Next weekend im moving house and im concerned about how exactly I'm going to move the tank as well. I know a lot of people say that a tank should be cycled for a week or more to allow bacteria to regenerate and age the water. However I'm only going to have 2 or 3 days at the most to move.

The fish i have in my tank are 3 neon tetras, an emperor tetra, an inka 50 and a sailfin gibbicep. The tank is 100x50x50cm, but we also have a much smaller one; Im thinking of transporting the smaller tank first, then transporting buckets of water from the main tank so it has aged water with the right levels of bacteria for my fish to go straight into. Then i intend to transfer my main tank across, keeping the filter medium for the bacteria, then add conditioned water and let it cycle for a while before reintroducing my fish. Does this sound like a good idea? Are there any problems with this? How long would i be a good time to let it cycle for before the fish can re-enter it?

One issue is how im going to get the fish across. Ive been told a bucket is fine, but i dont want to risk knocking it over and then having to just watch my fish die. Another is the secondary tank is actually a bowl; a bit over a foot in diameter and a bit under a foot deep, thats normally used as a hospital tank. How long would it be sensible to keep 6 fish, including an 8-inch gibbicep, in there for?