too many fish in qt?

[Wolf89]

Is this too many fish for a 20 gallon qt? I am willing to do 10-15 gallon water changes as often as needed.
All of these fish are small, most under 2 inches, a couple are between 2 and 3 inches
sailfin tang
convict tang
foxface
hippo tang
purple anthias
powder brown tang
tomini tang
naso tang

 

[jp_75]

way too many. most of them heavy bio load.

 

[CasaReefer]

Me Thinks He Likes TANGS... I have had 8 fish in a 20 gal QT for a month getting rid of ICH.. Mind Did fine got along great and when I put in the DT they seemed to get along better. Just My Experience.

 

[Billdogg]

Is this too many fish for a 20 gallon qt? I am willing to do 10-15 gallon water changes as often as needed.
All of these fish are small, most under 2 inches, a couple are between 2 and 3 inches
sailfin tang
convict tang
foxface
hippo tang
purple anthias
powder brown tang
tomini tang
naso tang

Really? The only way you could keep ammonia in check would be to do continuous large volume water changes in a tank that size. IMHO, that tank might be able to handle two of them at a time. Then there is the whole aggression issue.

way too many. most of them heavy bio load.

Yes. x 1000

I'm really hoping this is just a hypothetical question!

 

[Wolf89]

Really? The only way you could keep ammonia in check would be to do continuous large volume water changes in a tank that size. IMHO, that tank might be able to handle two of them at a time. Then there is the whole aggression issue.



Yes. x 1000

I'm really hoping this is just a hypothetical question!

This is only a QT not long term

 

[Wolf89]

OK, what about if there is no naso tang and no anthias? Like I said, I can do 50% water changes as often as needed

 

[CasaReefer]

Bump...

 

[phatduckk]

its a lot =)

The main issues I'd worry about are potential ammonia spikes (which, sure, a water change every day can help) and just stress on the fish...

if you're medicating them its already stressful; couple that with lack of space, competition during feeding and constant water changes and they might not get enough time to just chill and do fishy things

 

[Dr. Bull]

Not only will the bioload be an issue but you will proably notice aggression between the tangs in that small of a tank. Aggression leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to .... well you know.

The goal is to give them an easy transition into your environment with as little stress as possible while also watching for any signs of disease. This is not possible by packing that many fish into that small of a tank. Mashing that many tangs in that small of a space, with a foxface which can be rather large is just asking for trouble. Realistically you should only QT a single tang in a tank that size at a time, and honestly unless it was a really tiny tang the tank is still too small.

It sounds like your trying to frontload your tang order to try to introduce them all at once into a main display and hope they all get along. How big is the display your intending to put them in, and is it large enough to house all of them now and in the future when they grow 3x the size they currently are now?

 

[MERKEY]

FWIW I have a....
Yellow tang
3 damsels
Flame angel

in a 20 long QT right now and the amonia is a pain.

With that many fish in a 20g I would unfortunately believe you would have some deaths.

Get 3 of them set up

 

[Wolf89]

I have a 10 gallon as well, I can split them up?

 

[MERKEY]

First are these all new fish? Or are they coming out of a tank to be treated?

I would go to petco or petsmart and grab a couple tanks on their $1 per gallon sale they have right now. I just did the same

Even if you can get 2 more 20 longs that would be the best.

If you can swing getting 2 more 10s at least then you could split 3 tangs in 1 and 3 in the other then the rest in the last 10g.

This will also help with when or if you have to medicate copper or other treatments. Keeping the water at a therapeutic level will include a lot of testing with so many water changes with that bio load will be nuts.

It is easy once you get the hang of it but there is a learning curve. Read all the QT threads by Humblefish. That's a really good place to start, as there are other methods like TTM that might be more applicable.

 

[AcanthurusRex]

If the tangs are of any size they will go insane in a 20g tank.

 

[MERKEY]

If the tangs are of any size they will go insane in a 20g tank.

This is true but QT are necessary for most and it's not a long term but short term for the health of the fish. (On case by case only) The tang I have in QT is doing fine and has lots of PVC and no other tangs to be aggresive towards. This again is a case by case as all tangs are different. Is he totally happy NO, but I'm sure he is happier than being sick.

Fact is being put in a small glass cage when u want to swim free is never good.

Try to make it as less stressful for the fish as possible.

 

[Wolf89]

If the tangs are of any size they will go insane in a 20g tank.

All below 2 inches

 

[CasaReefer]

What about the 1 inch per gallon thing? does that not apply?

 

[Warp_Asylum]

Is this too many fish for a 20 gallon qt? I am willing to do 10-15 gallon water changes as often as needed.
All of these fish are small, most under 2 inches, a couple are between 2 and 3 inches
sailfin tang
convict tang
foxface
hippo tang
purple anthias
powder brown tang
tomini tang
naso tang

I'm fairly new to reefing but my understanding is roughly 1" of fish to 5 gallons of water....it sounds like a lot of fish in there ‍

 

[AcanthurusRex]

I QT all my fish. I QT'd my tangs in a 20g. Only 1 tang at a time. However, when I went fallow I put the 4.5" WTB tang in the 20g temporary while I set up a 55g QT and he went insane; I could not leave him in there even for a few hours. He had been in the display for several years and tolerated the 20g when I QT'd him.
No issues with that small of tangs in a 20g QT but you have way too many for one tank.
I wish my tank was big enough to keep all those tangs.

 

[Tamberav]

This is a good example of why people complain of fish dying in QT. Cramming a ton of fish in a 20g for convenience. Even if you did continuous water changes, that many fish in a small box is stressful which will open them up to disease and bacterial infections.

I would suggest you set up four 20g longs, five if you are getting multiple anthias. Then you still have the job of water changing them all. It would be easier if you cycled them all ahead of time.

 

[Wolf89]

This is a good example of why people complain of fish dying in QT. Cramming a ton of fish in a 20g for convenience. Even if you did continuous water changes, that many fish in a small box is stressful which will open them up to disease and bacterial infections.

I would suggest you set up four 20g longs, five if you are getting multiple anthias. Then you still have the job of water changing them all. It would be easier if you cycled them all ahead of time.

Cant cyle if there are no rocks or sand