tank looks wonderful, the fish all
survived the move (I waited 24 hours before typing that, just in case).
They are eating and seem happy and healthy.

Thanks for the advice :)

Now for some Cherry Barbs (I know, I know, wait a week or so to make sure
the new tank is OK *sigh*)



> I would do this in the same way as moving house, only you don't
> have the hassle of driving anywhere! That is, bag the fish and
> plants, strip down, put new tank in place, build up...
>
> http://www.gorge.org/fish/moving.shtml
> describes how I moved house.
>
> I would acclimatise the bagged fish to the new tank as if they
> are just bought - floating, adding water to the bag gradually
> over half an hour - because so much "new" water may be a surprise
> to them, and they will have cooled a bit while waiting for you
> to set up the new tank.
>

[Flash Wilson]

On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 20:25:39 +0000 (UTC), lisacush
> wrote:
>But panics aside, all is now OK. The new tank looks wonderful, the fish all
>survived the move (I waited 24 hours before typing that, just in case).
>They are eating and seem happy and healthy.

Oh good :-)

>Thanks for the advice :)

No probs!

>Now for some Cherry Barbs (I know, I know, wait a week or so to make sure
>the new tank is OK *sigh*)

I would - to make sure the filter is working 100% and the fish
dont get any stress related illness, etc. But I know the feeling
of "WANT FISH NOW!" :)




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