Need help cycling

[rbyers84]

Hello! I am having issues with fish in my established tank and need help to quickly cycle another to remove a fish.

I currently have a 29 gallon cycled tank. It is stocked with 10 tiger barbs, 5 peppered cory cats, 1 albino bristlenose pleco, and a neon blue dwarf gourami. My issue is the tiger barbs have decided to attack the gourami and he is miserable. The tank is planted, I've moved stuff around to try to create new territories and nothing is working. The barbs are jerks.

A few days ago I snagged an AQUEON 13g high tank. I needed a new filter system for my larger tank so I have the Tetra Whisper 30ex on the 13g that has filter media from the other tank. I also added a layer of gravel from the 29g on top of the eco soil I have in the 13g. I'd like to move the gourami as soon as possible.

The 13g has had two amazon swords planted in it. 1 large and 1 small. There is also a piece of driftwood that came from another established tank. I've declorinated it with the packet that came with the set up kit and added the first dose of seachem stability.

Not sure where to go from here. Things to note: the tank does have a heater that is not on currently and also has an LED light. I'd eventually like to stock the 13g with the gourami, 5 harlequin rasboras, and 2 female platys.

 

[Fresh2o]

I would turn on the heater in the 13g and match it to the 29. In the mean time, if you have a floating breeder tank, you could move the gourami into that (in the 29) just to keep it from further harm. Next, move the gourami to the 13g. The low bioload of a single fish and with some of the BB moved from the 29 should help get the 13 cycled. Then slowly add the new occupants (harlequins, etc).
If you have a test kit, monitor the conditions in the new tank and keep up with regular water changes in both tanks. If you don't have a kit, you should get one. API FW Master in frequently recommended.


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[ScotJudd]

If you don't have a floating breeder tank to hand you can try what I did.
Take a large fish net and secure it so that the rim of the net is just out of the water. Add a little gravel to weight the netting down and prevent it collapsing. Pop the fish in the net. I tend to partially cover the net with something to shade the fish as it's quite near the lights. Some floating plant or a small plastic square works ok.
It's not the prettiest solution but is instantly available to most fish keepers.
Feed sparingly as the left over food will collect at the bottom of the net and go bad.


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