87 Civic HB Fuel Tank Removal /Cleaning

I am having fuel issues and I want to clean out my fuel tank. I removed the straps under the take the other night, but the tank didn't budge. I started to pry on it with a board, but it still didn't budge. Is there a trick to getting it out?

mine was like that it feels like it is glue there all i did was pry and nudge it out but be caarelful not to pry to hard as u can bend the seal and make it leak.

OK so I got the tank out by prying on it and found a good one (mine was full of rust) from a junk yard. I have an SI and the one I found was from a standard non SI so I used my pickup tube in the new tank. I put it all back together and I now the fuel pump won't prime. The pump runs and all, but it doesn't suck up any gas from the tank. Does the fuel pump need to be manually primed to get it started or should I look for a loose connection? One last thing. In the past I noticed that the pump will not prime if the fuel cap is not on. The fuel cap is on and if I remove it after turning the key a few times I can hear the pressure in the tank releasing.

Thanks