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Silly community tank stocking question

992 views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  RussellTheShihTzu 
#1 ·
... When you get ready to fill a community tank, how the heckie do you handle the concept of quarantine? Or do you... not, and just cross your fingers?

We're in a kind of aquatics deadzone and aren't interested in shipping in an entire 75g community's worth of fish, so it's sadly likely we'll be purchasing at one of the big Pet___ buildings. AKA disease nightmare land.

We'll be having tetras, possibly cories or otos, one or two of the smaller plecos, possibly snails and shrimp, and barbs/danios. We're interested in mollies but know to get REALLY CONFIDENT about sexing live bearers unless we want infinite fish. We'll be reading up on species compatibility before we officially begin stocking plans, but essentially my fiancée is a sucker for glofish so it'll be at least half those.

I'm just... so mind boggled at the QT process if you aren't buying from a respectable breeder directly.
 
#2 ·
I, personally, never QT my fish, but I've also had a higher death rate than most members. Do whatever you feel safe. If you need, get a 10G with a heater and QT for a month. Then add in fish as they pass QT.
 
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#3 ·
Probably easier just to quarantine your new stock as a group in a single tank. Based on the type of filtration used in many of these big box pet stores, not to mention the sharing of nets etc. between tanks I would imagine there's likely already been exposure to whatever harmful pathogens are floating around in the system.

What is most important, is that your existing stock are protected from these pathogens.

If however, you are purchasing your fish in batches, I would stagger it out, so that each batch can go through a proper period of quarantine before being introduced to the display tank.

I did want to add that after losing more than half my fish room, which probably equaled close to a thousand dollars worth of stock, I always quarantine. Sometimes you get lucky, but eventually your luck does run out.
 
#5 ·
Like you would if the same were to occur in your display tank, by treating the entire group. However, I believe corydoras and/or plecos are intolerant of certain medications, so perhaps it would be better to quarantine these in a separate tank.

Otherwise, you run the same risks if you don't quarantine and simply add them to your display tank. However, there is the added hassle of disrupting your cycle because some medications will harm your beneficial bacteria, while certain treatments will kill off any live plants you may have in the tank.
 
#6 ·
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