Author Topic: Transferring fish to new tank (Read 6079 times) 19 replies

Sue · « **on:** February 17, 2014, 04:14:39 PM »

I thought I'd start a new thread about transferring my fish to a new tank. It will help demonstrate one way to do it, and how to avoid any pitfalls I make.

I currently have a 125 litre tank on which the bracer bar has become detached. Because I wanted to replace it with a new, larger tank which was not taller than my current tank (I'm not very tall) I went for a custom built tank - most off the shelf, larger tanks are taller than the 125.
The tank was delivered on Sat 8 Feb - with a sticker on it saying not to put anything in it till 15th. OK another week to wait on top of the 8 weeks I'd already waited, but on the plus side, the cabinet was ready built so I didn't have to.

The hood houses the lighting; two T8 tubes with an external ballast. I have not connected the lighting yet, though I have tested it, as I wanted to put the hood out of the way till the fish are in.

So far:
Friday 14th - washed the inside of the tank as best I could with lots of wet paper towels and a few dry ones to finish off. The tank is too heavy to take outside at 42 x 18 x 18 inches (~ 107 x 45 x 45cm) and 10mm glass.
Sat 15th - put 6 inches of water in the bottom, as recommended by the maker. No leaks.
Sun 16th - filled tank up to around the level of the bottom of the hood. Put the heater in, and also a spare filter filled with carbon in a bag to remove any chemicals left over from making it.
Mon 17th - the temp is exactly the same as the heater setting! Still no leaks.

I measured the water in, bucket by bucket - I checked the volume of the bucket by weighing a jug of water to get 500ml, then adding water with the jug and checking the markings on the bucket.
There are currently 182 litres water in the tank, with room for a couple more. The post-it in the photo marks the bottom of the hood.

Mistake number 1.
The tapwater at this time of year is very cold. If you put 6 inches of cold tapwater in a tank in a warm room, you soon get condensation all over the glass in contact with the water. I used warmer water (about 10⁰C) to fill up the top.

To be continued......

jesnon · « **Reply #1 on:** February 17, 2014, 05:55:20 PM »

Ooh good luck Sue!

Sue · « **Reply #2 on:** February 18, 2014, 12:11:52 PM »

Tuesday 15 Feb - I now have sand in the tank.

I bought a bag of sand several weeks ago and washed most of it then. I wasn't sure how much I'd need as the three tanks currently with fish in used three quarters of a bag between them. I have just put in the last quarter of the old bag and all the new. Luckily the brand of sand I use washes clean quite quickly, only 5 or 6 rinses - I've heard of people doing 10+ before their sand is clean enough.

The way I washed the sand was to put a couple of inches in the bottom of a bucket, fill half way with water, stirring the sand with a large spoon. Then empty the water and repeat till the water looked clear. I needed to wait a couple of seconds after stopping stirring to allow all the sand to sink.

The sand I use is beige coloured and it has small black and white granules as well - you can just make out the black specks in the photo. Because I am going to stay with just java fern, which does not grow in the substrate, and will try Richard's idea of planting other plants in a pot the sand is not very deep.

The water is not cloudy yet, but I only put the sand in half an hour ago. There has not been a bacterial bloom yet either, something I was expecting. Maybe it'll come in a day or two. The bacteria that cause the bloom feed on organic chemicals such as those leaching out of the silicone sealant, and blooms are very common in new tanks. One possibility is the carbon in the filter - carbon removes organic chemicals. There is also a thin layer of Polyfilter (the stuff made by Underworld) so that might help too. Only time will tell if I get away without a bloom

Tomorrow - moving day!

Sue · « **Reply #3 on:** February 19, 2014, 02:42:06 PM »

Wed 19 Feb

Finished! It has taken me all morning.

Being me, I do things the hard way. I wanted to know the exact amount of water in the tank once everything had been transferred over.

I removed 14 x 7 litre buckets of water from the new tank. Most of it went into a 70 litre dustbin, 7 litres into a second bucket, and the rest went down the drain. Total removed = 98 litres. I put 182 litres of water into the new tank so 84 litres remained. Added enough dechlorinator for 84 litres since I didn't add any when I filled the tank - no sense adding it water iIwould eventually throw away

. Added enough dechlorinator for 7 litres to bucket 2.

Then removed water from the old tank, 12 x 7 litres, 11 went straight into the new tank and I kept one bucketful. 84 litres old tank water removed.

Filter removed from old tank and placed in new. Decor removed from old tank into bucket 2 (water removed from the new tank) to wash them, then into the new tank.

