Question on moving rock

SM37 · Feb 24, 2024

hey everyone, my tank is 5 months old and I have tried darn near everything to get this big female clarkii out of my tank. I even resorted to using a hook and line to no success, she is wicked smart imo. But she is bullying everything she just killed my 3” fire shrimp and fed it to my nem. She’s won’t let my little itty bitty clown goby move from a corner or she rushes it and same goes for my watchman goby. Now, I am to the point of taking out my 3 rocks with corals. I plan on leaving the one rock that my goby and pistol shrimp live under, but the other two can I just empty some tank wanted into a bucket/tote and remove the rock temporarily while I fish her out? I have corals on the one rock. Also I’m worried removing the rocks might cause a cycle? But I’m not really sure. I would be putting the rocks and water if that’s okay back into the tank hopefully within an hour.
Thanks in advance

Idech · Feb 24, 2024

Yes, it’s okay to put the rocks and corals in a bucket of tank water. If it’s more than a few minutes, it’s best to heat and mostly aerate the water.

SM37 · Feb 24, 2024

Idech said:
Yes, it’s okay to put the rocks and corals in a bucket of tank water. If it’s more than a few minutes, it’s best to heat and mostly aerate the water.

Awesome, thank you! Can I put the water back into the tank after? I just did a water change yesterday because I’ve been trying to get this fish for the past few days and didn’t know if stirring up the sand bed a little while moving stuff was going to affect my water parameters.

Idech · Feb 24, 2024

SM37 said:
Awesome, thank you! Can I put the water back into the tank after? I just did a water change yesterday because I’ve been trying to get this fish for the past few days and didn’t know if stirring up the sand bed a little while moving stuff was going to affect my water parameters.

If it’s clean water from the tank, sure.

Be careful with stirring the sand though. I can create an ammonia spike and kill inhabitants.