Dumb Questions - Quarantining / Fish Compatibility / Acclimation

[Charlie the Reefer]

Hello everyone,

First of all - I did research many places for this, including many threads on R2R, YT, books, etc. I feel I still have inadequate information.

Soon I will begin stocking a 125G tank. I've heard things such as "quarantine all fish". And I've heard "add all tangs at the same time". "Add all clowns at the same time". etc. For compatibility reasons.

However, I've also heard... "don't add too many fish at once". Additionally, if I add let's say all my tangs at the same time that'd be like 3+ fish... Do I then quarantine them in the same tank? That doesn't seem smart due to how small quarantine tanks are and the fact that one can infect the other two. Etc.

Finally, if I buy multiple fish at once, should I quarantine them in the same or different tanks? Different tanks would make sense due to medical/water quality reasons. Same tank would make sense due to logistical convenience and the fact you're buying them at once "to get used to" eachother.. Correct?

How do I reconcile this conflicting information? To re-iterate, the prudent thing to do (IMO) would be to just add 1 tang at a time. But I've heard that's a bad idea.

Thanks in advance everyone.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

This hobby is full of conflicting information and there are plenty of people that will recommend different routes to you...there thing is there's not necessarily any absolutely correct answer to most of your questions (you should QT in separate tanks though I'd say)...also adding too many fish at once can cause an ammonia spike but since your system is a 125 I have no idea if it would or not. It's great you've been doing your research but a lot of times you're just gonna have to pick a path and give it a shot to see if it works for you personally in this hobby.

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

This hobby is full of conflicting information and there are plenty of people that will recommend different routes to you...there thing is there's not necessarily any absolutely correct answer to most of your questions (you should QT in separate tanks though I'd say)...also adding too many fish at once can cause an ammonia spike but since your system is a 125 I have no idea if it would or not. It's great you've been doing your research but a lot of times you're just gonna have to pick a path and give it a shot to see if it works for you personally in this hobby.

Thanks for your reply. I figured this was the conclusion to draw...

Other question I have for anyone reading this. Most of the time in those quarantine threads everyone recommends a 10g, 20g, 30g etc. How does that make sense when I'm quarantining fish for 10 weeks that "can only be put in 100G+ tanks".... Right? (Tang police, etc. I know it's a meme but seriously).

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Thanks for your reply. I figured this was the conclusion to draw...

Other question I have for anyone reading this. Most of the time in those quarantine threads everyone recommends a 10g, 20g, 30g etc. How does that make sense when I'm quarantining fish for 10 weeks that "can only be put in 100G+ tanks".... Right? (Tang police, etc. I know it's a meme but seriously).

Well, it's like at a LFS where they keep 10 baby blue tanks on a 20 gallon tank...it's just as temporary as possible so it's understood as a necessary evil...nobody is gonna jump on you for QTing in a tank that size as long as it's within reason

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

This is one of the main reason why Reefing is in fact hard. No one has all the answers and there is many paths to success.

Sounds like you have a solid foundation already and willing to research. This is the path to success.

For livestock on my current tank, I forgo doing the QT myself and buy my livestock from vendors that does the Full QT for me. Its expensive but I figure its worth it due to the time, space, and convenience.

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

This is one of the main reason why Reefing is in fact hard. No one has all the answers and there is many paths to success.

Sounds like you have a solid foundation already and willing to research. This is the path to success.

For livestock on my current tank, I forgo doing the QT myself and buy my livestock from vendors that does the Full QT for me. Its expensive but I figure its worth it due to the time, space, and convenience.

Thank you for your thoughts / anecdotes!

Charlie

 

[iFunnny]

At least youre not believing everything you read! That's a phenomenal start. I would suggest not taking all your advice and suggestions from one place. Ravage the forums and the depths of youtube and try to see if you can make out a pattern and signal out the common denominator to the questions you want answered.

"to re-iterate, the prudent thing to do (IMO) would be to just add 1 tang at a time. But I've heard that's a bad idea."

If you had a really big tank, I think you could get away with it, but in general the recommendations are to make sure the new arrival is significantly bigger. Also if the tank is really well-fed, aggression tends to calm down a little. Some Tangs are complete jerks though.

With regards to the QT, it also depends if you are going to treat them proactively, or going with a visual QT. If you do it proactively and treat for velvet and ich and/or flukes, the fish being in the same tank, may infect one another, but since treatment is being administered, the should all be good to go once youve finished the QT process.

QT-ing 3 tangs at once does sound really demanding for a home QT system. I personally have my larger fish QT-ed at a store I trust that treats proactively for disease and i visit them often. For my smaller fishes, I am setting up a small 15g long which should be sufficiently.

Sorry if this is a really long post! We know its frustrating, but hang in there! There are no dumb questions!

 

[Charlie the Reefer]

At least youre not believing everything you read! That's a phenomenal start. I would suggest not taking all your advice and suggestions from one place. Ravage the forums and the depths of youtube and try to see if you can make out a pattern and signal out the common denominator to the questions you want answered.

"to re-iterate, the prudent thing to do (IMO) would be to just add 1 tang at a time. But I've heard that's a bad idea."

If you had a really big tank, I think you could get away with it, but in general the recommendations are to make sure the new arrival is significantly bigger. Also if the tank is really well-fed, aggression tends to calm down a little. Some Tangs are complete jerks though.

With regards to the QT, it also depends if you are going to treat them proactively, or going with a visual QT. If you do it proactively and treat for velvet and ich and/or flukes, the fish being in the same tank, may infect one another, but since treatment is being administered, the should all be good to go once youve finished the QT process.

QT-ing 3 tangs at once does sound really demanding for a home QT system. I personally have my larger fish QT-ed at a store I trust that treats proactively for disease and i visit them often. For my smaller fishes, I am setting up a small 15g long which should be sufficiently.

Sorry if this is a really long post! We know its frustrating, but hang in there! There are no dumb questions!

Thanks very much for your thoughts!