What size quarantine tank?

[saltyhog]

Personally I don't think QT is nearly as stressful as plopping a new fish in to a DT with a bunch of established, rambunctious fish. QT is not just where you treat fish for disease it's where you prepare them for captivity and your display tank. It's where you get them eating the foods they will encounter in the DT and associating you with food. It's where you put weight back on them if they are under nourished.

Most of my fish rush to the front of the tank within a few days of QT and most will eat out of my hand by the time they finish QT. This makes them much easier to catch if they ever need to be removed for compatibility issues or any other reasons.

I posted this on another thread. This is my Quoyi parrot fish after completing QT and being in the DT less than 2 weeks.

 

[EmdeReef]

Personally I don't think QT is nearly as stressful as plopping a new fish in to a DT with a bunch of established, rambunctious fish. QT is not just where you treat fish for disease it's where you prepare them for captivity and your display tank. It's where you get them eating the foods they will encounter in the DT and associating you with food. It's where you put weight back on them if they are under nourished.

Most of my fish rush to the front of the tank within a few days of QT and most will eat out of my hand by the time they finish QT. This makes them much easier to catch if they ever need to be removed for compatibility issues or any other reasons.

I posted this on another thread. This is my Quoyi parrot fish after completing QT and being in the DT less than 2 weeks.

Very true and often forgotten!

 

[ca1ore]

Yes, was going to make that point. QT is not just for disease management, but also to allow a new fish to recover its appetite and get used to the foods you offer. I've had many new fish take a week or two to begin eating. How would they have fared if dumped straight into a competitive display?

I've never been a big fan of prophylactic treatment, and I would never start any meds until a new fish is eating.

 

[mtraylor]

I’m debating on doing a QT with my new tank or not. Seems like a lot more work . Do QT stress out fish more?

WEll from my personal experience. QT is a pain in the Rear. I have a 20 gallon QT tank in my attic. I bring it down when needed. I drilled the bottom of the aquarium and put a drain in the bottom for easy water removal. Since mine is only setup when needed its hard to keep parms consistent in the aquarium. Its much easier by adding stuff like seachem prime to the water column as needed since I do not have a constant bacteria in the aquarium. They are much needed to keep your babies safe in the display. I would not want to kill my fish that I have had over 20 years.

IF you have a new setup and the aquarium is established and you wanted to add all fish at the same time. I don't think that would be an issue either. I would treat the aquarium with something like prazipro for a couple weeks as a preventative. Its a mild way to treat and what I treat in my QT as well.

I have had bad luck treating wrasses in my QT. THey do not do well for me. So if you have wrasses, you may want to read up on them a bit before treating them in QT. I found some good reads over the last several weeks as I want to add some new wrasses to my display. Just waiting on them to get in stock

 

[Bmezz]

i have a 20gallon quarentine that works great. My wife bought a complete setup from petsmart or petco that came with a stand, HOB filter, heater, and LED lights. I just added a sponge filter and air stone. keep a bare bottom and really is working out great. i recently did a powder blue from saltwaterfish.com i confess that he was a big one and getting a bit frustrated in the QT so i took him out early. Now 6 weeks later all is still good and he is clean so all good. Got a bat in the QT now and very happy...
The QT is a great place for treatment, observation and holding. but as someone said trying to catch them when they are in the DT-- OMG. we had to get a clown tang out that was going after the powder blue- took days and we were so worried to stress the powder blue. finally put a trap in the tank and got him in a few hours and he was ticked!!!
good luck!

 

[ca1ore]

Clown tangs are always *******; its in their constitution.

 

[Bmezz]

Clown tangs are always *******; its in their constitution.

I took him right to the LFS. He was just relentless after the powder blue I wanted to kill him

 

[Forsaken77]

I was going to order from saltwaterfish.com

I had the worst experience EVER buying from that place!!! If you're ordering a smaller fish, I would look elsewhere. They don't even stock the fish they sell. They're just a middleman. They're located in Florida and my fish was sent from California, or vice-versa.

I ordered a 3" Magnificent Foxface for $139. What arrived was a 7" adult. I emailed and emailed about the mistake and they only responded when I opened a Paypal dispute. They told me they would re-home the fish and send me the proper size ONLY if I dropped the Paypal dispute. Once you drop a dispute, it cannot be reopened.

I explained to them that Paypal gives you 10 days to correct the mistake and all you have to do is send them the tracking number of the replacement. I also told them I wasn't set up to house a 7" adult at that time and if I dropped the dispute I would have no recourse if they ignored me like they were initially.

Needless to say, once I said I wouldn't drop the dispute, they immediately refunded my money and left me stuck with a fish I couldn't house (I was in the process of piecing together a larger tank).

They don't care about the animals well-being and they don't even stock the fish themselves. I wrote a negative review and they took it down. They also kept the listing up for a 3" Magnificent Foxface after knowing they couldn't get one. They're extremely dishonest people!

That's a 12" wide bag she came in btw.

 

[PeterG]

I’m debating on doing a QT with my new tank or not. Seems like a lot more work . Do QT stress out fish more?

