Not an emergency quite yet...but it will be...

[darthjoe]

Okay, here's the situation...my friend is moving about half a state away, and has no way to transport his fish. He has 2 swordtails (male and female), an emerald cory, and an unid'ed catfish with very long barbels (which I assume will grow to be big...as most catfish do). He has asked me if I want them, otherwise he is going to "dispose" of them.

I only have one community tank...which is a ten gallon tank, with 4 platys, and two garbei corys. My concerns/worries:

1) This is going to overload my tank. Pretty much a no-brainer, especially once the catfish starts growing. However, I don't want him to kill them, and would hope to find the catfish a new home as soon as possible.

2) Adding all 4 fish at once is going to cause an ammonia spike in my tank, and make all my other fish sick.

3) I have no quarantine tank to put this many fish into, and I'm worried about them bringing diseases into my tank.

4) Even if I do find the catfish a new home, and none of my fish get sick from the introduction of the new fish...I will end up with one male and three female platys, and a pair of swordtails. Once my platys start breeding, and the swordtails start going at it, I'm gonna have my hands full.

Does anyone have any suggestions, and are my concerns justified at all, or am I just being the worry-wart that I usually am?

Keep in mind, my friend is moving in less than 2 weeks, so I need a solution by then.

 

[Jaded_Pulse]

Is there any way he might also give you the tank he had them in as well as the fish? If he won't, I suppose it's a great excuse for you to get another tank, but that would take a couple of weeks to cycle, etc..

To answer your concerns:

1. Yep, this will definitely overstock your tank when they're fully grown, but if they're still small(ish) it might be ok as a temporary thing (provided they're all species that get along, which I *think* they would.

2. If your tank's cycled & well established, this shouldn't be too much of a problem I don't think - maybe if you add 2 one week & the other 2 the next or something like that.

3. Yeah, that one I would be worried about. Is it possible for you to buy a small tank for quarantining?

4. I don't know much about breeding but yeah I guess that could get to be a problem.....but I suppose (I know this isn't nice but it's the only thing I can think of sorry!!) - you could always let nature take its course with the fry - I'm sure there'd be something in the tank that'd eat them Sorry I know that one isn't gonna be popular, maybe someone else will have a better idea.

Goodluck

 

[cometcattle]

I think that cat is going to be big and it will probably eat your fry. I'd post that question in the Catfish Cradle (those people REALLY know their cats).

I would definatly buy another 10g. ( my cure-all for nearly everything )

Good luck Dark Lord of the Sythe!

 

[Mesome]

I agree with queen gumby. As for adding them into your tank...they are already kind of quarantined right...I mean they are in another tank and they aren't sick....so I think that you should be fine adding them. Just make sure that you net them into your tank as opposed to dumping other tank water in. As for fry, nature is very good at taking it's course, and if you leave a couple of floating plants, you may get a few fry that make it, and the ones who don't, well your other fish will surely appreciate the tasty snack...
I would definately look at getting a bigger home for them though at some point...
Make sure that you keep up on your waterchanges, and watch out for your ammonia spike.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi darthjoe

I think you probably are going to need another tank.

Even if he is going to keep his tank and equipment, he is probably going to dump his gravel. If you could talk him into giving it to you, you would get all the beneficial bacteria in it and be well on your way to having another tank cycled. Perhaps he would give you his used filter media too.

You know you want another tank.........................

 

[Sorrell]

Without the catfish, I think you would be pushing it stocking wise, but not completely over the edge. As far as the livebearers go, if you don't put the females into some sort of breeder net and your tank isn't heavily planted, you shouldn't have any problem as far as fry taking over. The swordtails especially will pick off fry fast. Hope this doesn't sound mean, but it's an option.