gravel

[serz]

Hiya,
We got a new fish tank over a month ago now but hate the stones/gravel that we put in it and would love to change it and got told not to remove the fish from the tank when we do it just work round them.
Will the algea ect from moving the stones cause the fish any harm??
Many thanks in advance

[luke123]

youll find it VERY hard to get it out with fish in!

[Esfa]

Yeah, get a huge bucket or watertight container, and put the fish in there with the filter and the heater and water from the tank.

then empty the rest of the tank (if there is anything to empty) and then scoop all the gravel out, put new substrate in (WASH IT FIRST!!) and then refill with water, put everything from the bucket back into the tank... and done.

[serz]

was going to do that but the fish man from pets at home said that once fish go into a tank they shouldnt ever be removed as it causes stress to the fish and they end up dying. So they advised to do it with the fish in??

[mike515]

yeah the guys in pets at home are generally wrong.

Avoid that shop like the plague as much as possible.



But yeah like esfa said, big container with tank water. Put the fish heater and filter in there.

Re-do the tank. But i'd personally leave the fish in the container over night while the dust from the gravel settles. Then put your filter back in and the heater. Check the temp. If it's ok put the fish in, if it's not wait till it is

[Graylord]

as above really but ignore esfa as he`s still in nappies

[mask-of-sanity]

you can remove the gravel with fish still in the tank it wont harm them .just use a large fish net to get it out and you will find the fish will stay out of the way . how do you think shops change the gravel in display tanks

[Esfa]

Originally Posted by darwengray

as above really but ignore esfa as he`s still in nappies

Better then being old and decrepit.

[_simon_]

Originally Posted by serz

was going to do that but the fish man from pets at home said that once fish go into a tank they shouldnt ever be removed as it causes stress to the fish and they end up dying. So they advised to do it with the fish in??

I'm sorry but hahahahahahhahahahahahahhahaha. I've moved house 3 times whilst having fish and never once lost a fish and that's with transporting them in a moving vehicle as well! I wonder how they sell their own fish, I mean they can't remove them from their tanks as they might die *gasp*.

Pets at home is the last place you want to get any advice from. If they start trying to give you advice just walk away.

The only other thing I can add to the other comments is hold your hand over the top of the net as you take the fish out, they can thrash around a lot and you don't want them on the floor.