Questions about moving fish to a larger aquarium etc

[Waxmaster]

I have had a standard 55 gallon aquarium up & running for a bit more than a year now with the following occupants: 1 Synodontis eupterus (5”), 1 Andinoacara pulcher (4”), 1 Mesonauta festivus (4.5”), 1 Thorichthys meeki (6”) & 6 Devario aequipinnatus (2-4” depending on the fish). The tank has 4 flowerpot “caves” & some large silk plants to help break-up lines of sight. I do weekly 20% water changes & haven’t introduced any new fish for about a year.

For the most part all the fish had been doing well together until relatively recently. However, during the last couple of months, some problems have developed. The firemouth has outgrown the others, & has attempted to establish dominance over the entire bottom area of the tank, which has led to numerous fights between him & the syno & to a lot of harassment of the acara as well. Meanwhile, the festivum has established dominance over the top area of the tank, which has led to a lot more harassment of the acara. Basically the acara is at times treated like a ping pong ball, with the firemouth and festivum being the paddles.

The acara has developed lateral line erosion during this time, IMO, because of stress weakening its immune system. Yesterday the firemouth & syno tore each other up more than at any other time; the firemouth has a swollen open & partially skinned mouth, while the syno has a bloody nose & ripped dorsal fin.

Now that I have laid out what I’ve got & what’s going on, here is my plan. This coming weekend I plan to buy & set up a 150-160 gallon tank (48”x24”x35”) & move these fish into it, so that they can have more room for territories.

Questions:

1) If I move the filter with media + most of the water from the 55 gallon, can I avoid ammonia spiking the new tank?

2) Will doubling the floor space & adding some more caves/plants eliminate the worst of my problems or is there something else I could do, sans getting rid of a fish or 2?

3) Assuming that 1 & 2 both work out, would it be possible to add a Uaru amphiacanthoides to this mix at some point, because I have an opportunity to pick up a juvenile, that I can grow up in a different system, & would really like to do this?

Thanks for all responses.

 

[Slippery K]

I had the same concern as you about upgrading with the ammonia spikes and what not. Since your almost triplication the size of your tank it may run through a mini cycle, but im no pro on that so dont take my word for it. It may also work in your favour by acting almost like a 75% water change +a new home. Useing the same filters and media will definatly help though too. Im upgrading my 120 to 200 gal soon so im not too worried after people on here told me it should be ok as long as I use the same filters and media. So hopfuly the same will apply to you.

 

[doomiedee]

as long as you use some of the water and filter from the old tank you should be fine . i just upgraded from a 40 breeder to a 55 and i did this and my fish are fine.

 

[quyllur]

The bacteria in the filter grow to the limits of the bioload not the water quantity. There will be almost no bacteria in the water column itself, so the only reason to move the water over would be to maybe avoid stress, it won't have anything to do with the cycle. So moving the filter over, with the same bioload and add in the increased water quantity to dilute the toxins you shouldn't have any problem as far as a mini spike. The only issue that I can see would be the loss of the bacteria that will have set up shop in the substrate and such if you don't move that over as well, but like I said, the increased water quantity will dilute the toxins until you do your regular water change and the bacteria will quickly populate the substrate in the new tank.

 

[Inglorious]

I don't know if it will solve your aggression issues, but you should be able to transfer everything over without a large spike. Is there a way to run the new filters on your current tank for a few days to seed them? The flow may be too strong but if you direct the output towards the glass it shouldn't stress the fish too much. Then once it's moving day I would start transferring all of the water from the 55 to the new tank. Once it's about halfway transferred then you can move your stock. After all of the old water is in the new tank then top it off with new water like you are doing a water change. Run both the old filters and the new filters for at least a week too to help everything cycle. After that you can remove the old filters if needed. I've used this method before when going from a 29g to a 110g and didn't have any issues or losses.

 

[Gill Blue]

1-yes
2-maybe
3-Uaru amphiacanthoides like their community. just one of these fish will be stressed from a lack of companionship. I'd get 3 whilst leaving the acara in the 55.

 

[Waxmaster]

Thanks for all of the advice.

I suppose moving the substrate to the new tank is doable if that would help avoid spiking.

 

[Waxmaster]

An update & some more questions

It has been about a week since I moved stuff around. I decided to keep the acara and the danios in the 55 gallon tank, since the former is pretty beat to hell & the latter are a pain to catch (& I had a new idea for dithers, see questions below). I only moved part of the substrate & water along with one of the power filters, but so far water params look good in both tanks. Additionally, both the firemouth and synodontis have healed up nicely, and seem to appreciate having some more space to get away from each other. The festivum has the whole top half of the new tank to itself, for now at least, which brings me to my next few questions.

1) I've been growing up 6x Melanotaenia boesemani in a different tank & was wondering if moving them into this tank would work out. I've never kept rainbowfish with cichlids before, and these particular ones are kind of showy, so I don't want to lose them, but I think they would make beautiful dither fish & honestly they seem kind of cramped in their current tank.

2) Uaru have been ruled out, since I don't think I can do a group of them, & the acara is probably not going to get mixed back in, so what does anyone think about trying a Hypselecara temporalis, if I can get one of comparable size to the other cichlids, with this grouping? I've always liked the looks of them & think one would make a great centerpiece fish for a moderately large semi-aggressive set-up, but as I don't have personal experience with them, I have questions. Would one likely quarrel with the festivum since both are more surface feeding-oriented types of cichlids? Would a large one be likely to eat my rainbowfish, if they got moved in? If I ended up with a female, is there any chance that it would hybridize with either the firemouth or festivum males, since all are heroini cichlids?

Thanks once more for any advice.

 

[Gill Blue]

I would leave the acara situation as is. the lateral line erosion is more than likely because you aren't keeping the water clean enough. the lower the amount of fish with it, the easier for you and the healthier the fish will be.