Moving fish to new tank

I've got the new 50 gal filled, the filter running, and am waiting for the
temp to come up. I put in the castle and troll and some of the glass marbles
from the 10 gal tank, and threw in the old filter (rinsed the gross big
stuff off with a little cold, non-chlorinated well water but that's it) I
don't have any plants to move to it at the moment- there was a recent
feeding frenzy. (why do they ignore the plants for days or weeks, and then
suddenly go nuts for them????)

When the temp comes up, I plan to move one fish over. Now, I doubt I can set
the heater accurately enough to get the two tanks perfectly matched, so I
figure on putting the 'test fish' in a bag and doing the "float the bag in
the new tank and slowly add the new tank water" routine, like I'd brought a
new fish home. Which leads to the question that is the whole point of this
post - is there something special about the bags the fish store uses? Or,
since I'll be sitting here watching it the whole time, thus limiting the
chance of the fish getting into a corner, can I use a clean new food baggie?
Or should I stop by and bum four fish bags from the LFS?
Thanks,

--
Laurie, Dark Phoenix

"Every dog has it's day, but nights are reserved for cats." -

On Sat, 27 Dec 2003 15:39:01 -0800, "Dark Phoenix"
wrote:

I've got the new 50 gal filled, the filter running, and am waiting for the
temp to come up. I put in the castle and troll and some of the glass marbles
from the 10 gal tank, and threw in the old filter (rinsed the gross big
stuff off with a little cold, non-chlorinated well water but that's it) I
don't have any plants to move to it at the moment- there was a recent
feeding frenzy. (why do they ignore the plants for days or weeks, and then
suddenly go nuts for them????)

When the temp comes up, I plan to move one fish over. Now, I doubt I can set
the heater accurately enough to get the two tanks perfectly matched, so I
figure on putting the 'test fish' in a bag and doing the "float the bag in
the new tank and slowly add the new tank water" routine, like I'd brought a
new fish home. Which leads to the question that is the whole point of this
post - is there something special about the bags the fish store uses? Or,
since I'll be sitting here watching it the whole time, thus limiting the
chance of the fish getting into a corner, can I use a clean new food baggie?
Or should I stop by and bum four fish bags from the LFS?
Thanks,
If you can get the water to within a couple of degrees of each other
you can swap them out with no problem. They can take about 4 degrees
of change without stressing them out.(I believe that is what Ingrid
said). If your heaters have thermostats on them you should be able to
set them to the same thing and get them to about the same temp without
too much trouble.

I use the same type heater in every tank. They usually stay within a
degree or two of each other, depending on the ambient room temp.
My upstairs is about 5 degrees warmer than the downstairs.

Hope this helps. Oh yeah. I have the same type thermometer in every
tank too.

Azul

I moved my fish by putting them in a tupperware-type container with water
from their tank, and then added water from the other tank a bit at a time to
set the temp and it worked. I have tried using sandwich bags, too. Use
Ziploc, though since cheaper brands don't do the trick.

As for temp, I don't use heaters. My house is fairly warm as it is and the
tanks stay around 74/5 degrees anyways. I just got some Angel's however, so
I'll probably have to dig the heaters out now. LOL.

Hope this helps.

Tammy

also watch the water parameters, amonia, nitrates, ph, kh etc.

the bag thing is for easiness in handling and cheap transport. there are
new bags which can keep oxygen in and get co2 out, i wonder how, they are
the new thing at pet shops.

water temp rise can trigger something else, goldfish start their sexual
activity in spring (when the temperatures start to rise) so this moving that
you are doing can trigger their time-sex clock :-)

take care


"Azul" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 27 Dec 2003 15:39:01 -0800, "Dark Phoenix"
wrote:

I've got the new 50 gal filled, the filter running, and am waiting for
the
temp to come up. I put in the castle and troll and some of the glass
marbles
from the 10 gal tank, and threw in the old filter (rinsed the gross big
stuff off with a little cold, non-chlorinated well water but that's it) I
don't have any plants to move to it at the moment- there was a recent
feeding frenzy. (why do they ignore the plants for days or weeks, and
then
suddenly go nuts for them????)

When the temp comes up, I plan to move one fish over. Now, I doubt I can
set
the heater accurately enough to get the two tanks perfectly matched, so I
figure on putting the 'test fish' in a bag and doing the "float the bag
in
the new tank and slowly add the new tank water" routine, like I'd brought
a
new fish home. Which leads to the question that is the whole point of
this
post - is there something special about the bags the fish store uses? Or,
since I'll be sitting here watching it the whole time, thus limiting the
chance of the fish getting into a corner, can I use a clean new food
baggie?
Or should I stop by and bum four fish bags from the LFS?
Thanks,
If you can get the water to within a couple of degrees of each other
you can swap them out with no problem. They can take about 4 degrees
of change without stressing them out.(I believe that is what Ingrid
said). If your heaters have thermostats on them you should be able to
set them to the same thing and get them to about the same temp without
too much trouble.

