How do I set up holding tank?

[mshell]

Hello,
After suffering many newbie pitfalls I finally got my 40 gallon tank established and almost fully stocked only to have the most recent fish I added cause an ick outbreak killing 2 fish so far and sickening several others. My water has tested fine throughout so I can only assume I bought a sick fish. Painful and expensive lesson learned! I've decided I want to set up a holding tank for new fish to keep them quarantined for awhile so I won't risk losing anymore fish, but I could use some advice about how to go about it. What is a good size holding tank? I was thinking 5 gallons. It will only be holding one fish at a time. Most likely a tiger barb or silver tipped shark that I will get young and small. Also, how long should the fish be kept separate to ensure it is not diseased? I was thinking a month. Also, what would be the best way to cycle the holding tank. If I add gravel and a plant or two from the established tank, how long should I cycle it before adding a fish? Any advice or input you could offer would be much appreciated!

 

[boadams87]

IMO 10 gal would be btr. I would use media from your cycled tank and most here day 2-4 weeks before adding to your stock. You would need an adjustable heater for ich outbreaks. Just a plain empty tank.

 

[Mr. Green]

I read about several people doing this and have a friend that does a QT tank. Like it was said above, you established media from your current tank. I have seen QT tanks with the bare minimum (Light, Heater, Filter). No gravel or sand, plants, or fancy decos. Just some plain PVC pieces of pipe so the fish have somewhere to hide out.

 

[HeatherW]

i too am just now setting up a QT tank. found me a 14gallon kit on sale at Petco so I snatched it up. right now I am doing a fishless cycle so when my main tank is finally disease free I have a tank to QT my new additions.

I think most people say 2-4 weeks to hold them. I am going to go for the 3-4 weeks since most of my problems started just shortly after the 2 week period.

you can either maintain your QT tank my dosing ammonia while you are not using it, or putting the filter for the Qt in your main tank and then just moving it over to the Qt when you need to use it. I will probably do a combination of the two - make sure I have some extra stuff tucked in the main tank and try keeping the ammonia thing going as well. I will figure it out as I go I am sure.