I need some advice on transferring a fish to a new tank. Ive got one shabumkin approx 2 inches and he is in a 5 gallon with a Elite Stingray 5 A-140 and a recently added Fluval 3 filter. Up until about 3 weeks ago I was doing everything wrong ie washing everything in tank including gravel and changing 100% water about once a week. It was only when he became ill and I sought advice on here that I realised what I was doing wrong.

Consequently my tank is still cycling and I am still testing water daily and doing water changes. I am about to set up a 15 gallon but not sure how to go about it. I have read up on the fishless cycle using amonia but I'm not confident enough to do it that way

Would it be ok to set up new tank, fill with water and put in the fluval 3 filter, let things settle down for few days then add my fish using his own water from 5 gallon and the Stingray5 filter (I'm changing colour of gravel so that is not an option) and then moniter water and do frequent water changes. I'm used to doing that already and although I don't relish the thought of doing this for another 4 to 6 weeks, I will do iit f I can be assured that it won't harm my fish

Advice would be greatly appreciated

The transition from the 5 gallon to the 15 gallon will be easy. That is, once you have the 5 gallon completely cycled. All you have to do is transfer everything over to the 15 gallon and top it off with ten more gallons of water. The tank should be instantly ready for adding your shubunkin.

Once your 5 gallon fully cycles, perform a couple of large waterchanges (50-75%) over two days and your water chemistry of the tank will closely match the chemistry straight from the tap. This will, essentially, make the acclimation process from the cycled water to the newly drawn water (the ten gallon top-off), much easier on the fish.


Good luck!