[phenosin]

Here the story. im moving a 55g from my dads house. he has had the tank for years but hes never been much of a fishkeeper. there is one adult african cichlid in the tank with some severe fish acne from poor water conditions. I have a 20g with 9 juvenile african cichlids and a pleco at my place. soo.......heres my plan. im going to drain the 55g keeping 20g of tank water and the gravel in 5g buckets. Drive the hour to my house set it up, and fill it, including the gravel and 20g of saved tank water. im going to start with just the one cichlid with acne in the 55g until im sure that the water chemistry is right, and to start treating his problems. then im going to move the juvies to the larger tank and keep the adult in the 20g.

Any suggestions and tips would be great thanks

 

[Robin]

Is there a filter on the 55 that's also being moved in the move? If so, rinse the media in a bucket of tank water and then transport it wet--you don't want it dry out. Likewise: keep the gravel wet--using tank water.
Have you tested the 55's water and compared it with what you have? If the PH is significantly different then I would add the new water gradually to allow the fish to get use to it.

Do you know what species he is?

That'll be a nice jump up for you--20G to a 55G--congratulations.

I got my start with cichlids in almost the exact same way nearly ten years ago. A neighbor had a 55 with one synodontis angelicus and one P. Kingsizie african cichlid. They had lost interest in the tank many months before. Had been feeding the fish white bread. The water was so brown you couldn't see further than two inches.
The Kingsizie died about five years ago--my favorite fish. The angelicus still rules in the 90 gallon.

Robin

 

[phenosin]

Yeah there is an aquaclear70 that im bringing with it and i know to keep it wet. I'm not sure what species it is? maybe a pseudotropheus socolofi.

yeah i cant wait for the bigger tank and of course MORE FISH!

thanks for the info