I just got my 40 gallon long, tank. I am waiting my upload on you-tube, so I can share it. I wanted to know if it would be ok to add 6 guppy fish, or is the max 4 guppies? This tank is big. I needed help from friends to help me move the tank. I am very tired. I will fill the tank with water tomorrow. I did put the gravel in, and all the fake plants. This tank was like 50 dollars, Whew my arms hurt. Also how do I transfer fish from my fish tank, to my new tank without stressing the fish out? do I do the drip method like I was putting new fish from online to my new fish tank?
I just got my 40 gallon long, tank
- Thread starter pettygil
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Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
I'm a bit confused as to where you are getting the numbers you are asking about. Like any new tank no matter how large it is, it needs to be cycled. You can do this fish in style or fishless style. Using such a small amount of Guppies in a tank that large is going to take months for it to cycle. You can shorten that time if you go fishless. OR if you are moving the fish from one of the 6.5 tanks, you can take the filter material, the gravel and all the decorations and move them into the 40 and your tank will be instantly cycled for the amount of fish that were in the 6.5. ( To be clear, you want to put the filter material in the bigger filter along with new material so there will be more space for the biological bed to grow.) At that point you will be able to add more fish however, it should be done slowly and in small quantities as the biological bed will need to grow to handle the new ammonia load.
As for moving fish over to the new tank, if the water parameters and temperature are the same in both tanks, they can be netted and moved directly. If there is any differences, you can Bag acclimate them as I described before. Since you are moving fish that are already used to your water, there is no need to drip acclimate. Just so you know, it's never a bad thing to drip acclimate but it's a matter of whether it's necessary to do. With shipped fish, it matters. From a home tank to another home tank of similar water, it's unnecessary.
I am using my old filter and I put in new tank. I added all the fake plants, and washed out my old sponge from the old tank into the new tank. I also added fritz 7. My tank looks a little cloudy since I washed sponge in tank. I just got done adding all the water for my fish tank. I have 0 ammonia and 0 Nitrates. Should I check my new tank every day to make sure my water is good. I know my fish tank is not cycled yet. I should have some nitrates which I do not have at this point.I'm a bit confused as to where you are getting the numbers you are asking about. Like any new tank no matter how large it is, it needs to be cycled. You can do this fish in style or fishless style. Using such a small amount of Guppies in a tank that large is going to take months for it to cycle. You can shorten that time if you go fishless. OR if you are moving the fish from one of the 6.5 tanks, you can take the filter material, the gravel and all the decorations and move them into the 40 and your tank will be instantly cycled for the amount of fish that were in the 6.5. ( To be clear, you want to put the filter material in the bigger filter along with new material so there will be more space for the biological bed to grow.) At that point you will be able to add more fish however, it should be done slowly and in small quantities as the biological bed will need to grow to handle the new ammonia load.
As for moving fish over to the new tank, if the water parameters and temperature are the same in both tanks, they can be netted and moved directly. If there is any differences, you can Bag acclimate them as I described before. Since you are moving fish that are already used to your water, there is no need to drip acclimate. Just so you know, it's never a bad thing to drip acclimate but it's a matter of whether it's necessary to do. With shipped fish, it matters. From a home tank to another home tank of similar water, it's unnecessary.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
You are using the filter from the 6.5 or the other 40?
From the 40 gallon tank. It's a big filter. I put the 40 filter into my new 40 gallon tank. I had two filters from my 40 gallon. I put in a new sponge, along with some old sponge in the filter.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Okay, now I follow.
You should be able to add the Guppies from the 6.5 to the new 40 but proceed with caution if you are adding more fish than those. Do not put a lot in at one time just because the tank is bigger. It's about the biological filter more than the gallons of water. You have a small biological filter because you had such few fish. As with every " fish in" cycled tank, slow and steady wins the race. The biological filter only grows to what ammonia is present. Adding too much too soon will create a toxic environment in the tank that needs to settle itself. So can I put 4 guppies in the new tank? How long should I wait to add the other two guppies? I also ordered a male guppy, so that would make 5 guppies I need to add to the tank, then I have the other 2 guppies in the other tank, along with her few children which the other guppies ate some of their fry. I still have about 4 or 5 fry left.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
You can put however many Guppies were in the tank that you took the filter material from ( assuming you put it all in the new filter.) If you only put SOME of the material in the new filter, I would test every other day to make sure the 4 Guppies does not overload the Bio filter. If after a week there is no ammonia reading, you can add the other 2 Guppies. I cannot stress strongly enough that this new male Guppy should go through a long quarantine process ( 30- 60 days) as Guppies are known to carry worms which will be extremely expensive to medicate in a 40 gallon tank. Use the empty 6.5 tank for this quarantine. Set it up with some filter material from the old 40 gallon tank so that it is cycled from the start for the one fish. ( Add this material when the new fish arrives, not before. )
In reality, 4 Guppies shouldn't really have any effect on that volume of water however, with your past experiences, better safe than sorry.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Since the other Guppies were being in a tank by themselves, that was the same as quarantining them. Since this new male is coming from a different batch of fish, it COULD have it's own issues so better to keep him separate from the others for quarantining. It's no different than what zoos and public aquariums do. NOTHING goes directly from the Ocean or Lake or the Wild without making sure the specimens are healthy so they don't contaminate the existing animals. In the case of fish, farmed fish are known to carry certain parasites or viruses so you are always better off quarantining anything new to make sure they don't bring some kind of "nasty" into your tank.
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