what size quarantine tank?

[imrandome1]

Hi all

At the moment i have 2 tanks ,1 30 gal, and 1 50 gal, as i have noooo luck in fish i was thinking of using my 30 gal as a quarantine tank, for example i was thinking of getting a bala shark for my 50gal as i love them, but i was planning on putting it in my 30 gallon tank for 2 weeks so if it came with a illness then the rest of this fish wont get it, i was thinking to do the same with angel wish, is 30 gallon ok for a bala shark for 2 week, its a fully running tank so it would have lots of places to hide etc, ( well actully im starting again with the 30 gal, then cycling it and using it as a quarantine tank, or is 1 bala shark okay in a un cycled tank, 30 gal with a fluval 205) all in all, would a bala be okay in a 30 gal for 2 weeks?

Thank you....

 

[rich311k]

balas need to be kept in groups and the 50 is to small they get a foot long. A 10 should be fine for a QT.

 

[tropicfishman]

the 30 would be fine, but a 10 also works, rememebr you don't want any gravel or decorations since parasites can find homes in them and infect the next fish you have to put in there, and if you put fry in , then you'll wanta sponge prefilter to keep them from getting sucked into the filter

 

[JustOneMore20]

I know people that keep planted QT tanks. I see the point about parasites and such, but if you do your best to pick healthy fish, a tank with gravel will be fine. Usually fish are quarantined for a week or two and I wouldn't want my fish living in a bare tank for that long. Some people even QT their fish for longer. Meds aren't used in QT tanks unless they are needed, so a tank with gravel and such (even a few plants if you wish) will be fine.

The 30g will be a good QT tank, even better than a 10g. The size of your QT really depends on the fish you want. If you want larger fish (larger gouramis, angels, big tetras) a 30g would be a better option.

Balas get huge, around 12-14 inches, they school, and are very timid and may even smack their heads on the glass, so a 125g is a better option. They are also very active, so really about a 100g would be minimum....with about a 150g or bigger being the best bet.

 

[hc8719]

lets not forget he said he doesnt have the bala yet, if he buys a young one, (there all pretty much young at lfs) it can live in the 50 gal for years before it grows too big for it

 

[imrandome1]

YAY hc8719 you just made my day, Thank you, il get the smallest 1 i can see lol

 

[Cinder]

I completely disagree - Balas have to be in shoals (at least three and preferably more) and need a minimum of a 120ish gln. tank. People that have kept one Bala, even in the proper size tank, say that the sharks literally run themselves into the walls of the tank or try to jump out of the tank until they have other Balas with them. If we are taking proper care of our fish (being fishkeepers not fishhavers) then we wouldn't buy a little Bala just because we like them so much. Think about the fish.

 

[imrandome1]

yeah okay, no you recked my day lol, but i care alot about the fish, and there more important, but, what about if you got eg 3 and if they started to get to big for it could i not sell them or give them away?

 

[JustOneMore20]

Thats not very nice either. If you buy fish, you should keep them until they die. Research before you buy, so you know what needs it has. Decide before you get it if you can appropriately keep it or not.

I wouldn't buy a Great Dane puppy, knowing how large they are and their needs, and then decide a year later that it got too big. That's just wrong. If I knew their size, I should decide before I get it if I can keep it or not.

How do you know that if you take them back after they get big that somebody would buy them? People buy small balas because they don't know how large they get. If people see some 6-8 inch balas in the tank, they won't buy them because they most likely don't have a tank big enough. And they know they can't stuff them in their 10g. I couldn't take fish back to the LFS unless I knew they would go to a good home.