Help On Moving Established Tropical Tank Please

[born2die]

I have been given an established tropical (Marina)aqarium that I need to move some 20 Miles . The fish that are in the tank are

2 3-4 INCH CLOWN LOACH

1 3 INCH SILVER DOLLAR

1 BOTIA

1 3-4 INCH RED TAILED SHARK

1 CONGA TETRA

1 ROSY BARBS

10 ZEBRA DANIO

The tank is 30 x 15 x 12 inches and has been established for a couple of years. What or how is the best way to transport this little lot. Is it to fill up say a sealed dark container with water from the aquarium and transport the fish in that and then say leave a little water in the tank to help restablish the tank. or is there a better way.

Then there is the cycling of the tanks and making sure I dont do anything harmful to the occupents. If somebody could give me an idiots guide I would be grateful. Also are there any species I could add to help the tank along and keep it clean.

The tank also comes with this little lot

INTERNAL BIOLIFE FILTER WITH INTERNAL HEATER.

LIGHT UNIT AND LIGHT SEALED IN THE LID.

PLANTS,GRAVEL AND DECORATION

I have been keeping goldfish for a couple of years but this is my first forray into the tropical world.

As an aside what the flippin aida is a Conga Tetra I cant find much about them on the world wide web .

Any help would be appreciated and if you are near the midlands uk and want to help move and setup


Many thanks in advance

Tristian

This is the tanks as currently setup

 

[tamara]

no clue what an established tank isl...
but all i know is...take all the water out or else the bottom will give!!!
and put your fish in buckets with lids....you might have to open all the lids once during your journey...

 

[born2die]

when I said a little I meant just enoght to cover the gravel. I now realise I llok like a plonker for saying this so is it better to strip out the tank completly. If so how do I cycle the tank again. I know not to rinse out any filters in tap water.

thanks

tris

 

[Miss Wiggle]

here's a really good pinned topic from CFC will tell you all you need to know

 

[born2die]

here's a really good pinned topic from CFC will tell you all you need to know

thanks thats the idiots guide I was looking for. Thats taken a load of my mind

thanks

 

[Inchworm]

Hi born2die

Twenty miles isn't really that far. If you take care of the beneficial bacteria in the filter media while you are traveling, you shouldn't loose much of it. Just be sure that you set the tank back up immediately and use dechlorinator.

Depending on your area, it's possible that you're moving the fish into water that has a different pH from what they are used to. Please be sure to test some and if there is any difference, slowly add the new water to their containers before you put them into the tank.

 

[born2die]

I have just had a long chat with the person I am getting the tank off and she seems very knowligable. After our chat she seems to think it best that we transport the fish in a 5 gallon sealed drum using water from the tank then when we get the tank back using thew water to help set the tank back up again as well as using dechlorinated water that has been left overnight. Then topping up with boiled dechlorinated water to bring the aquarium up to temp for the fish.

We will also put the filters in seperate bags filled with tank water to keep the bacteria alive whilst bagging the gravel and just replacing it in the tank without washing it through.

The plants etc are plastic as som of the fish that are in there keep eating them all so algie should'nt be a problem.

The estimated time down including washing and cleaning the tank whilst deconstructed is about 2 hours so we should be ok.

This is my first forray into tropical fish keeping and it is getting less scarey as I look more into it. I am shure I will be posting some silly questions in the next few weeks as I am not collecting the tank till the 14th nov.

If anybody has some ideas of some weird looking creatures that would sit well in the tank (bottom feeders or something like crayfish but not crayfish as from what I have read they eat most fish) that would be great as it will help me passify my good lady who is complaining that the keyboards and now the fish are taking over

thanks

tristian