Moving An Established Tank And Fish?

[TommyC]

I have just been offered an established tank complete with fish for "Come and get it and it is yours!" by a coworker whose ex-husband left it behind and has said he doesn't want it.  I will need to move it about 30 miles.  How should I go about it to stress the fish as little as possible?  It is a 29 gallon tank and the current residents are:
 
1 Angelfish
3 glowlight tetras
1 fancyfin Serpae
 
Thoughts?
 
 

 

[cambojnr]

Go to you local fish store and ask for some bags, then get some big water tight containers to hold about 80-90 litres of the tank then transport and set up with adding the other 20 litre fresh water

 

[bricko]

Large buckets with lids will work great.
 
Drain as much tank water as possible into the buckets, net fish into buckets and ensure lids are tightly secured.  I would get 2 buckets and try to keep the tetra seperate from the angel fish.  Strip down the tank and bag up the gravel for later use.  You could move the tank with the gravel in depending how much there is but you risk cracking the tank when you lift if from the frame / stand.
 
If the tank has an external filter ensure you keep the water in it until you have the tank setup in its new location then drain filter and reprime, this will keep the majority of bacteria alive for a few hours.
 
Fill up tank 3/4 with declorinated water, place a bag over gravel when you fill to avoid clouding water. Run filter and heater and start getting water up to temp.  I would run an airstone into the buckets while this is happening to keep the water oxygenated, then commence drip climatising the fish from the tank. Remove 1/3 water from the buckets and put back into the tank and let if gradually fill back from the tank repeating the process until water temp is even in bucket and tank.  I would do this for at least 1 hour to ensure the fish climatise to your local water as the parameters may be different from their current location. 
 
After this net the fish into the main tank, disguard the water from the buckets and leave the lights off for the rest of the day until they have settled.
 
Hope this helps,
 
Bricko

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have had good and bad luck moving fish in buckets. The problem is they can smack into the sides when you had to stop short or accelerate too fast. I would bag them to be safe. Bagging will make acclimation easier as well. Ask the current owner not to feed the fish the day before or that day you come for them.This minimizes pooping along the way. bear in mind air is as important, if not more so, in the bag. Make sure the bag for the angel is large enough.
 
I would be reluctant to remove the gravel as it also houses bacteria in the top 1/2 inch if non-planted and in a planted tanks there is an elaborate ecosystem in the gravel I would hate to disturb as well. For sure you need to remove as much water as possible. the gravel only needs to be damp. Properly supporting the tank when you move it should minimize the potential for cracking. I have moved tanks like this with success over the years.
 
I rarely believe in drip acclimating fw fish. I do believe in making sure the water temps between the bag and the tank are not greatly different, but a few degrees wont matter. If you are one who likes to do some form of acclimation by adding tap or tank to the bag etc., then the need for doing this should be assessed first. Test the "old" water params for pH and GH and have done it also for your tap water. If both parameters are close, the need to acclimate for more than temp. should be minimal.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I wouldn't bother keeping any of the tank's water. It's a hassle and clean new water is much better for your fish. Just set up the tank, fill with dechlorinated water, get filter (don't clean it) and heater running and acclimate them just like you would if you bought them from the fish store. When you're filling the tank fill it with slightly warmed water so you don't have to spend ages getting the temp up before adding the fish.
 
If you're keeping the gravel in the tank (which is fine) you'll need to put a bucket (or something) in the tank to pour the water into while you're refilling to reduce disturbing the substrate and therefore the amount of muck floating around in the water. It won't hurt anything but will just look messy for a couple of hours until it settles again. My concern with keeping the gravel is that the tank may have been neglected and it may be really filthy (heck even well maintained gravel can be nasty) and therefore cause an ammonia spike. For that reason I'd be tempted to remove it and wash it before adding back to the tank. I'm not a big believer in trying to preserve the bacteria in the substrate as it mostly lives in the filter and whatever you lose will soon be reproduced in the filter.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Now I know Dr Hovanec cultures and sells One and Only Baottled bacteria, but he also participated in the major research which identificed the most likely bacteria doing the work in tanks, especially FW tanks. Here is a quote from his site about when to use his product:
 

 
When should I use One & Only?
Use One & Only when setting up a new tank and after major environmental changes to your aquarium. Examples of major changes include a disease treatment with antibiotics or chemicals that are harmful to the nitrifying bacteria, after a major gravel cleaning which can disturb the bacteria on the gravel and after a failure of the filter.

from http/www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/helpful-hints/one-and-only-nitrifying-bacteria-faqs
 
In the research bacteria was collected from the gravel in one and from gravel, filter material and even water to identify and/or culture it from. Bear in mind the bacteria cannot tell a filter from a rock in terms of it being a good place to live, the bacteria attach to hard surface and multiply best where there is a constant supply of what they need. So anywhere there is good circulation and shelter from light they will thrive.
 
In most tanks filter media is usually disturbed much more often than substrate is over turned, which favors the presence of bacteria on the gravel and decor. Substandard filter maintenance also would favor this even more strongly.
 
All of this is not to say that filter media is not the best place to find high concentration of bacteria, but it is a mistake to assume this means what is on the substrate is not significant. Big vacuumings cause ammonia spikes for two reasons- the good bacteria loses its oxygen source when it is turned over and goes deeper, and that turns them off and eventually kills them. And then there is all the gunk stirred up.
 
Move the tank and the gravel (kept damp). When you get there fill the tank with dechlored water at proper temp and then run your filter(s) with a bunch of floss to clear up the water if its dirty. The fish will be fine in the bags for another hour . After all shipped fish travel in bags for days between where they were born and when they arrive in our tanks. No big loss of bacteria, no dirty water or serious ammonia issues. Change out or remove the dirty floss and add the fish.
 
Of course the above is just one fish keepers take on things.

 

[rms]

Whatever method you choose to transport them I would make sure they are completely blacked out, which will help to keep them calm.... I would also buy a very cheap filter that would fit in a large bucket/container, move the fish from where ever they were transported in into it and then put some of the old media into the cheap filter. That way you can spend the rest of the day concentrating on setting up the tank and not worrying about the fish as it would be extremely unlikely for anything to happen to them if they were still ok when they arrived. They'd be ok till the next day really...