Least stressful way to transfer large fish to new tank?

I can't see any reason to transfer water from one tank to the other. I do major water changes on my Mbuna tank weekly and sometimes up to 90-95% without any stress problems. In fact they actually seem to enjoy it once the tank is filled back up. Don't forget to use a water conditioner.

I would remove all the decor from the old tank and place any that you would like to keep in the new tank. Next, I would transfer the filters or the bio material from the old tank to the new. Drain the old tank untill it would be easy to catch your Severums and use a net to quickly transfer them to thier new home. Their a lot hardier then you might think.

Agreed with Ice...

I don't bother to acclimate between tanks in my own fishroom, since I do lots of water changes and all of the tanks are (pretty close) to the same temp. If in doubt, make the tank that you're transferring them to a little warmer.

Lowering the water and removing rocks and other decorations will make catching easier and minimize the stress on you and the fish. Net and dump.

A little salt/melafix never hurts either.

I've transferred pairs of cichlids into "new" tanks and had them spawn within 24 hours.

Now if you were talking about a 2 foot knife fish... that's something to stress over

RyanR said:

Does the "net" still have a place?.... or should I try a "less physical" method and scoop/corral them up in container?

Click to expand...

container all the way... the larger the fish the more weight to it and the more damage they seem to be able to do to themselves in a net IME.
For the most part it's fine but I definately prefer the white tupperware container trick... you keep it still, guide the fish with your other hand into it and the fish swims in to avoid being touched by you... you then list fish and water out, walk to new tank and slowly dunk the whole container in...

fish are not scraped, annoyed, etc.

Thanks, everyone!

Our tanks get crazy water changes (~60%) every week, so so.... so the water parameters are pretty similar between tanks.

I'll probably just use a pitcher.

-Ryan

Like Number6 said. Only i use small garbage can liners (trash bag.) or produce bags from the fruit market. :thumb: