Rehoming tropical fish - help!

[essayer]

Following the sudden death of a relative I appear to have inherited a fish tank, and need to pick them up.

I have never seen the tank or fish involved and all I know is that they are tropical, small and live in a tank ‘about the size of an old tv’

I’m heading to the house to collect them tomorrow - I have a small net and some suitable bags and I’m happy to transfer them (I did keep some goldfish before) - but tropical fish are new to me, so anything I need to be aware of handling/moving-wise?

They’ll have about half an hour in the car. Do I keep the water and put it back in the tank when I get home?

[merlin75]

exactly that, keep as much water as you can, try and keep them dark for the journey, when you get them to their new home no light or food for the first 24hrs.
if you are really worried you could try some stress coat.

[ObSceney]

If you can't keep the water then buy some of these, which will help cycle the tank.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evolution-Aqua-21900-Pure...

[bristolbaron]

Depending on exactly how big the tank is you might get away with emptying half the water and leaving the fish in the half full tank. A few 5l containers for additional water and you’re away. Cheapest way to buy containers is spring water from supermarkets.
Add extra water if needed at 20% per week and it’ll fill again in no time.

[SeeFive]

ObSceney said:

If you can't keep the water then buy some of these, which will help cycle the tank.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evolution-Aqua-21900-Pure...

Difficult to cover everything, so will try just the major points. I am going to assume that these tropical fish are in a community tank (lots of different types) and fresh water, and not fragile low ph discus fish or the like, marine fish, inverts and all that delicate stuff.

It would help a little for you to know the types of fish you have, for example, certain fish like some catfish will react badly to stress (nets etc) and poison the water they are in. This doesn’t affect them too badly, but does effect other species, so it would be good to keep them in separate bags as the poison in a small bag will be very toxic. Some fish species don’t get on well with each other in small spaces, and in a bag there is nowhere for a timid fish to hide from an aggressor species, very stressful even if they don’t get mangled by the other fish.

You mention you know little about keeping fish, so I am going to start basic. If you can’t keep all the water and put any new tap water in at all, it is important to condition it with something like aqua safe to remove things which are good for us and bad for fish, and get it up to temperature before getting the fish in. You could even buy reverse osmosis water (with added freshwater minerals) from you local aquarist if you felt particularly generous.

Then, use a product called Tetra Safe Start as soon as you put the fish in. It is the only fish-in “cycling” product that has never failed me on tank moves and new tanks. You can’t overdose the tank so never buy an under sized bottle, it is just good bacteria not chemicals. After years of trying various types of these products, and painfully slow and fallible fish-out ammonia approaches of the past, I wouldn’t use anything else these days. Make sure it is well in date when you buy it as the bacteria deteriorates over time in the bottle.

Now, just stop and have a think for a moment. For transporting fish for a 1/2 an hour house to house full tank move, you need to work out your bag time again. Add the time it takes when the first fish will be caught and put in the bags to catching the last one ( the buggers are evasive), then add the time to get the tank and accessories dismantled and loaded up, your 1/2 hour travel time, time to unload, site and reassemble the tank the other end, get it filled, running and up to temperature and then get the fish back in.

Having moved my tanks twice very short distances, I would suggest (depending on size of tank and your heater power) your fish will be in bags for in excess of 3 hours if you work as fast as you can. This would concern me as the water / oxygen volume in bags is tiny, and even before thinking about things such as pollutants from the fish, the water temperature (probably 26-28 degrees in the heated tank) is going to change, and fast.

There may be a better approach to avoid the mad rush and long bag time. Is there local large aquarist like perhaps a Maidenhead Aquatics or similar who will baby sit your fish in their store tanks for a week in near one of the two locations? It is worth giving them a bell as I often see “holiday” tanks when I am at aquarists. It shouldn’t cost much (a regular customer typically gets it for free), then at least you will only have the short travel bag time in taking the fish to them initially. You can get the tank up and running at your leisure, go and collect the fish from their holiday home another day for another short trip in the bag, and acclimatise them straight away with the tank up and ready to receive them.

Even then though, please recognise that the water conditions may look good and clear to the human eye and even test kits, but for fish will be dire. With no fish waste entering the tank over an extended period, the good bacteria in filters have no food and will die. So when you put the fish in (especially all in one go), there is no bacteria to process the fish waste and your tank will go through what is called a “cycle” (bad for fish, google fish tank cycling). Tetra Safe Start is the only product I would recommend to use once again, as what is in the bottle is the good bacteria which will process the fish waste from its ammonia stage into something safer, and protects the fish from hour 1 in the tank.

