Shrimp/QT in one?

[KaylNeko]

From what I've been able to find, shrimp and fish don't share diseases (and it doesn't appear shrimp have many communicable diseases as it is, but I digress *lol*). So if I were to set up a 10 gallon RCS tank, could I use it as a quarantine tank as the fish come in for my 55 gallon? It's a given the fish should be able to get along ok with shrimp since I plan on having shrimp in the 55 gallon as it is. Just was thinking it would help keep a QT cycled, and be a pretty.

 

[blackmolly]

you'd need a whole lot of shrimp to keep a tank cycled. i wouldn't do it regardless, as shrimp can't handle any copper based medications, so if a fish got sick in QT and you needed something with copper to treat it, you have to choose between killing your shrimp or killing your fish... or setting up a new QT which would defeat the purpose of the shrimp tank. all in all i'd say just run the spare filter on the 55, and when you need it just transfer it over to the 10 and add a heater. saves space, adds extra filtration, and insta-cycles the QT. just be sure to actually rinse out the filter and replace all media after using it with a sick fish.

 

[KaylNeko]

Somehow missed this! Thanks for the reality check *lol* I'll get another small tank for the shrimp--QT is set up and occupado without shrimps. ^_^

 

[blackmolly]

awesome! don't worry... i learned the hard way with ghost shrimp lol.