A Bigger Tank-----HELP

Question
Hi Nicole my name is Marja and i have 3 gold gamiest and 3 pink kissing guarmies.I've only had them going on 2 weeks and they all get along really nice,but my daughter who gave me 3 of them didn't get very much info on the fishes from the pet store they are the same size which is about 2 to 2 1/2 inchs well i found out that the pink ones (which are my favorite )grow very big to 6-to 12 inchs is that true? OMG well anyway they are in a new 10 gallon which remember we didn't know and are doing fine,but i just bought them a 29 gallon so they will have more room what do i do to transfer them to the new one? I bought new rocks and a few more plants and a couple of ornaments cause my daughter is taking the 10 gallon one so i had to buy new rocks.The pet store said i need to clean everything like i did the 10 gallon one and let it set for 24 hrs and then i need to put their plants and their ornaments in the new one with water from the old tank is this true?And run both pumps from the old and new for a couple of weeks. Please Help! In other words my fish will have everything new except some of the plants and a couple of ornaments.Please let me know what i need to do..Thanks Marja

Answer
Hi Marja,

Not sure what you mean by "gold gamiest", but yes, the pink kissing gouramis can really get that big! They will grow fairly fast given a big enough tank, their growth will a bit stunted in rate in a smallish tank. I have seen pink kissers that are 8" long, not foot length ones yet, but they're probably out there! In any case, they will get too big for your 29 gallon tank. They are really meant for a 55 gallon tank, if not larger. The good news is they are a commonly traded fish, so any pet store or local fish store that takes trade-ins would be happy to have them. They can become rather aggressive when they start to get big, the "kissing" you see is actually a display of dominance. Probably in your trio there is (or will be) one "alpha" fish. Gouramis are, after all, related to bettas, so they can get feisty! Keep an eye out to ensure no one gets bullied.

I don't know if I totally agree with the pet store's advice, but you certainly should run both filters in tandem for a while, 2-3 weeks. Or another thing to do is to take some "dirty" filter media from the old filter and run it in the new filter, if it fits. It has to be wet and the filter has to be kept running - the beneficial bacteria in the filter media can only be left without water running through it for about an hour and still be useful for cycling your new tank. So make sure you leave this step for absolute last.

I would not clean the old decor and rocks that are going in this tank. They have some beneficial bacteria on them too! You can use old water, I usually only use about 10%...this is because when I upgrade tanks I use the old gravel and I keep it in a 5 gallon bucket full of old water. It's up to you to keep some of the old water or not. I imagine since the 10 gallon was pretty crowded, the water quality was not that great...but if you feel like the old 10 gallon tank's water smelled good and looked fresh enough, it wouldn't hurt to save a couple gallons. I have done 100% water changes before with no ill effects to the fish, and essentially this is what you will be doing, so not to worry either way! Do not worry about letting the tank sit for 24 hours. You have the fish already, you might as well bring them out of the little tank and onto the big tank. If you keep the decorations and the media "dirty" (don't clean it, as they suggested) then that will help with the cycling. You are still likely to get a little bit of ammonia and nitrite spikes, but shouldn't be awful.

For the first month or so, I would change extra water weekly. Try to change 25% of the water three times a week the first week - especially if ammonia and nitrites register on your test kit. Then the next week, change 25% only twice...and so forth. Always change at least 25% weekly, as the gouramis grow larger you may need to change 50% weekly.

This is a basic article on setting up an aquarium:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=92
You may find some helpful tips! Apart from transferring the used media or filter and keeping the decor uncleaned (and the same for any gravel, if you are moving it to the big tank) it's not much different upgrading an established aquarium than it is setting up a new one.

I hope that helps! Take care,
Nicole