Stocking Q

[fyrclwn]

am contemplating setting up my 10 gal again (upgraded to a 20 last year, and the 10's just been gathering dust, more or less), and am going nuts trying to decide how to stock it. my options:

1---move livebearers (mollies & guppies) to 10 gal, have the 20 be betta & loaches only (kuhli & dojo). i like this option, since the livebearers are the only fish i have who ever get sick. that way, the loaches & betta can live in a disease-free, med-free environment.

2---divide 10 gal into sections (3? 4?), and move the betta over, adding additional male bettas to fill each area. basically, 3 or 4 sections, each with one male betta. i also like this, because i have developed a rather pronounced fondness for bettas. have even contemplated breeding them in moments of madness. however, don't know how stressful this might be on the bettas.

3---leave 20 gal as is, and do an entirely new set-up in the 10. in which case i get to angst over new species. if i go this route, i think would like to get those dwarf puffers i saw last week, but what the heck can i put with them?! they only grow to 1", and although they are cute & funny little fellas, i don't want a tank of all puffers, all the time. y'know? i have hard water with a steady pH of 7.6, so they should do fine, but i am somewhat limited as to what various species can tolerate (and thrive) in. then, of course, i can't get anything that's going to get too big, BUT, whatever i get has to be able to "out-bully" the puffers. ; ) any suggestions?

anyway, any and all opinions are extremely welcome, as i have gotten so obsessed over this that i am now dreaming about it. ack!

fireclown

 

[PK Tester]

I love the number 2 idea...I love bettas a lot even though I do not have any.

As far as breeding...If you want to do it...do it!

Check out www.bettatalk.com

Have fun!

 

[tetrin]

hmm...let me tell you that you aren't the only one with dreams about fishes...in my opinion planning on stocking is the best part and u should enjoy every moment of it...

IMO option one stands out...with just one modification...
add a school of hardy middle-dwellers...that way u would have utilized all living quarters...any good school of tetras or barbs would do...

sweet dreams...

 

[TankGirl]

I have kept dwarf puffers with tiger barbs no problem, but tiger barbs are not suitable for a 10 - though DP's are. I'd keep that tank species-only, or it will just be a problem for you.

My "rain on the parade" option is to keep the 10-gal as a hospital/quarrantine tank. I'd have avoided huge problems by quarrantining new fish and separating ill ones for treatment.

Motherly advice aside, I agree with tetrin

 

[tetrin]

oh my god...believe me TG...i REALLY thought about telling fireclown here to keep the 10g as a qt...but that would have crushed his plans... ...
i guess he can always get another 10g/5g as a qt later...

 

[fyrclwn]

my main reason for not using the 10 gal as a QT--

my only use for it would be as holding tank for new fish, and with mostly livebearers, i rarely add new fish--replacements for non-livebearers who die of old-age (1 betta, 2 kuhli loaches) or disease (1 betta, 2 mollies in 1 year) are pretty much it. i've added new fish 3 times in the past year, so the QT (if i had one) would've been empty and taking up much-valued space the rest of the time. i know the current trend is to remove sick fish from the community tank and treat them in a QT, but my belief has always been that if the fish got sick in the tank, then the tank needs to be treated, too....taking the fish out of the tank doesn't remove the paracite, bacteria, or fungus that made it sick in the first place.

sorry, "old-timer" here---although i think a lot of the "newer" discoveries & innovations in aquaria are fantastic....like being able to check ammonia, nitrite & nitrate levels (back when i started the pH kit was new & exciting).....i really do think that a sick fish is a tank issue, rather than just a single-fish issue. also, i have often wondered what folks with QTs do when they bring in new stock, and out of say, 6 fish, one or two show signs of disease.....what do you do with the healthy, yet still QTed fish? do you go ahead and treat them all, or put the healthy ones in the community tank (even though their QT time isn't up yet), or what?

anyway, if i have a fish that's doing poorly (like, say, swim bladder disease, or the other fish are picking at it), i put it in a breeding tank which floats in in the larger tank. that way, the other fish can't get it, but it is still in the same water environment, and still getting the tank meds. i've had to do this 3 times in 15 years. so far as introducing new stock goes---i usually only buy my fish from places which QT all new arrivals for at least 2 weeks, and when i get 'em home, they float for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, with tank water added each 15 minutes. if it's a species i know is more fragile when moving to a new environment (like otos), i'll float 'em even longer. so acclimitization shock has never been a problem. in fact , the only fish that ever brought disease into my tank were the ones i got (even though i knew i shouldn't have) at Walmart. : P they just look so sad, and it seems like about once a year i have a "Mother Theresa" moment, and buy some. my bad. on a surprising note, 2 of the 4 mollies i got there at Thanksgiving are still alive & thriving!

sooo.......i sincerely doubt i'm going to turn the 10 into a QT. i do appreciate the suggestion, though!

