Strange Thing To Inherit

[polkadork]

Last Monday my grandfather died and I have now been given his tropical fish tank.

The tank is 3ft and only has a rock, gravel, a small filter and heater as well as 10 fish. After searching online and looking through a few books i have figured out that the fish are:
2 Corys
1 Plec
1 Neon Tetra
2 Xray Tetra
3 Mountain Minnows
1 black red tailed shark

The plec is about 8inches long and so yesterday I went out and bought a 36x18x12 tank (after being advised by the shop assistant). Along with new filter, heater, decorations (including a cave for the shark, many plants and hiding places for the smaller fish).

My question now is...firstly is this size tank alright for the fish that I have? I trusted what the shop assistant said but since these are live fish we are talking about I would appreciate a second opinion. And secondly, what, if anything else, would I need to buy (I have many tester kits for the water which my grandfather also passed on to me), ornaments? plants? more fish? get rid of fish? anything?

Many thanks for your help in advance, I'm very passionate about getting things right with this tank.

 

[@ombomb]

Well I'm assuming your grandfathers tank i slightly smaller than the one you have bought... based on the stats you have given I make your new tank 121.5 litres / 32 UG gallons.

As such it's about right for all the fish you have listed other than the 8" plec which is just too big a messy for a tank that size.

Personally I'd rehome the plec, add another Cory (the like to be in grpus of 3+) bump up the numbers of the Tetra and the Minnows to 6 of each, which would leave you pretty much fully stocked, but with room for a smaller plec like a bristlenose, clown or pitbull.

And then you get to work out what to do with the older tank!

What are your plans for moving the stock from the old tank?

Easiest way to do it IMO is to move all the substrate, the filter and some of the water leaving you with the new tank instantly cycled.

 

[polkadork]

Thank you for the reply, it was a great help.

My plans for the move were as you said...to move everything and basically get the tank cycling and then I have a friend who lives a few towns over who is visiting this weekend and I intended to get help from him with the whole matter, but he will only be here for a while so he can offer limited help.

I figured the plec would need rehoming which is a shame as it is beautiful, but the friend who I mentioned has many tanks and I'm sure he can help me with that too. It's just a shame he doesn't live closer.

Thank you also for the fish advice, I figured the number of small fish would need increasing from what I have read so far.

As for the older tank...oooh, I get to play around with that to see what I like. It will be nice to set up my own tank from scratch. I guess I better get to some more research and figure what will work for me...

I think I have found a new obsession, haha!

 

[Neal]

Sorry to hear about your grandfather, but good luck with the fish!

 

[Torrean]

styrofoam coolers make pretty good pleco movers. I've done it twice. I wouldn't recommend catching him with a net. they have spines and barbels that easily get hung up in nets. Get a large jar or clean three litre soda bottle with the borrom cut out and chase him around the tank and then tease him into the jar. Some people say put a piece of cucumber in the jar and wait but that didn't work for me. It would be less stressful for the fish though. Oh completely remove your hood when doing this. I was stupid and left the hood on not thinking that I had to lift the hood to get the jar in the tank. So when i got the plec in the jar I just lifted it up and clunk it hit the hood. It was a hilarious sight as long as you weren't me or the pleco. Just his tail was sticking out of the jar and it was just a little out of the water. He was thrashing like crazy. It was kinda like a giant sprinkler system went off in my bedroom. He sprayed water everywhere. Once you get him in the jar you want to get him in the cooler as quickly as possible to limit stress. To move him from the cooler to the new tank I suggest grabing him firmly and confidently behind the head. If you flinch he'll flinch and splash water everywhere. You can acclimate him by adding water from the new tank to the cooler and draining the cooler over about a 1 hr period. Best of luck and I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather.