Setting up a goldfish tank

Gabriel_Pitt

So a friend of mine was showing off the fish tank he had for his daughter, and I pictched a small fit at the sight of 6 fancy goldfish crammed into a ten gallon tank. That, along with the fact I'm the resident animal guy, means I'm now helping setup a 55 gallon tank (yeah, still a little small, but it's what I've got to work with) that he's getting from another friend. Friend B is including all the needed equipment with the tank (filter, aerator, heater, gravel, decorations) which he cleaned when he stopped using the tank a while back, but if there are any fish gurus out there, I wondered if there were any reccomendations for prepping used gear before setting up and conditioining the new tank for friend A's fish?

*edit*
There's also going to be a couple of stair cases, and transport in a care involved, so if there are any specific tips on best way to securely move a tank, besides a pair of grip gloves, and enlisting the help of strong friend C, to get it to its location intact, that'd be appreciated too.

Hevach

You sound pretty well versed, so I'll skip the terminology lesson, hopefully I don't go too deep into hobby lingo. I also want to start by saying kudos to you for stepping in to properly care for the fish. The "they're just goldfish" mentality has come up on this forum a few times, and it's nice to come into a thread about them and not have to start an argument.


Set up:
You can skip the aerator, unless you like the bubbles. Unless you have an undergravel filter, if your water isn't near O2 saturation with a power filter there's something else extremely wrong. I would go oversized on the filtration for that many goldfish - probably not an immediate issue, but six fancies in a 55 is going to be a LOT of fish and need a LOT of biofilter in a couple years.

But it's not going to be TOO much if you've got enough filtration, like double what the manufacturer suggests. Either a big canister, or if you're going with hanging filters, one on each end. If you don't have that right now, don't worry, six small fancies in a 55 isn't a lot of fish in the short term.

Conditioning:
The good (and bad - good because it saves us time but bad because the fish aren't out of the woods for a while) news is that there's really not much to "condition" a tank unless you've either A. got the time to run a fishless cycle with an artificial ammonia source or B. have a few weeks to run the filter on a stocked tank to let it grow up a bit of bacterial colony. Setting it up and running it like pet stores tell you is just busywork, it won't actually help develop the filtration because there's no ammonia to drive the cycle.

Considering the state of the fish right now, they'd probably be better off in a bigger tank cycled or not, I can't imagine what they're in is even nearly cycled or properly maintained.

Moving:
First thing's first, test their water for ammonia, nitrite (nitrate is basically a nonissue right now), and ph, then compare to the ph in the tap water. If it's significantly lower, that means the ph has crashed from too much fish and not enough water changes (fish produce ammonia, the bacterial filter turns that to nitrite and then nitrate. in between, some of the nitrite will react with carbonates in the water and produce nitric acid). It can be very near impossible to save fish once that happens, since clean water will come with a second huge ph swing. Small, frequent water changes (~10% a day) until it stabilizes are your best bet if that's happened.

If that's not happened (or after you fix it), deal with ammonia/nitrtite. The good news here is even if you take all their water with you, you're about to give them an ~80% water change, so aside from making sure it's not toxic in the short term (~5.0 ppm) this isn't a panic point like in most situations.

Bucket the fish with their existing water for the move, if ammonia/nitrite was high, add some dechlorinated tap water (if it was REALLY high don't save all their water and add more replacement to dilute it down)

So, fill up and dechlorinate the new tank, leave it about 4 inches down from the top. Compare the ph to their current water (you don't want to swing them more than about 0.4, especially on top of the stress of a move and any ammonia related stress).

Provided a good match, you're ready to introduce them.

Follow through:
Even if the tank they're in is somehow cycled (or at least partially cycled) expect a mini-cycle at least on the new tank. If in the likely case it's not, expect a full cycle. Daily ammonia/nitrite testing and fairly frequent water changes for the first couple weeks should get you through it.



Also, for moving the tank itself, a 55 isn't really that heavy, your plan should be more than enough. If in doubt, a couple of those heavy duty suction cup handles from the hardware store (they're for moving panes of glass, work great on tanks as well) can make it easier to get a hold of, and less likely for somebody to pinch a finger putting it down. Just in case it needs to be said, never move an aquarium with water in it.

Gabriel_Pitt

What kind of sissy drains a tank before moving it? 55 gallons of water plus the tank is only what, 500 lbs? That's practically a one man job.

I picked up ammonia and pH test kits yesterday, figuring I'd start with the basics and expand if needed, and was pleasantly surprised when the pH came in at 7.2, and the ammonia reading was just a hair above zero. Given the crowding and small tank size, I'd been expecting much worse.

With that established, I figured I could just take my time with the transition. After the fuss I made about the tank, the last thing I want to do is make any mistakes moving to the new one. ^_^

My new rough plan is to setup the new tank with about 40ish gallons, and then use a gravel syphon to transfer a gallon or two of what should be bacteria/ammonia source/nutrient rich water from the old to the new tank. Run it for a week and monitor the water condition, tweak as needed, add some hornwart, eelgrass, water sprite, and if I'm feeling like messing around, java fern (there's currently one plastic plant in their tank). If everything is looking ready after five days or so, complete the transition, and hopefully see everyone happy in their new home.