How to move saltwater fish?

[Esoteric Backbone]

I found a great deal, an 80ish gallon corner tank, with stand, light, everything for 50$.

The problem is that I dont deal with salt, im a fresh kind of person. But I still want the whole set up to switch over or to just flip.

So my problem is, there is some fish in there, the lady has no idea what the stock is. But from the picture I can see a yellow tang, she mentioned there was a couple of others but no idea the identity.

Im assuming there will be some large fish, (larger than I am used to) in there. I know of a LFS that will take them off my hands, but how do I transfer them to point A to point B?

Should I use large fish bags? Or 5 gallon buckets?

Please help, advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Greenpillow]

Bucket of water and an air stone?

 

[PurplePolyp]

I just fill a bag with water and make sure there is some air in the top when you tie the bag. They will be fine for a few hours this way b

 

[manbeast]

when I picked up my salt set up I lined a cat litter bucket with a new trash bag put an air line in through the lid with an air pump that I ran off a power inverter in the car, if you have a lfs that will take them make that your first stop on th way home

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

Thanks for the replies, Im just nervous about it, only because it is a saltwater tank.

 

[gpd605x]

Saltwater isn't as hard as everyone thinks... I've had mine set up since August and its been a breeze. I've actually had more problems w/ my FW setup than my SW

 

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Saltwater isn't as hard as everyone thinks... I've had mine set up since August and its been a breeze. I've actually had more problems w/ my FW setup than my SW

Haha you have had it up for a few months... Thats not nearly enough time for you to run into problems.

 

[gpd605x]

True... Hopefully it stays that way (knock on wood)

 

[TommyP]

At the LFS they double bag make sure you have air in the bag obviously before you tie it up and don't blow in the bag catch air and tie. If you blow, it will push carbon monoxide into the bag, which the fish dont need. A bucket would work too. Same difference honestly. Just be careful.

 

[Godfrey]

I've always found buckets are the easiest I wouldn't worry to much about an air stone seein there will be a decent amount of gas exchange while transferring water to bucket. Definitely keep an eye on temp that's usually what causes the stress that kills in this situation. And unless you have done some (aka a crap load) of studying of salt water tanks I would suggest bringing the fish to the pet shop for in store credit and going slow with tank. Good luck and great price

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

Update.

I have been urged to keep the salt water fish.

Should i consider going through with it? How would I take down, transport, and set up?

Should save as much water as possible? To make it easier on the stock? I need everyones opinion.

 

[manbeast]

I did this when I picked up my 65 gal, not to difficult as I mentioned before I transported the fish in a bucket lined with a trash bag and slipped in an air stone, for the live rock I took two 25 gallon totes and filled them with the live rock and tank water, I took as much of the original tank water with me as possible so when I reset the tank at home I only had to mix @ 15-20 gallons of new water,so it ended up being like a large water change, if you can get some salt and mix your water ahead of time, one less thing to worry about during the reset rush and it's recommended to let the salt mix at least a few hours before adding to the tank, in my case I kept the sand that was in the tank but if I were to do it again I would just buy new arragonite and maybe seed it with a couple handfulls from the original set up, once I had the tank back together I then drip acclimated the livestock that were still in the bucket to water that was in the tank, acouple months later I still have everyone that came with that set up except for an engineer goby that jumped out of the tank. the most important things I can recomend is have some water mixed ahead of time and do as much prep ahead of time as possible, pick the space for the tank, clear out that area and have anything you may need on hand to make it quicker and easierto reset the tank

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

Thank you manbeast.

Its a 45ish tank i believe. I took as much water as I could.

I put all of the live rock in a tupperware container, filled it with the tank water.

Put the Yellow Tang in a 5 gallon bucket, and the two Black Clowns in a seperate bucket.

The live rock had alot of algae? on it. How would I get that off? Do i clean the rocks before reassembling? Or after? It appears to be a gold color.

Whats the healthiest way for the fish to reassemble tge set up?

 

[manbeast]

I would just brush off as much algae as possible. as your putting the rock back in, as for the fish do a drip after getting the tank back together, I'm not possitive but a tang might be a little large for a 45ish tank but I'm sure someone else here would know better