 

[tetrin]

i believe that there is no fixed way to treat a sick fish...it depends on the judgement of the keeper...if the disease is contagious, it does make sense to qt the fish, to stop the disease from spreading around...but more often than not, its something trivial and the stress brought on an already sick fish by moving it to a new environment and without a friendly face around can cause 'fishy depression' ...
but mostly fish are not very kind to their ailing friends/relatives...unlike us, who would give a sick person a word of encouragement, they really do tend to poke the guy to see how soon they r gonna die....so that a good meal may be served...well the theory doesn't work for strict herbivores though...

so as long as it works, ur qt-ing method should be ok...though menagerie is gonna kill me later for this post ... (btw i do have a qt tank...just in my defence)...

just a few random thoughts on stocking the 20g sans the livebearers...
tiger barbs would be a bit risky, even when kept in a shoal ('cause of the betta)
rosy barbs are xtremely active...might stress out the betta...
cherry barbs will go well...

rubysoho is going to be very pleased if u add rummy-nose tetras ...who are awesome as a schooling fish with 7 or more together...

harlequin rasboras and neon tetras would school well too...

but there are numerous options when it comes to mid-dwellers...just go to ur lfs and take ur pick...
best of luck...

 

[TankGirl]

I quarrantine all new fish and if one comes down with something during quarrantine, I treat them all because they are all exposed.

I keep some heavily planted tanks that do not react well to medications, and I don't want to risk destroying the biofilter in a heavily stocked 55gal with antibiotics if I can put the sick fish in a 10gal and treat the fish without worrying about the main tank.

I did not used to quarrantine or use a hospital tank (I started in the early 80's so I'm sortof an old timer, myself), but over the years I have been burned enough times that I started the practice, and have reduced problems enough to convince me it is worth it.

That said, your option #1 makes perfect sense, since treating a 10gal if necessary is not such a big deal, and your scaleless loaches won't have to suffer with it.

 

[smallfry]

fyrclwn,
My suggestion would be #1. Put the livebearers in the 10g tank and add a bit of salt....they will be happier and disease-free. (Keep the water salted...not just temporarily)

 

[fyrclwn]

always keep the tank salted---has never been a problem for the loaches.....thought it might be, so did a LOT of research on the buggers before doing it, but consensus seems to be the "standard" dose of aquarium salt is fine. i probably could use a bit more with a livebearer-only tank, though, since they do come from delta areas. (right now am doing initial dose of 1 Tbsp per 10 gal, adding/replacing in smaller increments--generally 2 tsp--at each 25% water change)

am strongly considering moving the livebearers to the 10, adding another male betta (to the 10), and some otos for algae control. are there any good bottom dwellers that remain small enough for a 10, and would do well with the mollies & guppies? may also add some zebra danios later, as i seem to have some infertile female guppies (guppy population has stopped multipling...no fry for 4 months now, even though there are 2 mature females & 2 mature males. bizarre!)

my biggest problem is the very hard water & relatively high pH.....water tested at either 45 or 48 (been a while, don't recall which), and pH stays steady at 7.6. neons would just die---trust me, tried 'em. : ( so i need to find some hard water/alkaline pH fish for mid-dwellers in the 20. and of course, they need to be relatively pacific, cos Feisty (betta) don't take no shiznit off nobody! LOL he's _almost_ gotten the guppies & mollies trained so that they stay on the other side of the tank when his food is being dropped in. if they come anywhere near, he flares & nips at them. of course, then he gets so riled up, he even starts flaring at the glass side of the tank, the caves, the filter tubes, etc. he is becoming one rotten little spud! which is another good reason to seperate them.

 

[FishLover14]

I believe in always having a qt tank. But that is just me.

Dan