Fish caught. Eventually. Even with just 2 inches to swim in they wouldn't play nicely. They went into the last bucket of old tank water; the fish and last bucket of old water put in the new tank.
Ember tetras x 9; green neon tetras x 7; Microdevario x 12; endlers x 5 (or maybe 6, I lost count); dwarf chain loaches x 3; male cockatoo apisto ( female died recently, she had a swelling on her side); amano shrimp x 1 (unless one was clinging on to the decor during the transfer process); zebra nerites x 2 - they were clinging onto the decor! And Sundadanio x 6 transferred to the 50 litre making 9 in there in total.
Those of you with good memories will notice I haven't mentioned honey gouramis. I have lost them over the last three months. Maybe I'll get more when the tank has settled.

Topped tank up with water from the dustbin - 12 litres.

Started with 182 litres, removed 98, leaving 84; added 84 litres water from old tank bringing it up to 168 litres; added 12 litres water back in. Total = 180 litres. I don't have just 2 litres worth of decor, I filled the tank up a bit higher than before.

Tonight, my husband will help me carry the very heavy hood down from the spare room, I'll attach the lights then we'll put it on top of the tank.

Mistake number 2
When you have small fish in your tank, they can fit into the siphon tube. If you take your eyes of the tank end, they can get sucked up. 1 ember tetra went into the new tank with the second bucket of old tank water. Before removing bucket 3 I contrapted a strainer for the end of the siphon tube.

The old tank is now empty. I removed the sand by siphoning it out with the last 2 inches of water and used the rest of the water in the dustbin to wash it. OK, started to wash it. I ran out of water before it was clean. Still need to finish that off. Dried the tank out, making sure to clean the corners. I just need to clean the lid and empty the cupboard then it can go.

Sue · « **Reply #4 on:** February 20, 2014, 10:21:49 AM »

I fed the fish half portions from Sunday to Tuesday, and nothing on Wednesday (move day). Checking the stats this morning (Thursday) I have:
ammonia = zero
nitrite = zero
nitrate = between 5 and 10 (tapwater has 5ppm, checked that too)

So far so good. I will continue checking ammonia and nitrite for a few days more.

jesnon · « **Reply #5 on:** February 20, 2014, 10:50:31 AM »

Sorry to hear you've lost some fish recently Sue. Sounds like you're nearly all sorted with your new tank though. .. pictures needed!!

Sue · « **Reply #6 on:** February 20, 2014, 11:10:25 AM »

Honey gouramis don't live that long - well in my tanks. These were about 18 months old.

The female apisto is another matter. She and the male were from a batch of eggs laid in my tank almost 2 years ago. I kept a male and female. They spawned several times last year, raising free swimming fry, which were eaten as soon as they left their cave. Then the female started to change. She developed a slight swelling on one side, stopped being yellow and her fins grew extensions. If it wasn't for the fact the she had laid fertile eggs which hatched into fry I would have assumed she was a sleeper male. These are males which take on female appearance to stop the dominant male picking on them. I kept three of the fry thinking I had 2 females, but one of them was a sleeper male so I had to give him away. All I can think of is that lump. The changes all started when that first showed up, and it got bigger over the months. Maybe some sort of tumour secreting male hormones? Whatever the cause, she and the male had been sizing up to each other and if she hadn't died, something nasty would have happened before long.

Photos to come once the lights are on. I should have bagged the fish and acclimated them to the new tank instead of putting them in a bucket of old water them straight into the new tank but my back was beginning to feel the effects of all those buckets of water

They were a bit stressed last night so I left the lights off. They look quite normal again this morning and the lights are set to turn on at 3pm, so I'll try to get some photos then.

Sue · « **Reply #7 on:** February 20, 2014, 04:28:59 PM »

As promised, a few photos.

Bear in mind that this tank is still very much a work in progress. The decor which filled the old tank looks lost in here. I need some more. And the fish look lost too - more of them once I know the tank has settled.

The first photo shows the whole tank. In the middle are green neon tetras which, despite their name, have a blue stripe. The red fish are ember tetras. The greenish fish above the green neons are Microdevario kubotai. One of their common names is neon green rasboras which gets very confusing with green neon tetras in the tank as well, the main reason I always use their latin name. The male cockatoo apisto is peeping out from under some foliage and there is a loach under the filter. There are some endlers in there somewhere!
Plant experts will recognise all that java fern and the bit of anubias on the fake log on the right. There is also a glimpse of the java moss on the real wood on the far left.

The second photo is a close up of some of the fish.

Finally, the male cockatoo apisto.

Robert · « **Reply #8 on:** February 20, 2014, 05:25:31 PM »

Looks great Sue!

Sue · « **Reply #9 on:** February 22, 2014, 04:26:44 PM »

Just as a footnote - I advertised the old tank on aquarist-classifieds with a title 'tank in need of repair, free'. In the main body of the ad I described what was wrong and included photos. That was Thursday. Someone came for it yesterday (Friday). I assume it was the word 'free' that helped. I had three enquiries in total before I removed the ad as the chap drove away.

