Multiple quarantine tanks or not?

[Bowin]

I learned my hard lesson about not quarantining last December and it has taken me this long to get past it and start to add fish again. I should be getting a small Yellow Tang and a small/med Powder Brown in just under two weeks from now. I will be setting up my qt this week and my question is would it be better to setup seperate tanks to house each fish? Should I be concerned with the two fish stressing one another out in the smaller tanks? Should I be concerned that one may need medication while the other may not? I'm just curious of what others have done and experienced when quarantining multiple fish. Also I must mention that I have a 10, 20, and 29 gal at my disposal for use so if I didn't setup 2 qt's I'd probably use the 29.

 

[Marshall O]

I successfully QT'd both a 3" Yellow Eye Kole Tang and 2.5" Powder Brown in a 46. Hated each other for the first two days, but fine after that. If you introduce them at the same time, and have plenty of places for them to hide, you could definitely do both in the 29 assuming they are both on the smaller side. I would get the tank up and running ASAP though to get the bio-filter going!

 

[jasonp87]

The tank you QT in will probably be bigger than the one they were in at the LFS. If they are added at the same time they should be fine. As far as medicating one and not the other, if they are both together at any time then you would have to assume they may share. Even if one fish is showing no symptoms it won't hurt it to medicate it with the other. Also, from my experience, it's best to start meds before you see symptoms. There are some things that once the fish starts to show signs of sickness it is already too late.

 

[Bowin]

Okay I have the 29 gal ready to go but have a question. I've had two sponges sitting in my sump for this purpose. One for about a month and one for a little over a week. I plan to put them in either a canister filter or an hob that I have sitting around (no carbon of course). I also plan on filling the tank with water from my dt. Is there going to be a cycle or will it be ready to go instantly with the bacteria already built up in the sponges?