Switching tanks

[cparks44]

I have a 20 gallon tank with gourami, tetra, and one catfish. I am growing tired of these, and would like to try getting into some of the more colorful cichlids. My tank is approx 4 years old. Although I almost never get my water tested, I also almost never loose any fish. My question is this. Is it hard to transfer my tank up to either a 46 or 55 gallon? What do I need to do. I used to have a local pet store, and the guy was excellent at setting up tanks........he is out of business. I have asked the question several times to the petsmart brains, and have gotten every answer from just dump what I have into the new tank, add de-chlorinator and off I go to the answer that I have to treat it like a brand new tank set-up.. Somebody that has done this please help me.

[William]

I have done it several times and would say that you get the best result if you take the middle road between those two options.

Setup the new tank and add some water, gravel and plants from the old tank to it to jump start the new tank. Let It cycle a little bit ( 5-7 days) and than move the fish. I would also recommend that you move the filter from the old to the new aquarium when you move the fish and keep in the new tank for a while even if you plan to use another filter in the new tank.

An alternative is to dump it into the new tank and than slowly over 1-2 weeks add more water to it untill the entire new tank is filled.

It is possible to do it faster but letting the move take a little more time will give you better results and reduce the risk of complications.