Quarantine tank.

[prgwin00]

I want to set up a quarantine tank. I have heard about doing it before, but never have done it. Here is my dilemma and questions.

Limited space: the only place I have to put another tank is on my kitchen counter. I have two corner windows near by, and a skylight; really bright and the warmest room in the house. Is that not an ideal place for a tank? Also because of the location I would need it to be a small tank…smaller the better. Can I use a 2gal tank for a quarantine tank?

How do you set up a quarantine tank? I assume it would need to be set up and cycled just like a regular tank.

Because it is to be used as a quarantine tank, I also assume that should I cycle it with fish in it, I would need to do it with fish I plan on introducing into one of my existing tanks, is that correct?

Will the tank stay ready for new or possible sick fish should it sit empty after the fish that were in it have been introduced into my other tanks? Or do I leave a few fish in there to keep the tank healthy and move them to another tank when the quarantine tank is needed?

 

[TabMorte]

The size of the tank depends hugely on what sort of fish you need to QT.

The best way to do it is to put a sponge filter in your largest tank and then tank it out and put it in the QT when you're using it. That way you don't need to cycle it and you don't need to leave it set up all the time. (Other wise you will end up stocking it and it's a QT no more... that's how I wound up witha Betta tank in my kitchen ).

I would recommend get a 5G if possible. You don't need a light or substrate. Just a cover, the sponge filter and a heater and like I said you tuck it away when you're not using it and pull it out when you are.

 

[MadridKid]

personally, i would say 5 to 10 gallons is a good QT size. also, i would cycle it before you add new fish inside the tank. or the sponge filter concept works just fine too. and yes, if you can catch a sickness early you could place the diseased fish into the QT for treatment. and when all fish are ealthy best idea is to reintroduce them into ur tank and put away the QT untill new fish are coming in again...

 

[roark fishies]

you could also keep something in the qt tank that could also easily be slipped into the main tank when you need to use the qt. Like a couple cories or a group of small schoolers. That would keep it cycled.

as for the place you would keep yours: it may grow algae because of the sunlight. But otherwise I don't see a prob as long as you keep your house cool with the AC so the tank doesn't overheat.

Yes, you should cycle it just like any other tank. You could cycle it with fish or maybe try a fishless cycle with pure ammonia.

 

[prgwin00]

Thanks for all of the great replies and information. *BOUNCINGS

we ended up getting a 5gal hex for our QT. It is cycling right now. I am going to keep some neons in it while it is not being used as a QT. Neons can be easily moved to my 55gal tank should I neeed to. I used to have neons in the 55g at one time. I don't have a sponge filter in any of my tanks and this 5gal came with a carbon filter with a bio wheel. So I figured if I wanted to do the spong filter in order not to keep the tank set up all of the time, I would have to buy 2 new filter systems...sponges systems for each tank.