New Bigger Tank

[Bart70]

Hi

I'm fairly new to fish keeping but find that everyone seems to have different view on how best to do things and what works or don't etc.

I started with a 100lt tank and got hooked so have just ordered a new 125lt tank to upgrade. Yes small to most of you but a nice size
for my living room and for me to get the hang of this. What I'd like to know is when i'm moving my fish over to the new tank, Can I move them straight into it if I use my old filter along side the new one with the same tank water?

I have a Flu val 2 running in the 100Lt tank and as i'm still building my stock up not a huge amount of fish...

6x Cory catfish
6x Danios
15x Neon tetra
1x RTBS


And no I've had no mega problems with my RTBS killing off any fish or even chasing them. He swims with the danios and plays with the catfish which is fun.

I can't run the new filter in the old tank yet due to doing a treatment for ICK. So just wondered if I could run the old filter in the new tank. Not in a hurry to sell the old set up so can keep in there for a few weeks. Or do I need to treat the new tank as just that and let the cycle run.

Hope that makes sense, like I say I'm new to the hobby and my 2 LFS conflict with each other on everything.

 

[fluttermoth]

to the forum

Not all of us run huge tanks 125l is a very nice size.

Yes, you can move all the fish to the new tank, with their old filter. The problem comes when you want to remove the old filter; it may be that, as the old filter already has enough to cope with the bioload of the current fish, there'll be little or no bacterial growth in the new filter.

The best solution is to pack all the old media into the new filter. If you want to sell your old set up, either buy new media to go with the filter, or gradually replace the old media, removing no more than one quarter every week, until the new filter is full of it's own media.

I really hope all that made sense

RTBS are quite peaceful when young, so yours won't be showing any aggression issues...yet. You may be lucky with it, but they do grow large and are normally only recommended for 55 gallon or larger tanks.

 

[Bart70]

By media do you mean the gravel plants etc?

With regards to the RTBS why did the shop tell me he would be ok in our tank.... See what I mean about LFS giving conflicting info.

Means I'll need to re-home him. Sad cause I like that fish and the catfish enjoy playing with him round his cave.

 

[fluttermoth]

I knew I wasn't explaining well enough! Sorry!

'Media' is all the stuff that lives inside your filter. It could be sponge, ceramic rings, little 'rocks', along those lines.

We tend to be far more conservative here, regarding stocking, than most fish shops are; at the end of the day your shop is there to make money. Yours might be ok, but if he reaches his full potential size of six inches, he might be very cramped, and that would only worsen any aggressive tendencies.

Ultimately it's your tank and your decision to make.

 

[Bart70]

Thank you and yes you did explain well or I would have had more than 1 question lol.

Does hack me off when they sell you a fish that is no good for your tank. I'd rather have healthy happy fish than cramped fish.

While I like the RTBS if he will be too big for a 125Lt tank then I could use it as a excuse to "upgrade" after xmas to a 300Lt and get it past the Mrs on the grounds of the RTBS needs a bigger tank hehe.

Thanks again...... Can I check.... I'm treating ICK atm so I've put the temp to 81 to speed it up and im using a 7 day treatment of Protozin. (turns water blue) On day 7 if I do 80% water change should I do another 7 day treatment just to be sure?

Does adding 2/3 teaspoons of salt keep ICK at bay?

 

[fluttermoth]

No, you shouldn't do another course of meds. If the ich hasn't cleared up in that time, it'll be because the strain of ich you have is resistant to that particular med, and you should switch to a different one.

You should never add salt as a preventative; your fish are freshwater, and they won't appreciate salt being added all the time.

 

[Bart70]

Ok update: Today the RTBS starting chasing the G Danios really none stop.... To the point they were getting stressed and gasping. So I caught him(20 min chase round the tank) and bagged him to take back to my LFS for re homing.

This was not the shop I got him from where he told me it was in fact a Rainbow Shark!!! So much for shop I got him from knowing their stuff. So after several I told you so's I had to admit defeat and get shot of him

Still Danios are happy and I'll just have to wait till new tank is up and running and find another great looking fish to go in.