[xsarahx]

Hi all im Brand Spanking new to this Forum and after lots of googling i thought this would be a good place to start my Adveture into the Keeping of Lake Malawi cichlids...
right I have Kept Tropical Fish on/off for the last 15 years or so and sold my last tank (juwel 125 Communitgy tank) 2 years ago as i was moving house, anyway I have Just Purchased a juwel Fision 180 with 23 Malawi Cichlids, £200 worth (not sure of weight) of Ocean rock with a sand Base :dancing: i dont pick it up until sunday (cant wait im sooooo frickin excited!) anyways Im gonna keep the filter wet, keep as much of the tank water as possible although realistically that will only be about a 3rd of it and then race the 30 miles back home and get it set back up as quick as possible!! right my first concern is the massive water change thats obviously gonna have to take place during the move i mean you wouldnt do a water change of that scale unless it was absolutely necessary! what do i do with the water? just treat it with water conditioner? from the research *** done it seems PH is important in a set up of these types of fish so would i need to add ph also to the water? secondly as its being set up fully stocked im unsure what maintainence i should do to the water/filter etc while its establishing itself after the move, do i leave the bacteria to build up in the filter, water etc or would it be beneficial to keep doing small water changes? any help anyone could give me would be much appreciated, also i should have added it has an extra external 205 fluval filter for extra filtration thank you!

 

[dielikemoviestars]

Wait, is the filter from an existing tank? Or is it new? You said you got rid of the tank 2 years ago...

What fish did you order?

What are the dimensions of the 180?

A 2/3 water change isn't that much. I used to do that weekly on my 60g because of my stocking levels.

Don't know what you mean about what to do with "the water." Do you mean the new water? Or the old water? New water, treat it with something that will remove chlorine and chloramine. Make sure it's both. The old water, don't do anything.

Yes, pH is sort of important, but unless you have something well below 7 and your water is extremely soft, you don't really need to worry... especially if you're buying tank-bred/raised fish, which I'm assuming you are.

If this tank is being set up from scratch, meaning no established filter, you're in for a huge load of trouble by adding your fish before the tank cycles. If you have an established filter, keep an eye on your ammonia/nitrite levels (I'd test morning and night for the first week) and do water changes any time any of them register above 0ppm. After that, it really depends on your stocking level, but anywhere from 25%-75% water change per week.

 

[GTZ]

Welcome to CF!
I would find out if the current owner adds anything to the water, also the current pH, GH and KH of the tank water and your tap water and compare results, as long as they're close you shouldn't need to change anything. Hopefully 30 miles distance doesn't result in drastically different water parameters.
Keep the canister filter full of water when moving, not sure what the temperature is like there, but try to keep anything wet over 60F (16C).
Use a quality dechlorinator when filling the tank, float the fish bags for 20-30 minutes before adding the fish.

 

[xsarahx]

Thanks for the advice guys! sorry if i didnt make it clear but its an Established tank already that *** purchased and hes sold it me with all the fish which is a bonus as i wont have to let the tank cycle and wait for months until the introduction of fish Im unsure of all the different names of the fish that are in there but i know theres 23 of 8 different types of milawi Cichlids I can post a piccy if it would help? its just worrying moving an established tank and there isnt really any room for error as i want to keep the fish as healthy as possible, as i said *** kept community Tropicals (guppys, mollies, Angel Fish etc) for years and by the looks of it all the principles are the same for Cichlids is that correct?

The Dimensions of the new tank are 92 x 51 x 41 and it holds 180 litres which is around 40 us gallons i think, thanks

 

[Kanorin]

The fish can be transported in bags or in a bucket or two. I wouldn't even try to keep 1/3 of the tank water - you'll have enough of the nitrifying bacteria in the filter media so long as you keep the media in some tank water.

When I had to move my tank (including draining and refilling) a lot of debris was stirred up when I refilled it. If this happens to you too you can add some chemical to remove/detoxify excess ammonia (most dechlorinators will do this) and let the filters run on the tank for a bit before introducing the fish. But my suggestion is to give the gravel/sand a good vaccuum before the move.

Good luck!

 

[xsarahx]

Thanks for the info, i will treat the filter like one of the fish! sunk in water and im gonna have the air conditioner on in the car at 28 to keep them at a nice temp, i thought the tank water was important i didnt realise you could do such massive water changes in this kind of set up so i will take that on board also, is it important to float the fish? *** got 3 large buckets with lids that hold 20 litres each (About 4.5 us gallons) and on the advise of the current owner i was going to let them swim freely in these in 3 groups of a 7 an 8 and another 8, i did wonder how im going to get them into the new tank tho like what do i do just pour them in or net them and let them swim free into the new tank? also how long do you think they would be ok in the given numbers in that amount of water whilst i set up the tank? is it really a race against time or are they a little more resiliant thanks again

 

[xsarahx]

Oh and hopefully if i have done it correctly this is the actual set up that i have purchased :dancing:

 

[newforestrob]

if it were me I would bag the fish/group,and put them in an insulted cooler
but as mentioned ,compare owners water to yours,also check if he adjusts his tap water

 

[dielikemoviestars]

Alright, I see Pseudotropheus acei (top fish whose head is cut out of the 2nd pic), Pseudotropheus socolofi (bottom right of 2nd pic - a nice specimen, too), Melanochromis johanni (or maybe maingano?), and a lot of Labidochromis caeruleus-looking guys, some appearing to be hybrids (or perhaps female Mel. johanni). None of those are likely to work in the long term in that size tank except the last ones, and preferably only the "pure" specimens, since they're much more likely to be calm enough for a tank that size.

That said... it's possible it'll work. 23 full-grown, non-dwarf mbuna for that size tank is overstocked though. I'd cut back to ~12-14.

If you really like the blue/yellow contrast and want more fish, I'd suggest selling off all the fish and picking up 3-4m:9-12f Pseudotropheus saulosi. They'll work great in that size tank.

 

[xsarahx]

Right thanks Guys i must admit i thought it seemed a little over stocked too but im thinking im just gonna have to roll with it and keep my eye on how there doing and if the worst came to the worst i would just upgrade to a bigger tank in a few months with the space i have i could upgrade to a 350 litre (about 80 US gallons) tank

 

[DJRansome]

Ask the seller to provide you with all the fish names. Scientific names and collection points would be good!

 

[xsarahx]

Thanks and i will ask him if he knows what they all are, for him to have so many in that size tank i thing hes probably grown the yellowish ones from fry as there looks to be quite a few of them from the pictures, last question sorry if this sounds dumb but how many fish should i put per bag? feel a bit cheeky asking my fish store for 23 bags but if thats what i need to do in order for them to not attack each other on the way home then so be it! if i can put a couple should i stick the ones that look the same together or purposly split then up thanks

 

[DJRansome]

I'd just do a couple of 5G buckets. Don't fill over 1/3 full though. I like to use battery operated air stones in the buckets.

 

[dielikemoviestars]

Yeah, buckets will work. I bagged 'em just because I had so many and 1 bucket. But if you have 2-3 buckets, you can split them evenly. They'll be too stressed to kill one another