Advice on Moving Filter & Fish to New Tank

[spill50]

Evening all,

The time is nearly here for me to set up my new tank and I'll be planting it up on Saturday.

My plan is to get the hardscape and planting done, fill the tank then move the filter and fish from my old (current tank) down to the new one. It's the first time I've moved my fish so please excuse my ignorance, just have a few questions on the best way to do things.

Should I be saving some of my old water to put into the new tank or will filling it with fresh water be fine. Then acclimatising my fish to the new tank when moving.

Should I leave the new tank a while to settle in before moving the filter and fish. Maybe overnight?

What's the best way of catching corys and a very shy plec?

Thanks,

Richard

 

[awtong]

I personally would use at least half the old water maybe more as the fish are used to the conditions. When I did my last tank swap I used around 300l old tank water and 100 - 150 treated tap water.

The settling period depends on how well you fill the tank and whether you make it really murky. I put my fish back in after a couple of hours and they were fine.

I don't keep cory's but be careful when and if you net them as they have spines on their pectoral and dorsal fin that can get stuck in nets. Maybe someone on here will have a better method? I catch my plecs by removing all my plants and hardscape and using a large net. I have also caught one using a bottle trap baited with cucumber. A quick search online should show you how to construct one. Last time I did it I actually bagged some of my jumpy fish like my denisonni barbs and I bagged my plecs so I could float them in the new tank for acclimation. The others I put into a large plastic box.

Good luck,

Andy

 

[spill50]

Re: Advice on Moving Filter & Fish to New Tank

Yeah my old tank is 120L and I'm moving up to 200L I'll use as much water as I can.

I'm using Eco complete and sand so it shouldn't be too murky I'll see how it goes on the day I think. The bottle trap sound like a good idea, it's just a 2L bottle with the top inverted isn't it?

Might invest in a bigger net lol might make things easier.

Thanks

 

[awtong]

Yep just a bottle with the neck cut off and inverted. I think I removed the very narrow part of the neck due to the size of the fish I was trapping. I added a string to it so I could just pull it up out of the tank too.

I managed to catch my blue phantom in the bottle trap. Needless to say he wasn't the fish I was trying to catch

Andy