Do You Rescape With Fish In Or Out?

[jamesmacc]

hi folks, had a problem last night, one of my malaunas seen a piece of food go down a decent sized gap in my rock work. my 4" firefish swim around inside that part but the malauna is about 5" and he went to far and got stuck. i pulled the rocks out and rescued him but now my rocks look #105###, i just cant seem to get them looking good again. im thinking about removing them all and putting in river boulders nice and low so they cant be knocked over etc. i have a 120l tank that i could move some of the bigger fish to while i rescape the tank.
my question is do you folks leave your fish in or take them out when adding and removing rocks or rescaping
cheers,
james

 

[Liquid skills]

well the first time i did it with fish in but that was last year and i didnt know what i was doing asi only really got into this hobby at they end of the year but last time i done it i did it with no fish in the tank

i would suggest re scaping with an empty tank besides the water and equipment ie filter heater also remove plant as dirts can set on their leaves causing them to die

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

Fish out, and water out. Let's you give it all a good clean and you can work on the scape without getting all soggy

. if you are then adding plants, just add a few inches of water and then do the planting, as it will make it so much easier.

 

[jamesmacc]

problem is i dont have a big enough tank to house my 37 malawis while i do the change. my spare tank is only 120l

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

problem is i dont have a big enough tank to house my 37 malawis while i do the change. my spare tank is only 120l

There is no reason they need a tank. You can place them in a plastic box(or suitably sized container) with water from your tank and keep the filter and heater running in the box. I use a large plastic storage box when I do mine. They will only be in there for a few hours at most, so they will be fine. Much better then stressing them, and risking injuring them while you delve around in their tank

 

[jamesmacc]

i thought about getting storage boxs for water changes. just now i use a mix tap and a thermometer to try match the tank temperature but im always a tad worried that it changes while im filling it, so i end up staring at it for 30 mins. i thought i could get 2 100 litre boxs and fill them the night before, dechlorinate each box and pop a filter in each one and then get some sort of pump to empty them into the tank.
thanks for the advise i will move the fish if a rescape.

 

[ZoddyZod]

i thought about getting storage boxs for water changes. just now i use a mix tap and a thermometer to try match the tank temperature but im always a tad worried that it changes while im filling it, so i end up staring at it for 30 mins.

you really don't need to be that accurate with the temperature matching. Simply using your hand to tell the difference should be sufficient. I use a hose stright from the mixing tap and sometimes give a cold or hot blast by accident....when either occurs my angels dance in the current, so it's obviously doing them no harm!

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I do either way depending on the decor I am working with. Definately fish out for rockwork. I would hate to lop a fish on the head with a rock accidentally.

 

[jamesmacc]

i thought about getting storage boxs for water changes. just now i use a mix tap and a thermometer to try match the tank temperature but im always a tad worried that it changes while im filling it, so i end up staring at it for 30 mins.

you really don't need to be that accurate with the temperature matching. Simply using your hand to tell the difference should be sufficient. I use a hose stright from the mixing tap and sometimes give a cold or hot blast by accident....when either occurs my angels dance in the current, so it's obviously doing them no harm!

thats god to know, i was freaking out because the water from tap was about 24 and the tank is usualy 26.
thanks for the advise

 

[ZoddyZod]

thats god to know, i was freaking out because the water from tap was about 24 and the tank is usualy 26.
thanks for the advise

that difference is nothing to worry about. For freswater fish adding cooler water is just like a rain shower in the wild, they probably wont even notice a 2 degree drop during a 25% water change.

 

[rifty]

rocks out the drop 50% of the left over water out
leave the fish in then add your new rocks refill with tap cold water and conditioner
I wouldnt clean out the sand etc as too much as your old rock will hold a lot of good bacteria so taking them out will reduce this so try not to mess the sand sub up
I remodel all my tanks like this no issues even a six footer with no issue

 

[DevotedToDiscus]

i thought about getting storage boxs for water changes. just now i use a mix tap and a thermometer to try match the tank temperature but im always a tad worried that it changes while im filling it, so i end up staring at it for 30 mins. i thought i could get 2 100 litre boxs and fill them the night before, dechlorinate each box and pop a filter in each one and then get some sort of pump to empty them into the tank.
thanks for the advise i will move the fish if a rescape.

I did a rescape in just this way recently and have a short bit on it here: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/371850-my-discus-show-tank/page__st__20

 

[Malawi MaD]

i thought about getting storage boxs for water changes. just now i use a mix tap and a thermometer to try match the tank temperature but im always a tad worried that it changes while im filling it, so i end up staring at it for 30 mins. i thought i could get 2 100 litre boxs and fill them the night before, dechlorinate each box and pop a filter in each one and then get some sort of pump to empty them into the tank.
thanks for the advise i will move the fish if a rescape.

Malawi's love the slightly cooler temp mate, always get's mine breeding everytime without fail, So honestly don't worry about that. I remove most of my fish if i do a rescape, malawi's are pretty fast and know to get out of the way.

 

[Gidge]

I moved a couple pieces of coral around today, and my Johanni bit me! It actually hurt. On closer inspection, I see they have teeth..

I usually do my rescaping with fish in. Especially my cichlids. Like 'Malawi Mad' said, they move out the way pretty quick

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I moved a couple pieces of coral around today, and my Johanni bit me! It actually hurt. On closer inspection, I see they have teeth..

I usually do my rescaping with fish in. Especially my cichlids. Like 'Malawi Mad' said, they move out the way pretty quick

Couldn't help but giggle about you getting bit, as its happened to me. I had a psycho red zebra, and I was trying to catch it to take it back to the LFS (it killed one of my other fish) and the darn thing bit me! I still have a scar!