I use the same type heater in every tank. They usually stay within a
degree or two of each other, depending on the ambient room temp.
My upstairs is about 5 degrees warmer than the downstairs.

Hope this helps. Oh yeah. I have the same type thermometer in every
tank too.

Azul

The tupperware is an excellent idea.

Get as much water from the old tank to the new one, to help cycle it right
away too.
"LoaderLady" wrote in message
...
I moved my fish by putting them in a tupperware-type container with water
from their tank, and then added water from the other tank a bit at a time
to
set the temp and it worked. I have tried using sandwich bags, too. Use
Ziploc, though since cheaper brands don't do the trick.

As for temp, I don't use heaters. My house is fairly warm as it is and
the
tanks stay around 74/5 degrees anyways. I just got some Angel's however,
so
I'll probably have to dig the heaters out now. LOL.

Hope this helps.

Tammy

wrote in message
...
did you do a salt brine treatment of the new 50 gallon? how did you clean
and
prepare the new 50 gallon? Ingrid

Wellll.... filling and draining the 50 an extra time seemed like a nightmare
(I don't have a python.. another thing to save up for- and soon I hope! Not
looking forward to the water changes on THIS one!) so after leaving it open
to the air for a couple of weeks, most of the smell was gone. Then I made up
a strong salt solution and sloshed it about on the corners, repeating
several times and getting it as wet as possible. Then I sopped that out and
let it sit a day before starting to fill. (hides head)

I moved Homer over this afternoon. He seemed very upset for quite awhile,
like he couldn't swim, and I was worried I'd hurt him with the net. Then I
put some brine shrimp in and suddenly all was wonderful. Now he's exploring.
Probably hoping he missed a shrimp. Now to figure out how long it'll be
before moving the other three over.... guess there's no way of knowing other
than watching the ammonia go up and then down??
Thanks,

--
Laurie, Dark Phoenix

"Every dog has it's day, but nights are reserved for cats." -

When I move fish around ( I keep the temps reativly close, withing two or
three degrees ) I scoop here and deposit there.. Keep in mind I do this on
fully cycled tanks of my own. I have had no problems doing this, even with
the tempermental African Cic's.. I have not lost a fish using this method,
although it is probably not advisable. But keep in mind the water temps are
very close if not identicle, the tanks are fully cycled and the water
parameters are very very close together..

Tim..


"Dark Phoenix" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
did you do a salt brine treatment of the new 50 gallon? how did you
clean
and
prepare the new 50 gallon? Ingrid

Wellll.... filling and draining the 50 an extra time seemed like a
nightmare
(I don't have a python.. another thing to save up for- and soon I hope!
Not
looking forward to the water changes on THIS one!) so after leaving it
open
to the air for a couple of weeks, most of the smell was gone. Then I made
up
a strong salt solution and sloshed it about on the corners, repeating
several times and getting it as wet as possible. Then I sopped that out
and
let it sit a day before starting to fill. (hides head)

I moved Homer over this afternoon. He seemed very upset for quite awhile,
like he couldn't swim, and I was worried I'd hurt him with the net. Then I
put some brine shrimp in and suddenly all was wonderful. Now he's
exploring.
Probably hoping he missed a shrimp. Now to figure out how long it'll be
before moving the other three over.... guess there's no way of knowing
other
than watching the ammonia go up and then down??
Thanks,

--
Laurie, Dark Phoenix

"Every dog has it's day, but nights are reserved for cats." -

the biobugs are not in the water unless the water is really cloudy white. they
adhere to the filter media and make extensive colonies on substrate. Ingrid

Get as much water from the old tank to the new one, to help cycle it right
away too.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

DONT USE NETS with Goldfish. use a plastic zip lock or some kind of dish.
watch the ammonia, but if you can move all the media filters over to the new tank
with the fish the tank should cycle in a couple days. if you move 1/2 the media
over, it will cycle in 4-5 days. without established biobug colonies it can take up
to a month if you dont use Biospira. Ingrid

"Dark Phoenix" wrote:
I was worried I'd hurt him with the net. Then I
put some brine shrimp in and suddenly all was wonderful. Now he's exploring.
Probably hoping he missed a shrimp. Now to figure out how long it'll be
before moving the other three over.... guess there's no way of knowing other
than watching the ammonia go up and then down??
Thanks,



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Ingrid,

Could you explain why not to use nets?

thanks


wrote in message
...
DONT USE NETS with Goldfish. use a plastic zip lock or some kind of dish.
watch the ammonia, but if you can move all the media filters over to the
new tank
with the fish the tank should cycle in a couple days. if you move 1/2 the
media
over, it will cycle in 4-5 days. without established biobug colonies it
can take up
to a month if you dont use Biospira. Ingrid

"Dark Phoenix" wrote:
I was worried I'd hurt him with the net. Then I
put some brine shrimp in and suddenly all was wonderful. Now he's
exploring.
Probably hoping he missed a shrimp. Now to figure out how long it'll be
before moving the other three over.... guess there's no way of knowing
other
than watching the ammonia go up and then down??
Thanks,



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.