I have a dilemma

[Gewitter]

OK here it goes.

I really need to move my 4 fish (1 sick kuhli loach, 2 giant danios, 1 black tetra). I live 3 hours away from them and my parents cannot properly attend to them, so I want to move them with me. These fish mean a lot for me especially the Kuhli loach because he has been with me around 12 years, the others for several others.

I am completely unsatisifed with my current 10 gallon tank, it is aging and quite unpleasant. I was wondering what you all would suggest for gravel since I have the 4 fish mentioned above.

I think they will be quite stressed during a 3 hour drive too :/ so I'm quite worried, but I have read the article on moving fish and am going to give it a shot as described in such article. I don't have a testing kit but I believe my ammonia and nitrite levels to be quite high due to my father overfeeding the fish and not cleaning the filter properly. Should I still take 50% of this water? I also believe it is the reason my kuhli is sick lately....

Also, the water in my town is of poor quality...and I was wondering if I should do anything besides de-chlorination?

OK so here are my questions.

Is 10 gallon enough?
What type of gravel should I use with my fish : kuhli, giant danio, black tetra?
Is it ok to follow the article on moving fish considering I have 3 hour drive?
Should I still use about 50% of my unhealthy water in the transplant tank?
What steps should I do to ensure clean water from the faucet besides de-chlorination?

Sorry for such a long post, but I am kinda new at completely maintaining an aquarium although I've had one for such a long time, I wish to become experts like you guys. Thanks in advance

 

[chasgood]

If you have the funds and space this is a perfect time to upgrade to a larger tank. They always say the bigger the better. A 20 to 30 gallon glass or acrylic would be nice. If you don't want to go bigger there are some nice small acrylic tanks out there 2.5 up to 12 gallons that look real nice.
To get some ideas on what is out there have a look at the online stores.

You can use some of the old gravel and filter media to seed the new tank with bacteria and speed up the cycling period.
Will leave the other questions to someone with more knowledge than me.

 

[Menagerie]

What else is in the water?? What is the pH and hardness of the new water compared to the water your fish are used to?


The bigger the tank, the better
My fiance and I started out with a tank, then two We moved from Moscow, Idaho to Calgary in the dead of winter with our two tank fulls of fish in coolers with battery operated air pump and didn't loose any of them! We now have 6 tanks--10 gals to 80 gals.
Don't worry about moving your fish, they can handle it--let's deal with the water issues!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Agreed, bigger is better.

Not just because of size..but easier to maintain, prettier to look at, more fish options open up to you, etc.

What are the conditions of your water? I have pretty bad water myself... If it is that bad, you may just have to buy a tapwater filter (deionization unit) which can be picked up at any lfs for around $20.

Other than that...I don't think gravel makes that much of a difference. You might want to pick up some of the gravel currently in your 10 gal, or maybe the filter cartridge out of it, so you can plant some benefical bacteria in your tank.

HTH, and good luck with the move!

 

[Overstocker]

I assume the gravel in your old tank was good for you loach. Don't mess with taking your water (except to transport your fish) but take all/most of your gravel and keep it wet with the old tank water. Take it in a small cooler with the water in it works great. When you set up your new tank put the old gravel in it or put some it in a net bag/or panty hose and leave it in you tank for about a month and then remove it. This will transfer your beneficial bacteria to your new tank. The bacteria hangs out on the surfaces of anything in you tank. So if you transfer decorations or plants etc. it will also benefit the new tank.

Good luck on the move.