Sold fish tank, some questions on transposrting fish.

I sold my tank. I am going to be doing a lot of traveling in the next two
years and dont have time to take care of a tank. So I was wondering if
someone might answer a few questions.

The person picking up the tank wants to transfer the fish using buckets. The
fish are a large Pleco, Mollies, swords, tetra;s, cichlids and a couple of
other fish. I know to transefer them in the water from the tank. When she
puts the tank back together on her end, what is the reason she needs to use
some of the same water the fish are coming out of? I need to be able to
explain it to her.

The time from removing the fish from the tank to getting them back in the
tank is probably going to be 2-3 hours. Is this OK, or is she going to have
to figure something out faster? She lives about 20 miles from me and will
have to set up the tank before putting the fish in, she doesnt have another
tank. This is her first tank.

Anything else I need to know?

TIA
J

"JeffinMS" wrote in message
...

The person picking up the tank wants to transfer the fish using buckets.
The fish are a large Pleco, Mollies, swords, tetra;s, cichlids and a
couple of other fish. I know to transefer them in the water from the tank.
When she puts the tank back together on her end, what is the reason she
needs to use some of the same water the fish are coming out of? I need to
be able to explain it to her.

She really doesn't need to use old water. Tell her not to clean out the
filter in tap water and remove all the needed bacteria to prevent a serious
ammonia/nitrite surge. Maybe just squeeze it out in some tank water and
move it moist.

The time from removing the fish from the tank to getting them back in the
tank is probably going to be 2-3 hours.

Tell her not to let them get chilled if you live where it's cold.

Is this OK, or is she going to have
to figure something out faster? She lives about 20 miles from me and will
have to set up the tank before putting the fish in, she doesnt have
another tank. This is her first tank.

Anything else I need to know?

Just the usual. Explain to her how YOU set the tank up when new, about
products to remove chloromines and chlorine, the nitrogen cycle, the need
for a varied diet etc.

--
ZB....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

On Feb 3, 3:25?pm, "JeffinMS" wrote:
I sold my tank. I am going to be doing a lot of traveling in the next two
years and dont have time to take care of a tank. So I was wondering if
someone might answer a few questions.

The person picking up the tank wants to transfer the fish using buckets. The
fish are a large Pleco, Mollies, swords, tetra;s, cichlids and a couple of
other fish. I know to transefer them in the water from the tank. When she
puts the tank back together on her end, what is the reason she needs to use
some of the same water the fish are coming out of? I need to be able to
explain it to her.

The time from removing the fish from the tank to getting them back in the
tank is probably going to be 2-3 hours. Is this OK, or is she going to have
to figure something out faster? She lives about 20 miles from me and will
have to set up the tank before putting the fish in, she doesnt have another
tank. This is her first tank.

Anything else I need to know?

TIA
J


Agreeing with what Zebulon said about not needing the old tank water.
The nitrifying bacteria are on all the surfaces inside the tank. The
plants, decor, gravel, filter material, etc.
You'll want to explain to her to keep these wet (you can use old tank
water for this) so the N. bacteria don't dry out.
Tell her to set it up as soon as she gets home.
Fill the tank with tap that's been dechlorinated (or if your town uses
chloramines, use a proper conditioner for that), set up the filter
(again, like Zeb said, rinse the filter pad in old tank water and then
keep it wet, and not to use tap water for this as it will off the
bacteria she will need), heater (if needed..but let it warm up to room
temp before adding to tank if it's cold outside, and then another
10-20 inside the filled tank before turning it on), run the filter,
float the fish. Gallon sized freezer Ziplock bags should hold a
smaller to medium Pleco. I say freezer because they are stronger and
should hold up to his armor.
I prefer to put a few small fish (molly size) per sandwhich size
baggy, or one medium size fish per baggy. Anything larger needs an
obvious larger bag to float in.
She need to do 10-20% water changes weekly, vaccum gravel, and watch
for a light bacteria bloom. This would be a white cloudy tank. It's
the nitrifying bacteria colony building up lost numbers in the move.
Nothing crazy needs to be done, just normal water changes. It will
clear on it's own in time. What ever she does....tell her not to
change 100% of the water and sterilize the gravel if this happens.
It's a very common mistake newbies make when they have a bacteria
bloom and then they must start all over again.
That would put the fish at risk. A 2-3 hour ride shouldn't be too hard
on the bacteria colony as long as they stay wet, and the tank gets
refilled asap.
Don't bother cleaning off any decor, as it will also have the N.
bacteria on it and evey little *live* bit helps in this situation.
Again, just make sure they stay wet. They don't have to be sloshing in
water, just moist and not dry out.
In the following weeks she should watch for any signs of stress on the
fish, feed lightly and enjoy her new tank.
Hopefully she has a computer and you can lead her here. = )

"Tynk" wrote in message
oups.com...


Agreeing with what Zebulon said about not needing the old tank water.
The nitrifying bacteria are on all the surfaces inside the tank. The
plants, decor, gravel, filter material, etc.
You'll want to explain to her to keep these wet (you can use old tank
water for this) so the N. bacteria don't dry out.
Tell her to set it up as soon as she gets home.

Thanks for all the information from everyone. I was fortunate. The girl came
to get the fish tank and she was a little 15 year old. I was trying to
explain to her what she had to do when she starting telling me she didnt
need this and that. But she sounded like she knew whats she was talking
about and I asked her if she had fish at home. She informed me she had a 75
gallon sal****er setup and two freshwater tanks. She said she had been
having aquariums since she was 9 and now she was 15. The kid knew more about
them than I do thats for sure. So she knew what she was doing. The
transition went smoothly and I no longer keep fish. I want to thank everyone
here who has helped me over the last 2 years and I am now signing off as I
no longer have a need to post to this newsgroup. Thanks for all the help.

J

"JeffinMS" wrote in message
...
I sold my tank. I am going to be doing a lot of traveling in the next two
years and dont have time to take care of a tank. So I was wondering if
someone might answer a few questions.

The person picking up the tank wants to transfer the fish using buckets.
The fish are a large Pleco, Mollies, swords, tetra;s, cichlids and a
couple of other fish. I know to transefer them in the water from the tank.
When she puts the tank back together on her end, what is the reason she
needs to use some of the same water the fish are coming out of? I need to
be able to explain it to her.

What is more important is to give here some sponge from the filters
the sponges need to be dirty (cycled) so that they still carry the life
support bacteria
transporting some of the aquarium water will transport spores of these
filter bacteria
but the cycled sponges are much much better!



The time from removing the fish from the tank to getting them back in the
tank is probably going to be 2-3 hours. Is this OK, or is she going to
have to figure something out faster? She lives about 20 miles from me and
will have to set up the tank before putting the fish in, she doesnt have
another tank. This is her first tank.


get her to get a battery powered airpump
these are excellent to keep fish in buckets oxygenated




Anything else I need to know?


yes make sure the dirty filter media goes with her.
Don't want her killing ya babys with new tank syndrome


TIA
J