Loaches Online Forum

The day has come to move everybody out of the overcrowded 40 into the set-up 120. We've had plants in there for 5 days or so, been adding water, run some ammonia through, have both Rena XP3s running. Ammonia is zero, and so are Nitrites.

The 40 is a few feet away and is mostly drained now to make fish catching easier. I drained it quite a lot and added some fresh water, which basically what the new tank will be. They are now in maybe 50% fresh water, and I'll add another few gallons over the next little while.

One method we're considering for moving the smaller fish -- sidthimunkis, rasboras, cardinal tetras -- is using a relatively beefy diameter filter hose to set up a siphon between the tanks. The 40 is just a few inches higher than the 120. Fish don't seem to be afraid (unfortunately, sometimes) of the siphon tube. I think it will be a pretty low flow siphon. I'm thinking basically vacuuming the smaller fish up will be far less stressful than chasing them with a net -- but it will be a slightly bigger water-shock.

Opinions on methods?

By the way, send best wishes to Katy. I don't know if she's mentioned on the forums, but she has been laid up with pneumonia. She can at least get a little entertainment watching me move fish this afternoon.

Siphoning does seem to be safe for the fish. I would add some stress coat to the old tank in this case. The way I usually do this is to scoop up as many as I can with a net, put them in some water (container size to suit the fish) then dump them in the new tank by lowering the container into the water.
Use a sheet of acrylic or glass to partition the old tank and confine the fish to a smaller and smaller area.

I did lose a fish to siphoning last week though. I had an albino congo tetra in the Q tank. The hose was just big enough for the fish to go through, not much bigger, and the siphon was strong. The fish died almost instantly, and blood was showing around the gills. Very sad. Made me suddenly much more careful about fish going into the siphon tube.

Usually when I'm siphoning, the fish all want to swim into the siphon. Today, with a gentle siphon to the new home, they wouldn't go near it. I had to net them.

We had a little extra excitement. I removed a piece of driftwood that the fish were hiding under. A few moments later I was picking a loach up off the floor, saying, "That's funny, how did that loach get on the floor?!?" Then I saw there were two or three (I can't even remember) striata. Kate pointed out that they had been in the driftwood.

Everyone is happy in the new home, very happy. The 120 looks great.