# How long to wait before adding more fish?



## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

I would advise you to *STOP* adding fish and set up a 10gl. quarantine tank. Simply a bare tank, heater & HOB or Sponge filter and Hornwort. Take 10gl of water from a change and fill the Q-Tank with it. Run your filter and put a little fish food in the tank each day for a week. Then do another water change from the 55 to the 10gl. This time syphon out any fish food waste from the 10gl.

From this point on any fish you buy go in the 10gl Q-Tank for a month 1st to observe for signs of Ick or other health problems. You DO NOT want to bring problems into your display tank.

It's also much easier to medicate a small tank.

I keep a snails in mine to keep the Bio-filter active. Hornwort gives cover and sucks up nitrates.

I'm guessing *NOT* the answer you were hoping for. :icon_eek:

But, you will thank me in the long run.
Good Luck
:icon_mrgr


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## Leah (Jun 28, 2011)

Have you been testing the water parameters? The reason to wait is for the population of "good" bacteria to catch up with the tank's bio-load. When ammonia and nitrites are 0, you know that that has happened. The other reason to wait is to make sure that all current tank inhabitants are healthy, the tank is stable, etc. Before you add any more fish, read up on quarantining the new inhabitants! I skipped that once--adding more fish of the same type from the same source so I thought it would be OK. I won't make that mistake again, and many people here say the same thing.

Leah


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## rgr555 (Jul 31, 2011)

DogFish said:


> I would advise you to *STOP* adding fish and set up a 10gl. quarantine tank. Simply a bare tank, heater & HOB or Sponge filter and Hornwort. Take 10gl of water from a change and fill the Q-Tank with it. Run your filter and put a little fish food in the tank each day for a week. Then do another water change from the 55 to the 10gl. This time syphon out any fish food waste from the 10gl.
> 
> From this point on any fish you buy go in the 10gl Q-Tank for a month 1st to observe for signs of Ick or other health problems. You DO NOT want to bring problems into your display tank.
> 
> ...


What are you talking about? I don't even have a 55 gallon. :icon_eek:



Leah said:


> Have you been testing the water parameters? The reason to wait is for the population of "good" bacteria to catch up with the tank's bio-load. When ammonia and nitrites are 0, you know that that has happened. The other reason to wait is to make sure that all current tank inhabitants are healthy, the tank is stable, etc. Before you add any more fish, read up on quarantining the new inhabitants! I skipped that once--adding more fish of the same type from the same source so I thought it would be OK. I won't make that mistake again, and many people here say the same thing.
> 
> Leah



Ammonia, Nitrates are 0...is it safe to add 10 more fish?


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## rlswaney73 (Jun 11, 2011)

There should be a little Nitrates, maybe not if you doing WC everyday. but Nitrates=0 normally would mean the cycle is not completed. Maybe its Nitrites=0?


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## JasonG75 (Mar 1, 2011)

I have never Q any of my fish/plants. If you buy from a reputable store, that Q themselves this isnt needed. 

However I will add, add fish a little at a time in order NOT to throw your filter into a cycle because it cant keep up with the new bioload.


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

JasonG75 said:


> I have never Q any of my fish/plants. If you buy from a reputable store, that Q themselves this isnt needed.


This is very very bad advice.


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## JasonG75 (Mar 1, 2011)

wendyjo said:


> This is very very bad advice.


IT wasnt advice...It is my method.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

rgr555 said:


> What are you talking about? I don't even have a 55 gallon. :icon_eek:


My apologies, I really don't know were I got that "55gl" comment from. I should of have more coffee before logging on. :redface:

But, you did ask for advice and mine is solid. I've had aquariums since 1972, made most of the mistakes people here ask about, before they were born. I try to pay forward when I can.

Best of luck whatever you decided to do.
:wink:


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## Realistik84 (Sep 12, 2011)

JasonG75 said:


> I have never Q any of my fish/plants. If you buy from a reputable store, that Q themselves this isnt needed.
> 
> However I will add, add fish a little at a time in order NOT to throw your filter into a cycle because it cant keep up with the new bioload.





wendyjo said:


> This is very very bad advice.





JasonG75 said:


> IT wasnt advice...It is my method.


In his defense - not everyone has the ability to setup a Q-tank, and there are "methods" to providing a healthy tank without a Q-setup. 

Sure - no one would argue it wouldnt be better, but nor is it the end all be all.


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## redfalconf35 (Feb 24, 2008)

I've not regularly quarantined either, however you have to know that you're taking a non-zero risk that you're introducing some disease into the tank.

Typically you will want to specify how big the tank is and the water parameters if you're gonna ask stocking questions. If you're looking to add 6 more fish to a 10g, that's completely different than adding the same 6 fish to a 100g.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I have never had a quarantine tank, not because it isn't a good idea to have one, but because I almost always completely stock my tank within a month when I set it up. I also don't do "cycling". I heavily plant the tank, start fertilizing, wait a week or two, then add a few fish, wait a week and add a few more, wait a week and add the rest of them. That has always worked well for me. But, no question, if you pay a lot for your fish, and I don't, you should quarantine new fish before giving them a chance to infect your investment.


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## JasonG75 (Mar 1, 2011)

Hoppy said:


> I also don't do "cycling". I heavily plant the tank, start fertilizing, wait a week or two, then add a few fish, wait a week and add a few more, wait a week and add the rest of them. That has always worked well for me.


For those that don't know this is refered as a "Silent Cycle" I have never tried it yet but hope to during my next setup.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

typing one handed so no caps lol.
is this you're Fluval Edge 6 gallon setup?
with low nitrates and zero nitrites and ammonia (imo) you can add the 4 filling in the group.


