Long time gone, but coming back...

[papa_bear_21]

I know it's been a while since I've been on, some things happened, and had to sell my big tank. I am in the process of getting a 55 gallon tank, friend is giving me a complete setup for free. The tank is currently home to Cichlids, but I will not be keeping it a cichlid tank. What will need to be done to ensure that my current fish (a small freshwater angel, and a clown pleco) will transition into the new tank? I do not know the water conditions at this moment, havent had a chance to really check the tank out. I know it is in good shape, but thats about all I know. My friend knows nothing about the tank, she just feeds the fish. My plan is to sell the cichlids to my LFS and slowly restock the big tank, but I want to make sure I wont harm my current fish putting them in the 55 when it's empty of cichlids.


I will get pics up as soon as I can.

Bear

 

[mgamer20o0]

very easy. take everything out clean it well. want to make sure you dont give something to your new fish. then move the fish filter and if you can some of the gravel over. what size tank are they in now?

 

[papa_bear_21]

currently they are in a 3 gallon tank, they will love the space of a 55...

Thank you for the help, it will take some additional time to move everyone, as I will not be able to take the cichlids to the LFS before I go out of town.

 

[mgamer20o0]

what fish? hope not too many in there. still it would be the same. low bio load so less stress about ammonia and all that fun stuff.

 

[papa_bear_21]

only 3 fish at the moment...a rosy red minnow, a nickel sized angel, and a dwarf clown pleco...the bio load is small, and water is in good shape.

 

[happygirl65]

I would think if you just wash the tank (with water only) and wipe everything down on the inside before you set it up for yourself you will be fine.

Fill it and get it up to temp, move over your 3 fish and the filter from the old tank (even if it looks silly being so small on the new tank) and run both the old and new filters on it for a month before taking the old one off.

If you don't add a bunch of fish right away all will go smoothly. Then when you do add, just do a fish or two at a time. It may be tough with a basically empty 55 gallon tank. Patience with that is never my strong suit.
Good luck with everything and welcome back. I had to be out of it for a while and am now getting back into it too. It is so much fun.
Enjoy!

 

[papa_bear_21]

currently the cichlids are still residing in the tank, just in a new house. The tank is cycled and everything, will I need to do anything at this point? the cichlids are healthy looking, and it will be roughly a week before they are no longer residing in the tank, will that be long enough to determine health of fish?

 

[happygirl65]

Is it already set up at your house? Or are you still planning the move? Will you be mixing your 3 fish with the previous occupants before you remove them?

You could certainly ask your friend if the fish had shown any signs of illness. Just know that anytime you are mixing fish with new fish there is a danger of passing pathogens that were not present in the previous environment even if the fish appear perfectly healthy. (We see this in discus all fish are healthy in other tanks and then once they are mixed someone gets sick.)

If you have not moved the tank yet:

Do you plan to keep the current substrate and filter media? This would of course ensure that you would have a minimal cycle if any. Potentially could contain any parasites that were present previously. One way to protect yourself a bit would be to set it up and run it for a few days before you put any fish in just to let the life cycle of any nasties die off.

-OR-

Do you plan to chuck the substrate and go with your own but still use the old filter and media? Still a good option, maybe a mini cycle but probably not too bad especially considering your low bioload.

If I were putting a particularly sensitive species of fish in the new tank I wouldn't take any chances, I would strip it all down and sterilize everything. Is it completely necessary? Probably not, and in your case I think you would be fine just to give everything a good rinse (but not a scrub because you want the beneficial bacteria to survive) and set it up, let it run a couple of days to get nice and settled and move your fish in. You will have to watch for signs of illness after the move, but you would do that anyway since it's a new environment.

If it is already set up at your house but you just haven't removed the old fish.....then I would just do a massive water change after you get the cichlids out and then make the transfer after a couple of days.

 

[papa_bear_21]

The tank has been moved, and has been running for almost a month, though I have yet to take the cichlids to my LFS. I should be able to sometime this coming week, we'll see how it goes. I intend to keep everything setup as it is for the time being, no intentions of changing the filters or anything.

Thank you for all the help,

Bear