size of qt

[madchild24]

what size would bve better for qt?
5 or 10 gallon

 

[electrikat]

Just to qt a new fish either would be fine, but if you ever have to qt your whole tank because of illness, it needs to be big enough to hold all of your fish comfortably for 6 weeks.

 

[madchild24]

lol i guess i better get a bigger qt tank then

 

[Kari]

Question: If your whole tank was ill, why wouldn't you just treat them all in their normal tank, instead of trying to transfer the whole tank to qt?

 

[electrikat]

A good size rubbermaid tub with a heater and sponge filter and some kind of lighting will be fine. It's also easy to store when not in use.

 

[electrikat]

Inverts cannot take most medicines and my experience with the reef safe meds hasn't been great. They just don't work for me. So if you have snails and crabs and other inverts you can't usually treat the main tank.

 

[Kari]

AHH! Smart! Reminds me of one of my less brilliant moments, too...I had to treat my fish for something, and the medication said it wasn't safe for my ghost shrimp. All I had left to put them in were the betta bowls, so that's what I did. At the time, in my defense, I had NO idea that shrimp were one of the betta's favorite meals!!! 8O

 

[Fishyfanatic]

We have a 10 gal QT that we got from Wal-Mart for $20 and included everything except the heater. It doesn't need to be big or fancy, just something to house fish temporarily. If the situation arises that the entire tank needs to be treated, you can just remove the inverts into the 10 gal QT and treat the whole tank. It seems like a lot easier way to do instead of chasing around all of the fish in the tank. I wouldn't recommend a 5 gal because if you get a messy fish (ie goldfish or cichlid), the water quality wouldn't be that great during the QT period. But if you double the quantity of water, the easier it is to keep stable. ie- a 10 gal tank water quality versus 20 gal.