Be sure to follow the instructions on safe start, particularly buying the right sized bottle (you will need to know how much water the tank holds) and regarding water changesduring the first weeks. When I first used it, I was tempted to do a WC before the suggested timeframe as the readings from water tests were off the scale and I feared for my fish. Ignore any water test results you may do in the first week or two and do exactly what the instructions on safe start say or you will break the cycle and have to start again.

It is gonna be a stressful time for the fish. Even people that really know what they are doing can lose some fish in such a move, so don’t be too disappointed if you have the odd casualty. Just because I didn’t, it could just be well researched luck or perhaps inadvertently sensible of me to keep fairly hardy fish and avoid delicate species.

Good luck, hope it all goes well.

[essayer]

Thanks all and thank you SeeFive for such a comprehensive post. We do have quite a few MA near us, will call first thing.

[HTP99]

Let's hope I never inherit any tropical fish!

[essayer]

Pretty grim really, a tank too big to get out the door so we'll have to buy a new one. The water wasn't very warm, there was a heater set to 30 but it wasn't on by the looks of it.

About 15 smaller fish and two catfish(?) which I've kept separate




Currently in plastic crates on our kitchen worktop while we work out what's next!

[essayer]

So apparently we have

Bristle-nose catfish
Tetra
Danio

The water in the crates is about 22c as is the room, so..
Can I put the catfish back into the crate with the other fish or leave them separate? (I only have one pump and heater)
We are hoping to get a tank today - 125L. Sufficient size?

[LordGrover]

Trops are delicate, but when you consider they're shipped from one side of the world to another in (larger) plastic bags yet most survive they can handle a few hours okay.

[eybic]

The Bristle Nose Pleco (BN) will keep growing so you may have to rehome him. Tetras & Danios will be ok at 22, temperature for the BN will need to be a bit higher (around 24)

[essayer]

A little update on the fishies - one week on, they are all still alive!

We bought a new tank with new filter, so currently we’re waiting on the nitrates etc to settle down.

The plecos love the bogwood we added and spend most of the day hiding out under and around it. The platys are really hyperactive, and investigate everything. The danios mainly circle the tank in a pack. Hoping for some platy babies

Edited by essayer on Thursday 30th May 09:09

[eybic]

Great news They are strangely addictive. I started with a 20l tank then a 40 and now I've got a 180l

[Starfighter]

Keep on at the water changes to keep the Nitrate/ Nitrite our of the danger zones. Both will spike but at different times. You need to be doing daily tests on both and the Ammonia levels (which will plateau and then drop before the Nitrate and Nitrite spikes.

Too late now but whilst water is important to transfer, the filter media is even more important. The Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite all require different bacteria to process them waste down the cycle and they live on the surfaces of the filter media and hard structures in the aquarium not in the water.

Putting live plants in will help with cycling as the consume the Nitrates but expect to have to work on your water chemistry and lighting to get the balance correct.

The bristle nose is a quiet community fish. No reason it cannot live with Danio and Terra species. It will grow to 6-8 inch so not too big for a Plec as some will easily hit 15 inch. He (the bristles are a giveaway) will need a proper vegi diet, plec pellets or algie wafers. Cucumber also goes down well.

[S11Steve]

Yh-oh... one more of us, one less of them.

It is an addictive hobby, and I watch our reef tank more than I watch TV - there's even a wifi camera watching it so I can check in any time on it.

Tropicals are much easier than saltwater to keep, but much has been covered above - do basic test for Ammonia Nitrite and Nitrate - the first 2 should be zero, but high Nitrates although not toxic to fish, does encourage algae growth. Water changes dilute the Nitrates, but always consider what is causing them to be too high - usually over feeding.

And ignore anyone who says fish have no memory or personality. I only need to stand near the tank to get a photo and they all come towards me. They don't do this with the missus or the kids, as it is only me that feeds them.

[paintman]

I have an Eheim external filter with the blue sponge pads.
When you do your water changes - I normally do 1/4 of the tank - and clean the filter use the water you've taken out of the tank to rinse the filter media. DON'T rinse the filter media under the tap as this will just kill all the good bacteria.

Mix hot & cold tap water to the same temp as the tank & use a water conditioner - I use Tetra Aquasafe.

Edited by paintman on Friday 31st May 13:43

[eybic]

You only need to rinse the sponges (in used TANK water) when they get clogged and flow reduces. Filter floss (polyester sheets) can help increase the time between the sponges getting clogged but you will need to change the floss regularly. I bought a 5m roll of it from eBay for about a fiver so it's a no brainer. I also use a product called Purigen which also absorbs crap to help keep the water clear.