Stocking For Quarantine Tank

[cowgirluntamed]

Ok...I'm attempting to get a 55 gallon tank ready for fish. Once that is done, I want to add the ones I have currently in my 20 gallon to the 55. Then I want to use the 20 to quarantine new fish for the 55(at least 4 weeks at a time).

Current fish are...
3 glowlight tetras
7 black neons
1 almost 4 inch female bristlenose pleco

All are full grown except maybe the pleco lol.

All will go in to the 55 when it's ready. I was curious on how many fish I could add at a time to the 20 to quarantine them. As in like 10 harlequin rasboras and 7 glowlight tetras and 1 bristlenose? They will be young and most definitely way smaller than my current ones. Then once they were cleared for health...other than the bristlenose, they would go into the big tank. Then could I do like 10 Rio flame tetras and 12 peppered cories? These last I think might be somewhat bigger so I may split those in two(5 Rio flames and 6 peppered).

Now...last but not least.....once I'm done quarantining for the 55, I want to add neon tetras to keep in the 20 with the new bristlenose. Can I safely do like a school of 15 with the bristlenose?

Thanks for the help!!

 

[BaylorPerez]

neon tetras are a good fish type, although i have had issues with them they are still good to look at, and with them getting to 4-6Cms long i dont see why you cant use 15-20 of them in one 55 Gal tank.

but i would keep no more than 10-15 in a 20Gal tank as the bristlenose may reach up to 4-6 Inchs depending on the species of bristlenose

 

[Munroco]

What are the dimensions of your quarantine tank. Long tanks can hold more fish than deep ones

 

[cowgirluntamed]

My tank is 16 1/2 inches tall, 12 inches wide and 24 inches long.

Baylor...did you mean 15-20 in the 20 gallon but only 10-15 with the bristlenose? I wasn't thinking of doing more than 15 really with the bristlenose anyway lol. And this tank may eventually get planted....at least a little.

 

[BaylorPerez]

yea, in the 20 Gal tank you can do atleast 15 with their small size, but with the bristlenose i wouldnt try more than 10, but the more the merrier if you have the room for it in the tank

As with the neon tetras having 15 is about 17.3Inches done for a 20 Gal tank, abit short of the 20 Inch but do 10 for about 11.9 Inches for the fish if you want to put more in the 20 Gal tank

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Thanks for the info! Any ideas about the rest though while I use it as a quarantine? Is that first batch too many or would it be OK for 4 weeks till they can go in the 55? The ones I see in petsmart(the only place I have to go that I halfway trust...) are tiny compared to what they are as adults. If they don't stay in there long is it ok? (Minimum of 4 weeks)

 

[BaylorPerez]

putting fish in a quaratine tank should probally be there no more than a month in my opinion 

 

[cowgirluntamed]

I understand that but is how I want to do it OK? The 10 harlequin rasboras and the 7 glowlight tetras if they are small? The bristlenose are also small 1 1/2 inch I think. Is that OK to a quarantine period in a 20 all together?

 

[BaylorPerez]

do the fish seperatly, keep some in the 20Gal until the time period is over then put the fish in the quaritine in the 55 Gal, then do it back and forth 

you can put the neons and tetras together in the quaratine then the bristlenose, although you may want to wait on the bristlenose

 

[cowgirluntamed]

The neons home will be the 20 gallon after I quarantine the rest for the 55. Nobody will come out of the 55. The bristlenose I wanted in there to replace the one that will be going in the 55 when it's set up and running. I wanted to make sure to keep algae in control so I was going to get that on one of the first ones. It would stay in the 20 with the neons eventually.

So even if the fish are smaller(under an inch), you don't think it's a good idea to do that many at once even if it's only a month? Sorry if it seems I'm asking the same thing over and over. My brain is tired...I think it's bed time. Lol.

My current stock seems like it's over the "one inch of fish per gallon" rule right now. Lol. 7 adult black neon tetras, 3 adult glowlight tetras, and the 1 almost 4 inch bristlenose. This is why I was asking. Oh and I also have a good canister filter now too. A SunSun HW-402b. If that makes any difference.

 

[BaylorPerez]

the 1 inch per fish rule can be put out if the filter is a higher one than recommended( 20 Gall filter with a 75 Gal filter for example), and done with regular gravel/substrate cleanings or get some snails that can help pickup the fish poop. but with snails you will want to watch out for the pond snail/trumpet snail eggs that you may see with your other snails.( experience here as im experiencing a pond snail outbreak so im getting assassin snails)  

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Ipthe filter is rated for up to 75 gallons though I don't think I'd go that high with it. Minimum it says is a thirty gallon but it does well in my 20.

I'm trying to stay clear of snails. I had a nasty case of pond snails too until I got rid of the gravel, soaked all the regular decor and driftwood in lots of salt and the plants in an alum dip. I also drained the tank almost completely but left enough to pour tons of salt over the gravel before I took it out. Once I took the gravel out I rinsed the tank and wiped it down really well. Over and over. Then I added playsand. Inwas skeptical at first but it worked!! No more snails!! (I was down to every other day feeding with them still multiplying like crazy). My male only guppy tank had them as well and I think the guppies ate the eggs because after a while no more snails and I didn't do anything to that tank!

 

[BaylorPerez]

i cant do that as i have mystery snails in the tank currently, so my last resort is to return the mystery snails then use the assassin snails to help lower their numbers, either way, my LFs give me free trumpet snails, so free food for the assassins when the pond snails seem to be gone

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Here's a good video on assassins. I looked them up once and decided they weren't for me because of this video...lol.

https/youtu.be/bHJGNP0CV2g

Ps-i removed all the fish out of the tanks into covered buckets with heaters and air pumps temporarily. I would think that would work for the mystery snails too.(I've also used a clip on lid sterilite plastic box for my 2 nerite snails for a few hours and it worked great!)

 

[PepperjacksMama]

A few notes.
First a quarantine tank should be just that, for quarantine.
Second I would do just one group at a time. Harleys, Glowlights, et cetera. It's easier to observe one species at a time. At least for me anyway.
As for algae control, one should not be getting fish for algae control. You should be adressing the issues causing the algae.
As to the one inch per gallon rule, it helps brand new fishkeepers, but should be taken with a grain of salt. The best thing you can do is research the needs of the fish. Zebra Danios are small fish but need a long tank whereas Angels need a high rather than long tank.
As for Neons in the 20 high, perhaps 15-20. If you feel you must have algae eaters try Otos, small and cute.