Problems moving from big tank to small tank ?

[Jes]

A few months ago after my big group of boys declanned, I moved them into 10 gallon tanks. I found it a waste of tank space to keep 2 boys in it so I moved my girls into it.

It's been a few months now and they still dont' seem to adjust. They climb as high as they can and they dig at the screen. They are not bored, they have plenty to do. The tanks are half full of shavings, tons of cardboard, they have a burrow, etc.These boys used to jump much higher than a 10 gallon tank, now if they jump that high they hit the screen. They're not used to such little space to jump, before they could jump out of their 30 gallon tank from the bottom. That's a huge jump compared to what they're in now and are kind of restricted.

Anyone else ever switch tank sizes and go through this? I know it's an adjustment but I would think they'd be used to it by now. They still seem miserable and I don't have the money or room for bigger tanks for them.. Well some of them seem to have settled but a couple of them haven't.

[AndreaS15]

I moved my boys from a 20G to a 10G... they didn't seem to care to much. I then was given a 15G, so i put them in there feeling guilty for them

Have you ever tried the Platic Bin's as housing?
I bought my first one, a 55L for $6. It's working out very well, and I'm quite surpirsed how well i can see them through the plastic sides. I just cut a ton of holes in the lid.
They are susper cheap and you can get them very large, this may be something you want to look into if you feel your boys are in need of more room, and don't have the $$ for a glass tank.

[Jes]

I haven't tried the plastic bins. I don't really want to though. They're light. I have cats and I think it would be too easy for them to get in there or knock it down if they wanted.


I think I'll just keep an eye out for a used bigger tank. One should come up eventually at clearance sales or in the paper or something. I might try and reclan and make a group of 4, so at least I'd get more out of a bigger tank if I got one.

[kimsgerbils]

I used to use bins as temporary cages, but the kind I could find without ledges to chew weren't tall enough for wheels... So I went back to ten gallon tanks for pairs.... For Christmas I'll be getting 2 twenty gallon longs!!!

[AndreaS15]

Jes said:

I might try and reclan and make a group of 4, so at least I'd get more out of a bigger tank if I got one.

I wouldn't be to keen on trying that. Very risky.

Ask neighbours and family if they know anyone who may have a tank lying around. I got one of mine that way. Lots of people ask Fish shops, sometimes they have big tanks that just don't hold water, and they sell them for very cheap.
Find a palce where u can put a free ad out on, online, or in a paper.

[paws]

andreas15 said:

I moved my boys from a 20G to a 10G... they didn't seem to care to much. I then was given a 15G, so i put them in there feeling guilty for them

Have you ever tried the Platic Bin's as housing?
I bought my first one, a 55L for $6. It's working out very well, and I'm quite surpirsed how well i can see them through the plastic sides. I just cut a ton of holes in the lid.
They are susper cheap and you can get them very large, this may be something you want to look into if you feel your boys are in need of more room, and don't have the $$ for a glass tank.

I have one of these as a playpen, they sell really cheap, they're pretty good.

If you don't want to use a plastic bin, perhaps you could have a large tank with two on two in a splitter, I did that when I only owned one aquarium, they quickly got used to it, and even had nests together, up against the splitter, but I never took the splitter away because I was worried about the little single gerbil (it was a two on 1 split).

Then you could have a larger tank, with more gerbils, and one less tank!
HAYLEY