Bala Shark -- Minimum Tank Size

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What if I put in the Clown Loaches first?

If you put them in first and used the tank as a quarentine tank for the clown loaches before you put any other fish in, that would be fine. You would need to cycle the tank somehow though before you put the loaches into any new tank though as they are not good at handling cycling or unstable tank conditions.
Having a quarentine/hospital tank though is still a very useful thing to have- such a spare tank can be used for a variety of things other than just treating or quarentinin fish. It can be used for anything from growing/maturing spare plants in, isolating pregnant fish or raising fry or eggs in, isolating bully fish or victim of agression fish in, raising or keeping live food or feeder fish in etc etc...

 

[n3ont3tra]

Yea... would a 10g be okay? I do have a spare 55g in the garage... but I think it's a little big for a QT.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Yea... would a 10g be okay? I do have a spare 55g in the garage... but I think it's a little big for a QT.

A 10gal could do, but it really depends on what sort and size fish you are going to quarentine tank- i'd advise as big a quarentine tank as posible that you are comfortable having, as new fish will be more likely to quarentine better if the tank is not too small for them. I used to have a 30gallon quarentine for a long time which was used for pretty much all shapes and sizes of fish when quarentining, i only downsized to a 5gallon in recent weeks as i havn't bought any new fish for many months now or had to treat any large numbers of fish.

 

[n3ont3tra]

I'd be happy with a 30g, maybe I'll invest in one, but how do you keep it cycled?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I'd be happy with a 30g, maybe I'll invest in one, but how do you keep it cycled?

You can cycle the tank by cloning the filter media very quickly; simply have two filters for the quarentine tank- have one filter in the quarentine tank to keep it clean and healthy while you are not using it, and have one in your main tank running alongside your main tanks filter. When you need the quarentine tank, simply take the second filter from your main tank and put it in the quarentine tank.
As long as the second filter has been in the main tank running for around a week, it will be completely cycled as long as your main tank filter is cycled itself.
The basic concept is to borrow the bacteria from one filter and put it in the other, and as long as you always have a filter running in the cycled tank, there will always be the good bacteria in it that you need. Other people sometimes just squeeze loads of gunk out of the main cycled filter spone onto the un-cycled filter sponge to cycle it instantly as the gunk will be full of the bacteria (and nutrients it needs to survive off) to cycle the filter instantly. Some other people just take out one of the sponge pads in the cycled filter and swap it with one of the quarentine filters sponge pads, so that both filters end up with mature sponges etc.

There's many ways you can clone filter media, but thats the jist of it- its very handy as it can allow you to cycle the quarentine tank instantly when you need it. Another option is to simply keep some sort of critter in the quarentine tank to keep it cycled, like a herd of golden apple snails or giant ramshorn snails, which can easily be moved to another tank when you need to put fish in the tank .

 

[n3ont3tra]

I would do with the snails but my tap water is acidic and has copper... So I guess I'll run and extra filter in my 29g and get maybe a 20g for quartentine.

... Darn, you made me really want snails! I love invertebrates, I might actually get an RO unit just so I can keep them. Would clown loaches eat apple snails (1 inch snails)?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would do with the snails but my tap water is acidic and has copper... So I guess I'll run and extra filter in my 29g and get maybe a 20g for quartentine.

... Darn, you made me really want snails! I love invertebrates, I might actually get an RO unit just so I can keep them. Would clown loaches eat apple snails (1 inch snails)?

I honestly don't know if clown loaches will eat large snails, i'm sure there must be some sort of limit to the size of snail they can eat though . But yeah, if you get some Ro water and go through the process of stabilising it and all that then keeping critters like snails successfully would totally be in your reach. I was looking at Snailshop.co.uk the other day, they has some awesome and rare snails for sale on there like the Red Ramshorn snail;

http/www.snailshop.co.uk/html/snail_shop_gallery_26.html

Pink Striped Apple Snail;

http/www.snailshop.co.uk/html/snail_shop_gallery_75.html

Bumble Bee Nerite;

http/www.snailshop.co.uk/html/snail_shop_gallery_35.html

Ivory apple snail;

http/www.snailshop.co.uk/html/snail_shop_gallery_19.html

Tiger Nerite;

http/www.snailshop.co.uk/html/snail_shop_gallery_50.html

Etc...I myself want some of these snails really bad, i will probably try ordering some snails off them them later on in the year. They also sell calcium supliments too for good snail shell growth .