And I've bought a fish

I went to Maidenhead aquatics to look at plants and wood (nothing I wanted) but there was one female cockatoo apisto in a tank. She was there a couple of weeks ago. The chap said he was glad someone was finally buying her. The price was £7 each or £12 a pair - he let me have her for £6. I know I said I was going to wait at least a week, but I don't think one little apisto will push the tank over the edge

She is currently acclimating; the male found her pretty fast, within a minute he was circling the bag and he's still there.

Sue · « **Reply #10 on:** February 27, 2014, 04:12:27 PM »

Here's the new female apisto. She's rather an odd colour, that's how I know she's the same fish that was on her own in a tank with some tetras a couple of weeks before I bought her. Female cockatoo apistos have a grey body with a black stripe and bits of orange on their fins when stressed (eg shop tank, just been bought etc) then the body goes yellower when they've settled, and bright yellow when breeding. This one is a sort of orange, a colour I've not seen before, which I suspect is why on-one else bought her. I don't think she's ill, or she wouldn't have survived very long in a shop tank $:-\$

Anyone else come across orange female cockatoo apsitos?

Resa · « **Reply #11 on:** February 27, 2014, 11:55:24 PM »

Aaah...she's really pretty, Sue.
I must swot up on these fish...I rather like them

SteveS · « **Reply #12 on:** February 28, 2014, 11:06:18 AM »

I don't wish to question your immenseness, and forgive me for even suggesting you may be fallible but... are you sure it's an apisto? It actually looks like a ram to my unworthy eyes.

Resa · « **Reply #13 on:** February 28, 2014, 11:16:30 AM »

Oh...might it be? That would explain why I liked it...I like rams.

Sue · « **Reply #14 on:** February 28, 2014, 01:21:13 PM »

I'm pretty sure it's an apisto. It doesn't have any red in the eye rings, so it's not a ram. There is no black spot on its side, with or without sparkly scales. It has black markings down the side of its head exactly like a female cockatoo aspisto. And the male is very interested. He won't let her out of his sight, he follows her everywhere. My main doubts are that she might not be a cockatoo apsito, though she does look very similar to the female that died except orange, even down to the black under the bottom lip. And that there may be something wrong causing her to be orange.

Edit - forgot to mention this fish also has some bright orange spots in the tail, like the one I know was a female did.

Compare the two photos, see what you think. The first is the one I know was a female, she and the male spawned several times and had fry; the second is the new fish again.

SteveS · « **Reply #15 on:** February 28, 2014, 02:28:24 PM »

I can see what you mean, but there are significant anatomical differences disregarding their colour scheme. The body shape is very ram-like. It is shorter and fatter, the apisto in your photo is much slimmer and more symetrical, more torpedo shaped. The first spines on the dorsal fin are shorter and the mouth is lower in the head. The eye is also much higher in the head.

As to colour, not all rams have spots or red rings in their eyes and there are a zillion and one different colour schemes available these days.

Finally, and this is my trump card, Resa likes them!

I'm not saying it is a ram, I have two photos to go by and you know more about these things than I, but it doesn't look right to me.

Sue · « **Reply #16 on:** February 28, 2014, 02:53:31 PM »

The fish didn't look quite right to me either, which is why I didn't buy it the first time I was in the shop. Its head is a bit too big and I thought it might be sick. But after 2 weeks in a shop tank, if it had been sick it should have died - in theory. My worry is that it is a different species of apisto. It could be a deformed cockatoo apisto, and that could be why no-one but me would buy it.
The male apisto spends most of his time stalking the new fish. He hasn't attacked it (which I'm hoping means that if it is a cockatoo apisto it isn't a sleeper male) he just follows it round and if he loses sight of it, he goes swimming round looking for it. The new fish goes into hiding every so often when it sees the male coming. If this carries on, the new fish could well get too stressed and either die or get sick.

I can't find any reference to deep orangey-gold female apistos - or rams for that matter. Female apistos are usually bright yellow, or grey when stressed, and the the gold forms are pale yellow gold not this dark shade. I know there are gold rams, but they aren't this particular colour either.

Time will tell whether I have a sick fish, a female cockatoo apisto or another species entirely.

Resa · « **Reply #17 on:** February 28, 2014, 04:08:21 PM »

I've sussed it! It's a red herring

SteveS · « **Reply #18 on:** February 28, 2014, 04:12:53 PM »

RED! Are you colour blind?

Resa · « **Reply #19 on:** February 28, 2014, 04:26:24 PM »

Yep!

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Transferring Fish To New Tank

Transferring Fish To New Tank

Author Topic: Transferring fish to new tank (Read 6079 times) 19 replies

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