How Long Can I Keep My Fish In Cups or Tupperware?
Okay that does sounds incredibly weird.
But I am wanting to do a MAJOR clean out of my aquarium and in order to do that, I’m going to have to remove the fish and, if I can find him, the assassin snail.
If I can’t find bags to put everyone in, how long could I keep them in regular plastic cups?
I have 4 Female Betta, 4 Cardinal Tetra, 5 Cory Catfish, 3 Oto and then the assassin snail.
I was thinking, because of their size, to put the cat fish in a tupperware and everyone else in cups.
I hadn’t put that into consideration. Shoot.
I’m going to plan on doing a 50% water change, keep 4 gallons of water to the side to-re introduce when filling it back up.
I’m trying to get at the gravel which is in need of a good cleaning. =)
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When im cleaning my tank out i use bowls, cups are a bit narrow and they wont be able to move and could get extrememly stressed. But they should be ok as long as you dont leave them for more than half an hour id say, after that the water may become too cold. However you do know by having a full clean out you are taking away all the natural bacteria in the tank and it will be like starting from scratch. If you then put all the fish back into the tank they could produce too much waste, which contains ammonia, and this can seriously harm your fish, causing burns, scale loss and death. If i was you i would wash any decorations and the gravel if you wish, but leave most of the water it and just keep doing small but regular water changes.
I hope this helps you
Once when I was desperate to quarantine a fish I left him in a 500ml jug for two days. I changed the water three or four times in that time though.
I have a set of buckets I use for water changes. They’re 10L and cost me about $2. That way I can use them to house fish during a major clean out, or as a hospital tank.
Your main issues will be temperature changes, and oxygen in the water… And depending on your fish, jumping out. (I’ve only had one goldfish jump out of a jug. Now I cover them with a net.)
The temperature can be handled by having the room warm (or cool) to suit the water. Also you could try wrapping the cups in towels to insulate them.
Oxygen should also be fine for at least a few hours, if the cup/container is uncovered.
Try to put them in the biggest practical container, cos the small ones will stress them out. I always put one of my weeds in the bucket when I have to remove fish from the tank so they’ll have somewhere to hide if they want to. Usually if you put half a cooked pea in with them, they’ll be so busy/happy eating they won’t really mind the cup so much.
So long as the temperature doesn’t fluctuate to much, they’ll be right for a couple of hours.
Your fish should never be removed from your tank even with a good cleaning, it isn’t needed here Even with 50% of the water being changed. You will stress them out chasing them around the tank more than if they remained in the tank. Clean the gravel down to the 50% mark with the siphone digging into the gravel. Remember what is clean for you and me isn’t for a fish. Never empty the entire tank. This will cause your tank to enter into a new cycle.
Gravel vacing should be done once per week with the removal of 25% of the water. If you still feel the need you can use your tank water and put them all in a bucket. Your filter as well can be attached to keep the water moving. 5 gallon if you can. It shouldn’t take more than an hour or so to clean your tank. You want to work quickly here.