How Do You Introduce New Fish Into Quarantine?

I have plans to use an old 10 gallon for a quarantine. But how do you introduce large schools of let's say 10-12 fish into the tank?

 

Usually a larger quarantine tank is needed but so long as these are “nano” species you could probably keep them all in a 10gal for a few weeks so long as you are willing to do extra water changes.

The filter for the quarantine will be seasoned yes?

 

Usually a larger quarantine tank is needed but so long as these are “nano” species you could probably keep them all in a 10gal for a few weeks so long as you are willing to do extra water changes.

The filter for the quarantine will be seasoned yes?

Yes. It is my main tank right now but I'll be upgrading to a 46 gallon soon. So will 10-12 overload the aquarium? How do I add them in?

 

I have a small (half gallon?) imaginarium tank to put the school. I use an air line to drip acclimate (1-2 drops per second) and then net them to put them in QT. Depending on the fish, 1-3 hrs. I just got 8 new rummynose tetras and drip acclimated them for 3 hrs. When the small tank got full, I emptied half and filled the 10 gallon QT with fresh water after I put the new fish in there.

 

Depending on the fish you might be okay, I'd say most species of tetra would be okay for a few weeks, but rainbows or larger fish like them would be a bad idea in a ten.

 

Depending on the fish you might be okay, I'd say most species of tetra would be okay for a few weeks, but rainbows or larger fish like them would be a bad idea in a ten.

The fish I want to put in the tank are all smaller. I plan to get:
-Serpae Tetras
-Panda Cory Catfish
-Gourami

 

The serpea and gourami are pretty big fish but you are probably getting them young/small?

 

The serpea and gourami are pretty big fish but you are probably getting them young/small?

They will be juvenile I believe.

 

I highly recommend doing them in batches. But that's just my opinion.

 

I highly recommend doing them in batches. But that's just my opinion.

That's what I was thinking. How do you do it? What's your process?

 

I would do half the school at a time.

 

That's what I was thinking. How do you do it? What's your process?

Depending on what fish, lets do cories for example. 10 will not fit nicely in a 10 gallon. I would do them in batches of 5 or smaller. Have them in the QT anywhere between 2-4 weeks. Stocking tanks is supppse to be a long process, in my opinion.

 

I have 9 juvenile flame tetras in a 10 gallon. I’m running a sponge filter in the quarantine tank. When I move them over to the big tank I’ll move the sponge filter and all its filtering capacity with it. I like the dual sponge type because they are easy to swap around.

Whenever I add new fish I always monitor ammonia twice a day for a week and keep the Prime handy.

I do agree that stocking should be done slowly but I also see benefits to moving complete schools. This lessens the stress on the fish IMO which can be a cause of opportunistic disease in fish. This way they already have their pecking order straight when they go into the main tank, not have new fish reorganize themselves with small additions. Just my preference on that as I’m sure other folks have done it slowly over time successfully.

I also acclimate new fish but I do it by adding DT water to the QT tank over a few days.

Lastly, I don’t push new fish out of the net into the DT. I’ve had to leave the net in the tank for up to 10 minutes but I let them come out on their own, always with the lights off, and left off for a day minimum. Depending on how they fare I will go back to lights on sooner or later (but must at some point or my plants won’t make it!)

On another note, what kind of gourami? I have pandas and feel I am limited on gourami choice due to temp incompatibility. Pandas like it cooler, I keep mine at 73-74 since any higher than 75 will shorten their long lives considerably.

 

I have 9 juvenile flame tetras in a 10 gallon. I’m running a sponge filter in the quarantine tank. When I move them over to the big tank I’ll move the sponge filter and all its filtering capacity with it. I like the dual sponge type because they are easy to swap around.

Whenever I add new fish I always monitor ammonia twice a day for a week and keep the Prime handy.

I do agree that stocking should be done slowly but I also see benefits to moving complete schools. This lessens the stress on the fish IMO which can be a cause of opportunistic disease in fish. This way they already have their pecking order straight when they go into the main tank, not have new fish reorganize themselves with small additions. Just my preference on that as I’m sure other folks have done it slowly over time successfully.

I also acclimate new fish but I do it by adding DT water to the QT tank over a few days.

Lastly, I don’t push new fish out of the net into the DT. I’ve had to leave the net in the tank for up to 10 minutes but I let them come out on their own, always with the lights off, and left off for a day minimum. Depending on how they fare I will go back to lights on sooner or later (but must at some point or my plants won’t make it!)

On another note, what kind of gourami? I have pandas and feel I am limited on gourami choice due to temp incompatibility. Pandas like it cooler, I keep mine at 73-74 since any higher than 75 will shorten their long lives considerably.

I was thinking Honey Gourami.

 

Honeys are lovely fish! No one around here stocks them which is a shame. Sounds like a very nice stocking.

 

Honeys are lovely fish! No one around here stocks them which is a shame. Sounds like a very nice stocking.

Thanks! I was helped by some people on this forum