It is a bit of work but nothing compared to the headache once you’ve introduced some disease or parasite into your DT. I’m new to reefing and did just that when I did not quarantine a couple of tangs. I had to remove all the rock and coral to capture my fish for emergency QT. Lost more than half my stock. The survivors are still in a QT as my DT needs to stay fallow for a total of 76 days. And handling rock with coral glued onto it is no picnic either.
I’ll never add anything to my DT again without first QTing it. And lots of knowledgeable people here at R2R willing to help.
Great How To here by Humblefish: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-quarantine.189815/

 

[Bmezz]

I had the worst experience EVER buying from that place!!! If you're ordering a smaller fish, I would look elsewhere. They don't even stock the fish they sell. They're just a middleman. They're located in Florida and my fish was sent from California, or vice-versa.

I ordered a 3" Magnificent Foxface for $139. What arrived was a 7" adult. I emailed and emailed about the mistake and they only responded when I opened a Paypal dispute. They told me they would re-home the fish and send me the proper size ONLY if I dropped the Paypal dispute. Once you drop a dispute, it cannot be reopened.

I explained to them that Paypal gives you 10 days to correct the mistake and all you have to do is send them the tracking number of the replacement. I also told them I wasn't set up to house a 7" adult at that time and if I dropped the dispute I would have no recourse if they ignored me like they were initially.

Needless to say, once I said I wouldn't drop the dispute, they immediately refunded my money and left me stuck with a fish I couldn't house (I was in the process of piecing together a larger tank).

They don't care about the animals well-being and they don't even stock the fish themselves. I wrote a negative review and they took it down. They also kept the listing up for a 3" Magnificent Foxface after knowing they couldn't get one. They're extremely dishonest people!

That's a 12" wide bag she came in btw.

thats sad
i had a good experience and i hear it is hit and miss on all these live services.
im not surprised they shipped from california and that is where many of the wholesalers are. They are a middle man like many... Actually not so bad when you think about it becuase the fish is right from the wholesale to you so no stop in between. someone should set up a thread for each online place and see the goods and bads!

 

[Fish_Tank_J]

I had the worst experience EVER buying from that place!!! If you're ordering a smaller fish, I would look elsewhere. They don't even stock the fish they sell. They're just a middleman. They're located in Florida and my fish was sent from California, or vice-versa.

I ordered a 3" Magnificent Foxface for $139. What arrived was a 7" adult. I emailed and emailed about the mistake and they only responded when I opened a Paypal dispute. They told me they would re-home the fish and send me the proper size ONLY if I dropped the Paypal dispute. Once you drop a dispute, it cannot be reopened.

I explained to them that Paypal gives you 10 days to correct the mistake and all you have to do is send them the tracking number of the replacement. I also told them I wasn't set up to house a 7" adult at that time and if I dropped the dispute I would have no recourse if they ignored me like they were initially.

Needless to say, once I said I wouldn't drop the dispute, they immediately refunded my money and left me stuck with a fish I couldn't house (I was in the process of piecing together a larger tank).

They don't care about the animals well-being and they don't even stock the fish themselves. I wrote a negative review and they took it down. They also kept the listing up for a 3" Magnificent Foxface after knowing they couldn't get one. They're extremely dishonest people!

That's a 12" wide bag she came in btw.

Thank you for the heads up.

 

[Forsaken77]

thats sad
i had a good experience and i hear it is hit and miss on all these live services.
im not surprised they shipped from california and that is where many of the wholesalers are. They are a middle man like many... Actually not so bad when you think about it becuase the fish is right from the wholesale to you so no stop in between. someone should set up a thread for each online place and see the goods and bads!

Yea, you can see right on the bag of the pic I took it says "3" Magnificent Foxface." So either the person who bagged the fish has no clue what an inch is, or simply tried to pass off a giant fish as a baby.

The thing why I hate that place is because they don't care about the animals they sell, they didn't even attempt to fix the situation, they continued to list the 3" fish as available (which it was not), and they completely took down my review of their service. So people will never see negative reviews on that site because they take them down.

As far as most online places, I believe most reputable places stock their own fish. Live Aquaria, the largest online vendor, and NY Aquatics stock their own stuff (as examples). That's why I was actually surprised that these people don't stock a thing.

I still have that fish, she just put my plans into high gear.

 

[PatW]

I use a 29 gallon. I buy small fish when possible. I think small fish are a bit more adaptable and respond better in the display tank. I find that getting fish adjusted to the stuff I feed is a good thing. Also, I like getting them well fed in quarantine so they have a bit of an advantage once they go into the display. Also since they are familiar with the feeding, they are better able to compete for food.

A 20 gallon tank is a good is for a quarantine unless you need to quarantine a large active fish.

 

[Dickeybrazil]

10g is ideal

 

[Saltyanimals]

+10 on not shopping at saltwater fish. I’ve purchased in the past and had trouble on all three occasions. Told myself can’t happen a third time and it did so not going back even thought I have credit at the place.

Back to topic. Question. I see that many of you use QT as observation and won’t necessarily medicate right away unless needed. How long do you keep fish in QT that eats well and doesn’t show many visible sign of sickness before going into DT?