10 Cories Qt In A 10 Gallon?

We plan to put 10 false juliI cories into our 55 gallon that already contains 7 cherry barbs and 5 zebra danios. I know the importance of quarantining new fish but my quarantine tank is only 10 gallons. (I've never thought about having to quarantine 10 fish at once! But cories being schooling fish...maybe I should just get 6 at first and then 6 more???)

If I changed the water a few times a week (or 10% daily) would it even be feasible to keep 10 juliis in there for a couple weeks?

Unfortunately Petco is our only source for them and I'm worried half will end up dead. (The employee said they receive 6 every Friday but 3 always die quickly...the carnage in the tanks on delivery day is gross...) We plan to "special order" them so they get enough in.

 

With adequate water changes and filtration a 10 gallon is fine for a temporary quarantine.

You may want to consider buying them online. It'll cost a bit more due to shipping but they'll likely be healthier than petcos stock

 

Wouldn't adding 10 cories (albeit quarantined) to a 55 gallon all at once be harsh on the bio load?

I would do the 6 and 4 method. This would also allow you have 2 different batches and maybe one batch is not diseased, thus not treatment, but if one cory is diseased in a batch of 10, then you are treating 10 fish. (Did I explain that correctly?)

However, EricV is correct, in my opinion, 10 cories in a 10 gallon for quarantine purposes is fine.

 

No, 10 small cories added to a 55 shouldn't affect the bioload much. You might experience a small spike, but it shouldn't be bad.

 

I just did this! If you buy from your Petco, I wouldn't buy them the same day that they came in. I would recommend waiting a couple of days before purchasing them from them. I made the mistake of buying my cories same day as they arrived; I lost 4 of my 12.

Since you will have so many in your QT, I would recommend doing daily water changes of 30-40%. Also, test the water everyday! I did this and didn't loose anymore of my cories. I went through a ton of water conditioner but the remaining cories stayed happy and health till I moved them into my 54 gallon tank. I moved all of mine at the same time and didn't see any blips with my test results.

HAHAHAHA!!!! I just got ninja'd by TexasDomer!

 

I would do 5 at a time. 10 at once wouldn't affect the bioload of a 55 gallon too much but it might affect the 10 gallon QT.

 

I just did this! If you buy from your Petco, I wouldn't buy them the same day that they came in. I would recommend waiting a couple of days before purchasing them from them. I made the mistake of buying my cories same day as they arrived; I lost 4 of my 12.

This is my concern. Unfortunately, they only get 6 at a time. I'm thinking of asking them to order 10 and hold them for a few days... otherwise they only have 1 or 2 left. I wonder how much it would stress them if I did just buy 3 at a time and eventually build up to a full school. Heck, it would be saving them from a life of being the lone Cory in the tank either there or in another tank...

 

If you can only get a few good cories every couple of weeks, then go for it! I don't think it will stress them out too much waiting a couple of weeks to have a full group. My one false juliI was years alone; because I didn't know any better. He is much happier with all the other cories he swims around with now. Just be patient and add a few at a time then. It's better for them to have a good healthy group than starting with disease and death.

 

I know, I had a single Cory a decade ago. I knew about the nitrogen cycle so I at least had a cycled tank but I didn't know about proper schools. BUT I did learn my lesson about not quarantining my new acquisitions back then.

 

If you can only get a few good cories every couple of weeks, then go for it! I don't think it will stress them out too much waiting a couple of weeks to have a full group. My one false juliI was years alone; because I didn't know any better. He is much happier with all the other cories he swims around with now. Just be patient and add a few at a time then. It's better for them to have a good healthy group than starting with disease and death.

I ended up following your advice and bought all 6 that they had. One looked unhealthy in the bag on the 15 minute drive home and ended up dying the next day but the other 5 are seemingly healthy and active!

I finally was able to wrap my brain around how to set up a drip acclimation setup and did this for them. It was easy once I figured it out. Should I have had a small heater or air bubbler in there?



This is one of those tall rubbermade canisters. I was hoping the constant transfer of water from the tank to the container would keep the temp of the water up.

 

I'm assuming that they are in their tank now and swimming around. I've never done the drip acclimation method, hopefully someone else will chime in and say if you needed a heater or anything else to it.

I'm glad that you were able to get your cories! They are so cute!

 

I'm assuming that they are in their tank now and swimming around. I've never done the drip acclimation method, hopefully someone else will chime in and say if you needed a heater or anything else to it.

I'm glad that you were able to get your cories! They are so cute!

Yes, they've been in the tank for 10+ days. (I just photograph everything, hence still having photos from several days ago...)

They are super cute. I had forgotten how much fun they are, too.

My sponge filter just arrived and I acquired some used HOB filters so I need to set up a bare-bones QT tank for the next batch. I have a 20 gallon long that is empty and just needs to be cleaned for this purpose. I realized my 10 g shrimp tank might not be idea. I risked it and added these straight to the 55 gal tank without quarantining them. I have been making so many impetuous, stupid decisions regarding this tank.

 

Yes, they've been in the tank for 10+ days. (I just photograph everything, hence still having photos from several days ago...)

They are super cute. I had forgotten how much fun they are, too.

My sponge filter just arrived and I acquired some used HOB filters so I need to set up a bare-bones QT tank for the next batch. I have a 20 gallon long that is empty and just needs to be cleaned for this purpose. I realized my 10 g shrimp tank might not be idea. I risked it and added these straight to the 55 gal tank without quarantining them. I have been making so many impetuous, stupid decisions regarding this tank.

Yeah! Glad to hear that they are enjoying the big tank!

I must agree that it is a bit risky not putting them into quarantine. I had a round of columnaris go through my tank and it wiped out most of my cories. I'm wishing I kept them in QT for longer...plus I will be buying them in smaller batches when I get more for the tank.

 

Those cories are tiny!

 

Those cories are tiny!

They were pretty tiny. Maybe 1". I expect these false juliis to get maybe 2.25"?

Yeah! Glad to hear that they are enjoying the big tank!

I must agree that it is a bit risky not putting them into quarantine. I had a round of columnaris go through my tank and it wiped out most of my cories. I'm wishing I kept them in QT for longer...plus I will be buying them in smaller batches when I get more for the tank.

It's totally risky. 10 years ago I quit fish keeping because I brought home one molly that spread tuberculosis to the entire tank. It creeped me out so bad I cleaned everything out, threw out the expensive Eco-complete and bleached everything. Then I sold the tank.

That's why I'm waiting on getting the second batch until I have a proper QT ready.

 

It's totally risky. 10 years ago I quit fish keeping because I brought home one molly that spread tuberculosis to the entire tank. It creeped me out so bad I cleaned everything out, threw out the expensive Eco-complete and bleached everything. Then I sold the tank.

That's why I'm waiting on getting the second batch until I have a proper QT ready.

Wow! That's really rough; I probably would have done the same thing as you. I'm glad that you are getting back into the hobby. And that you are setting up a proper QT too!