enlarging tank and adding fish questions

[losaramic]

Hi! I introduced myself in the fish disease forum about a week ago but will cover a bit of it again here and then get to my point. I'm a bit of a misfit here at this point because I started fish keeping almost by accident, buying a 5 gallon tank originally intended for my daughters lone goldfish. I did my research about setting up and maintaining the tank, but I was a dummy about the fish themselves and took some bad advice in a pet store instead of doing my advance research.. :14: I came home with 2 telescope orandas for that small tank which I now know isn't anywhere near big enough. (It must seem kind of funny to all those here with big tanks holding a varied population.)

Since I've had no problem sticking to the maintenance and feeding schedules, my plan now is to buy a larger tank and use the small one as a hospital tank and so I could use some advice about how to proceed. I know I have to wait (is a week about right?) before putting those first two fish in the larger tank, but what other things could I do to make the transfer safe?
And what sort of fish can co-habit with the dragon eyes? I've read the article which states they have poor vision and will miss out on the food if they share with other varieties of fish, but are there other breeds that have poor vision they could share with?

I'm also very concerned about bringing illness in with new fish. I think I read that newcomers should stay quarantined for 3 weeks; is that right?

Thanks!

[Chrona]

Welcome to AC!

A new tank will have to be cycled (you can use the old ripe filter media to expedite this process) Please download the free ebook and see the sticky on fishless cycling in the beginner's forum. This will usually take about 2 weeks, less if you have a lot of ripe filter media.

As for the goldfish, I'm not sure, sorry

Quarantine is recommended for 3 weeks. Try to pick out healthy looking fish and just walk away if there are dead/decaying fish in any of the tanks.

[losaramic]

Thank you - I have just one more question about this. When you say to use the ripe filter media -- doesn't that mean I would be exchanging it for fresh filter media in the tank which will be holding the fish until the large tank is ready? Wouldn't that undo some of the progress made and perhaps put them at risk? (Sorry if this is a dumb question; I'm still in the early stages of learning all this.)
Or do you mean that I would just exchange some of the filter media -- say, the biomax stuff, and keep the same carbon and sponge in the small tank for now?

[Lady Hobbs]

If the small tank is cycled, you can move the gunky filter media into the new tank and put new in the current tank.

Did you happen to read the Tips for Newbies in the Tank setup thread? It's a quick read and may help.