Which Fish First?

Hey, just a general wonderment.

I am getting rid of my 35l and upgrading to a Fluval Roma 125 (which has just been set up). I am going to move over all my fish in stages, but not sure what to move first. I currently have 1 red honey gourami, 5 male guppies, 6 sunset neon tetras, 4 ember tetras and 3 otos. The tank is heaving a bit atm cause I took the 6 sunsets of a relative who wanted to get rid of their tank. Which fish should I move first? Just wondering which would be the most suitable to the first cycle. I am weary of introducing any new species of fish because this is the community which I will be focusing on in my new tank, along with some panda corys.

Thanks!

Thanks for the advice!

The red honey is definitely gonna be my third addition, cause i have already had some trouble with dropsy in another red honey. :/ As far as I have red, the embers can be quite sensitive, but I think they may be on the same level as the sunset neons. The guppies are definitely going to be last before the otos.

Just curious whether people think the tetras are going to be a good idea or not?

Also, by cycling I just meant the first addition! I'm testing the water later this week to see how it is doing but probably gonna wait another week or two before I add anything in. 

Yep, I'd do a fishless cycle too.

It's what I'll be doing with my 30" tamk when I set that up.

Another vote for fishless cycle. It should be very quick as you can transfer some existing filter media across to seed the new filter, then add ammonia to feed the bugglies 'till they multiply up to a suitable ammount..... and then add the fish (with due acclimatisation as the water will be different in some way or another).

Your other option is to put all the media from the 35 litre filter inside the new tank's filter and move all the fish at the same time. The old filter has the right number of bacteria to deal with the waste from the current fish. You can chop up sponges to make them fit the new filter. Though if you want to keep the honey gourami in the old tank a while longer, leave a bit of media and that fish behind in the old tank.

You would need to keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels in both tanks, doing water changes to get rid of them if you see either - if you do leave the gourami and a bit of media behind, you might not get the proportions of old media quite right.

Moving water from the old tank will, unfortunately, do nothing. The bacteria we want live in the biofilm which is strongly bound to surfaces in the tank (mostly inside the filter media as that's where their preferred conditions are). There are virtually none of these bacteria free in the water. Because they live in the filter media, this is why we have all been suggesting moving it - either a small bit to seed a fishless cycle, or just about all of it and move just about all the fish at the same time.


If you intend getting more fish for the new tank, wait until you are sure you are not going to have an ammonia or nitrite spike, then you can add more fish, a few at a time, testing for ammonia and nitrite between each addition. You can get another batch when you've had a week of double zeros after the last addition.

Do you mean the ammonia is 0.2 in the 35 litre tank?

It is possibly due to the heavy stocking - you did say yourself it was overstocked because of the fish you recently took in. I would still move all the fish and the filter media to the new tank simple because there is a lot more water in the new tank to dilute that ammonia. I would do it as soon as you have finished planting.
Just mix all the old media with the new in whatever way it will fit. If possible, putting the old media first in the direction of water flow is better as any loose biofilm with its embedded bacteria will be swept into the new media.

Can't you leave the Ottos in the smaller tank and add to their numbers, they prefer being in groups 5-6 and then you'd have to go shopping for new fish