Yesterday was the day of The Big Move. So, late last week I captured the fish from my 130l and bagged them individually, stole a Stricta from my 200l tank and bagged it along with the lonely strands of whatever was left in the 130l (I think it was an Aluminium plant but the fish keep eating the leaves). I put the fish bags into a polystyrene box. Took all the filter media out and bagged it, rinsed the filter box in the now empty tank, removed all the decorations and bagged them. Siphoned the tank water through the gravel completely.
Moved the tank and realised that leaving just the gravel in the tank was a big mistake, especially since I had to lug the tank up the stairs at the new place. Lesson learned! An extra 20kg of weight is not much fun.
Reassembled the tank in the new place, filled it with dechlorinated tap water (using a couple of buckets of warm water to get the temperature up to about 23 degrees). Reassembled the filter, started it up and acclimatised the fish. The tank has not looked so clean in ages and the fish seem to be delighted in their new place. The best news is the Stricta had an extensive root system so the little buggers haven't pulled it out of the gravel! Yet!
On to yesterday. Captured the fish (including my not-so-little babies from the breeding tank) and bagged them, bagged the plants and rocks and wood and so on and so forth. Again the fish went into the polystyrene box. Disassembled the heater, airstone, filter, etc etc. Sucked the gravel clean, and this time I spent a good deal of time removing the gravel (one 40l bin full of gravel later...). Everything into the car and trailer.
At the new place I took out my frustrations and percussively removed the chipboard from the bottom of the cabinet. I have assembled it backwards for now, so over the next week or so I can cut some wood up (tongue and groove) and build a solid wood base in the cabinet. Reconnected everything. I used a hose to add the water, and a bin of warm/hot water, so the tank was at around 24 degrees (heater is set to 25). Dechlorinated of course.
While I was acclimatising my fish, I discovered to my eternal sadness that my last remaining male Cherry Barb had not made the trip.
The rest of them were fine this morning, but I discovered to my horror that I've left most of the food behind! So the poor dears got a treat of frozen brine shrimp this morning and tonight they'll get a proper feed. Again they look delighted in their new surroundings.
It's an experience I don't want to repeat any time soon, but we're moving back in three months so I guess I'll be doing it again. At least I didn't drop anything! And the 200l tank is on the ground floor so I didn't have to lug it up any stairs.
And now I have a quarantine tank just in case!
