Moving Tanks + First Tropical Tank

[CherryDanio]

Hi all, hoping someone more experienced than me can help. I recently bought OH a larger tank as the 35L tank he had his cold water fish in was much much too small. My plan is to put the old filter from the smaller tank in the bigger tank to help the new filter get established, would this work and help speed up to process? It is fairly important that the fish are moved ASAP as they are starting to fight now they have outgrown the tank...

Assuming this works (don't worry, shan't try it until I've heard some advice) we will then be left with a little 35L tank and fully up and running filter (a stingray filter which we have found to be fantastic). Obviously this tank is far to small for goldfish etc. I was wondering if it would be possible to set it up as a little tropical tank with perhaps only a few guppies (all male) and a few tetras. Would this be fair in such a small tank? If so, are these the right fish choices (I have only ever had cold water fish)? And as the filter etc is well established will the tank cycle or will it be ok?

Oh and final question... Once all the current fish and filter are in the new tank should I leave the old filter in the new tank until the new fish arrive so the bacteria have some fish waste to munch on?

Sorry if these questions seem silly but I would rather get it all right first time than risk losing fish.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Hi all, hoping someone more experienced than me can help. I recently bought OH a larger tank as the 35L tank he had his cold water fish in was much much too small. My plan is to put the old filter from the smaller tank in the bigger tank to help the new filter get established, would this work and help speed up to process? It is fairly important that the fish are moved ASAP as they are starting to fight now they have outgrown the tank... Yes, this is a very good thing to do. Move the current filter to the new tank along with the fish.

Assuming this works (don't worry, shan't try it until I've heard some advice) we will then be left with a little 35L tank and fully up and running filter (a stingray filter which we have found to be fantastic). Obviously this tank is far to small for goldfish etc. I was wondering if it would be possible to set it up as a little tropical tank with perhaps only a few guppies (all male) and a few tetras. Would this be fair in such a small tank? If so, are these the right fish choices (I have only ever had cold water fish)? And as the filter etc is well established will the tank cycle or will it be ok? It depends on what kind of Tetras. If there are Neon Tetras, I would not put the in, as Neon Tetras should be in a established tank, a tank that has been running 6+ months, but the guppies should be okay. Also, the bacteria level in your filter will adjust to the new "bio-load" of the fish.

Oh and final question... Once all the current fish and filter are in the new tank should I leave the old filter in the new tank until the new fish arrive so the bacteria have some fish waste to munch on?Yes, if you stop providing an ammonia source for your beneficial bacteria they will begin to die off.

Sorry if these questions seem silly but I would rather get it all right first time than risk losing fish.

-FHM

 

[CherryDanio]

Hi all, hoping someone more experienced than me can help. I recently bought OH a larger tank as the 35L tank he had his cold water fish in was much much too small. My plan is to put the old filter from the smaller tank in the bigger tank to help the new filter get established, would this work and help speed up to process? It is fairly important that the fish are moved ASAP as they are starting to fight now they have outgrown the tank... Yes, this is a very good thing to do. Move the current filter to the new tank along with the fish.

Assuming this works (don't worry, shan't try it until I've heard some advice) we will then be left with a little 35L tank and fully up and running filter (a stingray filter which we have found to be fantastic). Obviously this tank is far to small for goldfish etc. I was wondering if it would be possible to set it up as a little tropical tank with perhaps only a few guppies (all male) and a few tetras. Would this be fair in such a small tank? If so, are these the right fish choices (I have only ever had cold water fish)? And as the filter etc is well established will the tank cycle or will it be ok? It depends on what kind of Tetras. If there are Neon Tetras, I would not put the in, as Neon Tetras should be in a established tank, a tank that has been running 6+ months, but the guppies should be okay. Also, the bacteria level in your filter will adjust to the new "bio-load" of the fish.

Oh and final question... Once all the current fish and filter are in the new tank should I leave the old filter in the new tank until the new fish arrive so the bacteria have some fish waste to munch on?Yes, if you stop providing an ammonia source for your beneficial bacteria they will begin to die off.

Thanks very much for your reply. Full steam ahead then! How long do we need to run the little tank before adding fish then seeing as the fliter is up and running already?

Sorry if these questions seem silly but I would rather get it all right first time than risk losing fish.

-FHM

 

[fatheadminnow]

Sorry I just need a little clarification.

You transferred the current filter and fish to a bigger tank, right?

Do you have another filter that you are going to be putting on your smaller tank already?

-FHM

 

[waterdrop]

I'd guess its going to take about a month for the bacterial colonies to "balance" 50/50 between the old stingray and the new filter in the new tank. At that point the stingray could be brought back over to re-set-up the small tank and prepare it for some new small fish. Both tanks will need to be monitored with a good liquid-reagent based test kit during these processes because mini-spikes may occur and water would need to be changed to deal with these. No new fish should be added to the larger tank for a couple of months and only a small number of fish should be started out in the small tank after the stingray is moved back. Just my 2 cents...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[CherryDanio]

Sorry I just need a little clarification.

You transferred the current filter and fish to a bigger tank, right?

Do you have another filter that you are going to be putting on your smaller tank already?

-FHM

We have a large Fluval filter in the big tank which is brand new. Due to the need to move the fish fairly sharpish we also moved the smaller stingray filter from the old tank in as well to help deal with the waste whilst the new one gets up and running. After a while we will take the smaller, older filter back out and put it in the old, small tank. The small filter is no where near big enough to deal with the new tank hence the need for the new, big filter Currently the fish, the small old and the big new filters are all in the new big tank. So far no spikes in anything... Keeping a close eye on it though. No plans to get any new fish at all for the big tank, they all seem very happy with all the space! The only thing that has been added is one lonely apple snail who shal stay lonely as I don't want any babies haha.

Eventually when I am confident the new filter is up and running enough to cope (i'm hoping this will take less time than usual due to the other filter being in there but I could be wrong) I will put the little filter back in the old tank. Voila, two tanks, two filters and fingers crossed healthy happy fish.

Thanks waterdrop, I will leave the old filter in with the new for a month then. When I do move it into the old tank would 2 guppies be ok as a start? Eventually (over several months) the plan is to have guppies, neon tetras and OH is convinced he can get 3 cherry shrimps (Ithink chery shrimps, he was talking and I was barely listening...) in there as well. Obviously i'd rather not start with the neons as they aren't too hardy. Would guppies fair better?

 

[waterdrop]

ok, large tank sounds good, continue to monitor...

When you move the stingray back to the refreshed smaller tank, it will have bacterial colonies that match your current load of fish in the big tank except slightly smaller as the load will now have been balanced between the two filters. This of course should make the stingray just fine for the new smaller population load you will establish in the small tank. Don't forget that the bacteria need food too, so you will need to coordinate the move of the stingray with the purchase of the new guppies. And yes, guppies would be the better starter fish. We often recommend that a tank age for 6 months (beyond and unrelated to cycling) to lower the risk to neons/cardinals, however I introduced mine at 4 months and they were fine, so you can make your own guess. Not sure about ideal introduction point for the cherry shrimp but I do know that they add almost no bioload for the filter, so there will be no worries there.

Continue to lock in your maintenance habits such that you are gravel-clean-water-changing the tanks each week and performing filter cleaning and maintenance each month. Don't forget that the tap water coming in with a water change is refreshing calcium, magnesium and other trace things that your fish and plants need.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[GlidergirlUK]

I have guppies, neon tetras and rummy nose tetras all in the same tank. My tank was about 4 months when I put the neons in. I started with the guppies. In my experience the rummy nose tetras seem very flaky and the neons seem much hardier. (I have lost one neon and 4 rummy nose since first introducing)