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

"If you buy from a reputable store, that Q themselves this isnt needed. " - sounds alot like advise to me. Just saying. 

Anyhow it's not hard or expensive to set up a Q tank, especially if your main tank is stocked with smaller fish. A 5g is better than nothing and will hold a few fish at a time, which is really all anyone should be adding at once anyhow. I find it reckless to not quarantine because then you are choosing to risk the health of all your other fish. I doubt people would do this with their other pets but it seems to be OK with fish for some reason.


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## rgr555 (Jul 31, 2011)

wkndracer said:


> typing one handed so no caps lol.
> is this you're Fluval Edge 6 gallon setup?
> with low nitrates and zero nitrites and ammonia (imo) you can add the 4 filling in the group.


Yes this is for the Fluval Edge 6 gallon. I should have included that in the OP.
I'm going to fill the group later this week. But I also want to add another (6) group of Chilli Rasbora. Is this considered overstocking?

6 CPD
6 Chilli Rasbora
2 female guppy
1 endler
3 amano shrimps
2 plants..

The worker at my pet shop said I'm able to fit 20 CPD or Chilli Rasbora small fish in my 6 gallon due to their low biomass. Is this OK with the general consensus on this board? I know a lot of people suggest 1 gallon per fish but these fish are not even 1", and the chili are even less.

Thanks


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## redfalconf35 (Feb 24, 2008)

That's probably as full as i'd ever make it, but i think it's doable.


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## JasonG75 (Mar 1, 2011)

IMHO I think this is WAY to much for a 6 gal...And you know the filtration on these Edges arent the best.

Get a Betta, some Ammano shrimp and a few plants.


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

They are mostly nano fish so you can probably get away with it, but don't slack on the water changes. Personally I would only have one group of schooling fish to start out with and see how it goes from there.


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## rgr555 (Jul 31, 2011)

wendyjo said:


> They are mostly nano fish so you can probably get away with it, but don't slack on the water changes. Personally I would only have one group of schooling fish to start out with and see how it goes from there.


What do you mean by "see how it goes" ?

I tested the water again today and its 0,0,5ppm for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates respectively. Also, 2 shrimps shed their exoskeletons..


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## driftwoodhunter (Jul 1, 2011)

I apologise for this being off topic, but I wanted to respond to what Hoppy said about how he starts his tanks (and I never knew it was called Silent Cycle - cool!)
I have done that same method before and it worked great. However I recently had a horrible outbreak of columnaris in a 55g tank. I never QT'd fish before that - I didn't even have a QT tank. I have two 10g QT tanks now. It cost me a small fortune (over $100.00) to treat the 55, when I could have treated the 10g much, much cheaper and more efficiently. Just a thought...


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

rgr555 said:


> What do you mean by "see how it goes" ?
> 
> I tested the water again today and its 0,0,5ppm for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates respectively. Also, 2 shrimps shed their exoskeletons..


I mean see if the fish seem to have plenty of swimming space or if it seems crowded, and see how your water parameters are with whatever water change schedule you plan to keep. They are small fish but it's a small tank. More is not always better.


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## rgr555 (Jul 31, 2011)

I plan on doing water changes every week. It's fun!

Whats a good male to female ratio for CPDs? Guppies? Chilli Rasboras?

Is it the ratio the same for most tropical fish?


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

Get only male guppies because a tank that small cannot handle all the babies they will make.


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

+1 on wendyjo. There's no way that tank will be able to handle the Guppies and the Endler after six-eight weeks. You'll have 200-300 fish if you're not careful. They're literally the roaches of the fish world and breed faster than cherry shrimp... which means they have hundreds of fry at a time.


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## JSA (Jun 3, 2011)

I have to jump on board the QT wagon, having also just finished battling a columnaris outbreak in my 29 g, and simultaneously an ich outbreak in my 55g. I had to completely take down, disinfect and re- cycle my 29, while setting up a separate hospital tank and spending a small fortune on meds for my fish. My hospital tank is now my quarantine tank, and I plan to keep it ready and cycled a few fish I can move out into my other tanks as needed.

Julia


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## ibmikmaq (Aug 19, 2011)

I have been keeping fish since the 1970's and I have never had a QT. But I do recall many of times ending up with something I wish I never did end up with which would have been avoided if I did have a QT! That being said, when I set up my 300 gallon I am setting up two quarantine tanks that will be sitting on the side of my 300! 
I went and bought 4 ten gallon tanks so when I build the stand for my 300 there will be two small shelves on both sides of my 300 gallon.
Two breeding tanks and two QT's. 
I plan on adding Discus and because I want to buy 4 to 5 inch fish at start i can only buy a couple at a time so it will take me months before I am stocked where I would like to be.
As for the 10 gallon mentioned in this thread! You are pushing close to over stock, but myself I always had a habit of going more then I should, however, I always went over board on filtration as well so it makes up for it.
Buy an extra filter for the tank and in a sense you will add more volume to tank.


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## rgr555 (Jul 31, 2011)

It's a Fluval Edge 6 gallon. It comes with Aquaclear 30 which is for a 20g tank. (I hope this info is right)


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

rgr555 said:


> It's a Fluval Edge 6 gallon. It comes with Aquaclear 30 which is for a 20g tank. (I hope this info is right)


In this case it's more a matter of space than bioload.


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## rgr555 (Jul 31, 2011)

Yea I'm thinking of taking out my driftwood..


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## fresh.salty (Jul 2, 2010)

I don't know anything about columnaris but ich doesn't scare me at all. Seems a healthy fish gets over it and the weak will not. Never have seen it transferred from a new fish to my current stock in FW. SW is a different story, I always QT them. lol


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