Second tank

[Pigeonjock]

do you think its a good idea to have a smaller second tank going with the same water filtering as my main tank (a 400 litre Juwel)so that I can quarantine any new stock before adding it to the larger tank?

if so,how long do folk quarantine their new additions before adding them to the rest of the established fish

much appreciated

Scott

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

Personally I don't do that. Actually I bought a little 5 gallon tank with that intention but needed to move some tiny fish in there instead. Plus it was getting so that most of the fish I was buying would be far too uncomfortable in a 5 gallon tank and probably would die from stress.

People have used those large plastic Rubbermaid containers for quarantine (at least 2-4 weeks probably) add a filter or some air stones and a small heater.

I've always carefully looked over my fish before adding them into an aquarium and haven't brought home anything contagious yet. I also limit where I buy my fish so I'm not getting fish from all over town (actually most of my healthy fish I bought online) most of my locally purchased fish have at least partially died out) - just my experience. The problem with buying a bunch online is that you can easily overwhelm your aquarium cycling with too many fish at once - but shipping is costly so you tend to buy a lot at the time. Or buy smaller groups and suck up the shipping costs (recommended). They usually have a much bigger variety than anyplace else. LiveAquaria.com and azgardens.com

You are looking for:
White spots or velvety patches on the body

• Missing scales or incomplete fins
• Cloudy or bulging eyes
• Ulcers or other lesions
• Rapid breathing, gasping at the surface and shaking
• Erratic swimming
• Listlessness or sulking in a corner

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

Oh as far as "sulking in a corner" - that is just characteristic of some breeds. They are just very shy fish, especially before they grow up or it just takes a week or two to get them to venture out of their hidey-hole.

Also Labryth fish like Gourami's use gills but also require access to the surface to breath air - so that is normal behavior (although they don't gasp and shake at the surface).

Only behaviors I've seen is fish lying on their sides taking slow erratic breaths and not swimming unless forced two - at that point I assume ammonia levels or stress got to them and I euthanize the fish. I've never seen an actual disease in my tanks of 54 fish.

 

[Pigeonjock]

Personally I don't do that. Actually I bought a little 5 gallon tank with that intention but needed to move some tiny fish in there instead. Plus it was getting so that most of the fish I was buying would be far too uncomfortable in a 5 gallon tank and probably would die from stress.

People have used those large plastic Rubbermaid containers for quarantine (at least 2-4 weeks probably) add a filter or some air stones and a small heater.

I've always carefully looked over my fish before adding them into an aquarium and haven't brought home anything contagious yet. I also limit where I buy my fish so I'm not getting fish from all over town (actually most of my healthy fish I bought online) most of my locally purchased fish have at least partially died out) - just my experience. The problem with buying a bunch online is that you can easily overwhelm your aquarium cycling with too many fish at once - but shipping is costly so you tend to buy a lot at the time. Or buy smaller groups and suck up the shipping costs (recommended). They usually have a much bigger variety than anyplace else. LiveAquaria.com and azgardens.com

You are looking for:
White spots or velvety patches on the body

• Missing scales or incomplete fins
• Cloudy or bulging eyes
• Ulcers or other lesions
• Rapid breathing, gasping at the surface and shaking
• Erratic swimming
• Listlessness or sulking in a corner

Thanks Jan,

I was just looking to quarantine anything new and keep an eye on it for a few weeks with replicated water until I was happy to add them to the established tank which has Pearl Gourami,Cardinal tetra,Clown Loach Panda Corys a Pleco and a rainbow shark currently in it.

 

[AquaBarb]

Id highly recommend quaranting your new fish. A full month if you can.

I made the mistake of not quaranting my fish from advise from family and friends. Everything was great, i found a nice LFS filled our first tank up without any problems then moved on to a second bigger tank. I purchased some Dwarf neon rainbowfish and some corys over a 3 week period and they all looked to of settled in then i started experiencing problems with them bloating up. Having tried various treatments with no lucky it unfortuntley looks like my rainbows could have TB, which could wipe out my whole tank.

What i do now is have a 50 litre plastic storage container for my hospital/quarante tank what i can pull out if needed. I have a spare sponge filter running in my main tanks so its cycled ready to move over at short notice. Only takes 10 mins to fill it up with water out my main tank, pop a heater/air pump/and the cycled sponge filter in and its ready.

 

[seangee]

I have a stack of 30 litre tubs. These live in my garage.
I use the sponges from a sponge filter as a pre-filter in my main tank. I keep another pair of sponges in the filter of another tank. When I need a QT I just put a set of sponges from one of these onto a sponge filter and hook it up to an air pump. Spare heater - fill with clean water and we're good to go in less than half an hour.