Making Moving A Tank As Painless As Possible…

Since you'll be removing the plants, do that before attempting to catch fish. Then drain the water down to a few inches - less water = less space for them to escape to. Then use 2 nets - hold one still and use the other to steer the fish into the first net.
If you can arrange some sort of tank divider to herd the fish into a small area of tank that will also speed things up.

The pond net as the one to keep still would be very useful as it's a bigger target to 'encourage' the fish towards 

The house we want does indeed have a pond already in the garden. It’s very much a wildlife pond though with no filter etc so I’m not sure our current pond inhabitants would be coming with us. But there is at least scope for fish in an upgraded pond in the future!

I made a start on things today - cleaned all the hood of the tank up, took out all the smaller pebbles surrounding the main hardscape, trimmed back some of the anubias, removed hardscape, cleaned and replaced. I’d say 2 more sessions will have me at the point where I can’t do any more in preparation.

Finally got round to a final session. We’ll sort of - I’ve got the the point where to do much more I’m going to have to ruin the current scape.  That said as per my last message I’m very much feeling like I need to get the tank looking better - especially as our viewings on our house are drying up it seems (despite lots of people saying they wanted second viewings etc only one has actually taken place and they need to get their house on the market yet).

Below are 2 shots of the tank one recent and one from about 5 years ago (before I had kids  ) when I was more active with my aquascaping etc and I’m starting to compare and see that the wood needs a big rearrange anyway so that’s on the cards for tomorrow all being well. I’ve also posted one of George Farmers early scapes which I’ve always liked and so am trying to take some inspiration from there too.

I think I need something big in the back right and am thinking of getting x2 Amazon swords to fill that space back there and to provide a lighter leaf colour than the dominant dark anubias I have currently. Furthermore the tall and thin plant ( a crypt balansae ) is just too tall and the leaves drooping back down just looks wrong - I will first see if this can be replanted further back to prevent this somewhat. I need a stem plant next - something fast growing that can also help with any parameter fluctuations when/if  we move. Again something light in colour.

I’ve discovered a few plants in the tank which had ended up covered by anubias which I think will regrow nicely too to add more variety.

I need to split up the patch of grassy stuff over on the left and distribute it around the tank more and dot about some anubias amongst the rocks. Finally I think I need to move some pieces of wood over to the left of the scape and get the rocks sticking out more haphazardly.

Well that’s the start of a plan anyway! I’m hoping the purchase of a bundle of three plants which I think is how they are still sold will allow me to feel proud of the tank again - my passion is coming back for aquascaping even if the timing isn’t quite right!

The wood itself is also something that will not be coming to the new house -  most of it is rotting and needs replacing, I might try pressure washing it first - it is 7 years old though and I fancy some manzanita I’ve found online!!