a substrate change

[SeymourFRESH]

i'm planning on changing my substrate in my 55 gallon. in there i have 3 clown loaches, 2 synodontis cats, and 4 otocinclus. i plan on catching the otos and moving them up to my amazon tank during this process is well.
considering that i'm going to have to move all of my decorations out among other things of this hefty process, all i'm really wondering is how much stress is this going to be on the fish?

 

[chotie]

not much if done correctly. what are your changing the substrate to?

i wouldnt even move any fish. just do it little by little. either siphon a little at a time or use a cup/net to take out some. also, if you are kicking up a lot of dirt, stop and do a W/C.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

I had to actually change aquariums. The one I got for christmas last year had problems with the seals, so I had to take everything out and put everything back in. I just put the fish in some washed out tubs after I moved some water from the tank into the tubs. Pulled everything out, swapped out aquariums, and put everything back in (trying to make sure nothing dryed out, 50% of the orignal water, and lastly the fish.

I only had one incident when a bala jumped out of the tub. The girlfriend was chasing it under the couch flopping around, she was screaming. It was hilarious. All went well in the end other than a little plant die off due to re-rooting.

Just take your time and do it right, keeping all your inhabitants and bacteria cared for and you will be fine.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

i'm actually not sure what kind of substrate i want to change to, so that's also a problem....too many choices

right now i just have white gravel...i think it's pretty ugly, i'm kind of something more darker or colorful, but preferably natural looking

what do you guys think would be good for clown loaches and synodontis cats?

also, since a lot of my good bacteria's in the gravel that i'm getting rid of, will my tank stay cycled if i changed substrate?

 

[joannde]

I don't have a substrate and I was worried when I changed out ALL my decor, since I figured thats where any bacteria that was not in the filter was living ..... I had no issue at all and haven't registered any ammonia or nitrites. Just don't change your filter media at the same time and make sure its been in there for 2-4 weeks and I think you should be ok