Switching fish from tanks

starcollector

I have a community tank. I'm starting a malawi tank. I bought 3 mollies to help cycle the malawi tank, and I temporarily put them in my community tank until setup was complete. Now that they are ready to move, how can I best acclimate them to the new water? I put in some gravel from the established tank as well as some filter media to help speed up the cycling (hopefully!). I have no bag or anything to put the mollies in to float them, etc. Any ideas?

Amphitrite

I would say the best thing you could do, is to make sure the temp is the same in both tanks, and move half the tank water from the existing tank to the new tank. Check the pH to make sure there isn't too much of a difference then move the fish over.

I think they should be ok if you do this.

crazie.eddie

Since it is the same water, just make sure the new tank is dechlorinated and the temp and pH is the same in both tanks. Once that's done, you can just bring the fish over from one tank to another. Don't move all the fish all at once. Just move about 2-3 fish per week. Do lite feedings in the new tank, perform water changes and lite gravel cleanings, by just waving the syphon above the subtrate to suck up the detritus. You don't want to touch/disturb the subtrate yet, since the nitrifying bacteria is starting colonize.

Tracy

That is good advice. I would have thought of the temperatures of the tankis being the same, but didn't consider the pH. this forum is great!

crazie.eddie

Generally, if Malawi tanks should have high pH, but if your normal tap is already high, then it's easier moving them over. Otherwise, you need to float the fish using a bag (ziplock is fine and add water a little at a time.

bettababy

If you don't have a bag to use, you can use a bucket to do the acclimation. Put about 2 - 3 inches of the original tank water into the bucket, and about every 3 - 4 minutes put a cup of water from the new tank into the bucket until the water is doubled in depth. This should be plenty for them, and should take about 20 - 25 minutes.