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I need to change my substrate to a smaller one. The problem is that I have fish in my tank.

Can anyone tell me how to change the substrate without bothering the fish too much?

You can remove sections using a divider made of plastic cut to size front to back of your tank. Keep the old gravel aside with the divider, remove some, and place the new gravel on the empty side of the divider. You can do a third of the gravel one day, and continue after the new gravel has been colonized by beneficial bacteria.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Hi there! I plan on doing the same thing in my 25 planted tank. My plan is to take as much water from the tank as I can and save it in buckets, one bucket will have the fish, a heater and an airstone, another bucket will have some of the old gravel in a net and the filter running, another bucket will have the plants. Because the tank is planted and I'm using at least 2 new substrates, Eco-complete and a natural river gravel, possibly I may also have some florite in there as well, the very bottom inch in the mid-back of the tank, I will have to take everything and every body out of the tank. Saving as much water as possible and keeping some of the gravel will help to prevent a cycle. And the eco complete should also help with that I think. I plan on following the way Amano sets up his tanks only I will only have a few hours to do it in, rather than weeks.
I also think moving all the fish to buckets will be less stressful than the muck in the water there would be if I tried to make the change with them in the tank. Matty's idea may work though if you only have fake plants and smaller fish.
Good luck to you however you decide to do it!

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Yes you can do it at a section at a time. Consider this first. You will dirty up the water each time you do a section not actually the best for the fish. It will take a longer than doing it in one section.

I would buy a large enough plastic container transfer all the water/rocks/plants and the fish and keep the filter running to keep the bacteria alive. Also add air but no light a dose of stress coat will also help. Dont feed on the day before or day after changing substrate it will not hurt them at all and reduce the waste when reintroduced back into tank. Your filter will require extra cleaning as well and remember to use the tank water otherwise it will kill the good bacteria.
By doing this you can also give the tank a good cleaning.
You will loose some of the bacteria and you will have to add a Bio Starter of Cycle there is a very good chance you could have a mini cycle so be prepared for that.

I have had to do this several times lately large and small tank and I only lost one SAE it jumped out of the water container.

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Keith

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Keith how would you prevent a SAE from jumping?! I don't want to lose mine on the big day! Or any of the fish, the barbs are as likely to jump and the krib may get bouncy as well. Oh dear, one more worry!

The dirty water is why I figured moving them would be better for them, that and the clogged up filter, mine takes enough of a beating without that! Thanks for mentioning the not feeding and the stress coat, I thought those would be good but wasn't 100% sure, it's good to have that confirmed. Would aqua-plus be good for that? I have no stress coat or stress zyme, but I do have prime and aqua-plus.

"If you're afraid you'll make a mistake, you won't make anything."
-Family Circus

Place a piece of plastic sheeting over the water container or a piece of what we call in Aust Shade Cloth an open weave material use external for weather protection for plants.

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Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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So when you put the fish and stuff into the plastic container, do you also put the old substrate in?
Or do you just get rid of the old substrate and then just put the old water in with the new substrate?

As you said old substrate toss it out. BUT you must have the old filter going otherwise there will be mini cycle in the plastic bucket.

You start the new tank with, new substrate and old water. When the new tank is set up make sure that you have extra airation till it all settles down.

Does this make sense to you if please ask more questions.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
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I also plan on changing all of the substrate in my 55gal. I will remove everything except the fish and a piece of petrified wood that the kuhlis live under. Then I will do a deep gravel vac and I will leave the filters running the whole time. I will then remove the gravel and start to replace it with the new. When I have enough gravel on one side I will put in the homemade cave for the kuhlis to hide in when I remove there old home and then remove the rest of the gravel. Hopefully I can do it quick enough to reduce the stress on the fish. Has anybody done it this way before?

The way I changed from the coral to the sand I just bagged all the coral in a bag then put the bag back into the newly laid sand then filled the aquarium left it there for three or so weeks and voilà it went over well with little fuss or muss. Some don't like the bag, if your gravel is large enough you could do mesh bags and pack the gravel in that to solve the problem. Most of my fish moved out of the way and those that didn't were to busy trying to get me to pet them... Silly fish don't even know they are supposed to be afraid of me(j/k about being affraid)