Question From A Newbie About How Many Fish In A QT?

[metweezer]

Hi,
In order to properly examine/treat new fish should I buy them one at a time and individually place them into a QT? Or can I buy 3 or 4 fishes and put them all into the QT together? This might sound like a basic question but I might infect an otherwise healthy fish by placing them into a QT all at once.
Thanks, Steve

[bertoni]

[welcome]

Well, that depends on the size of the quarantine tank and the size of the fish. 3-4 tiny fish might be fine in a 20g tank with an appropriately-sized filter, for example. I'd probably limit the purchases to 1-2 at a time, unless mail-order delivery charges were an issue.

[Macimage]

It is better to quarantine one at a time, unless you have a pair or small harem of the same type of fish that you are adding all at once. It also depends on the size of your quarantine tank.

Joyce

[petoonia]

I agree with one at a time (unless you have a pair, or harem). Also because you dont want to introduce more than one fish to your main display at the same. It could be to much for a newer tank to handle.

[metweezer]

Thank you all for your responses. This advice also pertains to a brand new tank that has just been cycled with LR & LS and no fish presently in it?

[bertoni]

That's the way I'd add fish.

[Aadler]

I have no problem adding the first fish directly to your DT, just beware if it contracts ich you may need to take him out and wait a few months for the ich to die off.

I think QTing one fish at a time is the best as QTing a shy fish with an aggressive fish may lead to the shy fishes death, where it may have been fine by its self without the added stressor.

[wooden_reefer]

You asked a very good question which I like to answer.

I always aim to get all the fish I can get and QT all at once, but this is seldom reality as I am very choosy about individual fish. Say I am setting up a new FO tank, I'd get all the fish within two to three weeks. This is efficient in terms of labor of scale and greatly reduces incompatibility as no fish is the newcomer.

I advise the newbie against this approach however. I suggest that the newbie accept the inefficency and get new fish one at a time. The reason is that the newbie is not well-versed with disease control, drugs and equipment, procedures etc.

One thing I'd like to point out is that even a newbie can cycle a tank so well that nitrification capacity is so high after cycling that one does not need to be concerned about nitrification capacity.
There will be no mini-cycling, which, moreover, should not be acceptable at all.

After thorough cycling, a chronologically new tank can be figuratively packed with fish, (which I don't recomend for other reasons) and there will still be no ammonia. Nitrification capacity can be very high right after cycling if it had been done to achieve so.