Hospital Tanks And Cycling

[Aussie_Dog]

I don't have fish yet (or a tank), but my idea is one betta with some zebra danios (one question, if I put one Betta in a 28gal with, say, 15 Danios, would that be too much and they'd gang up on the Betta?)

But once I have this tank settled and going good, I'll add in a small tank, maybe a 5 gal, maybe a half gal (you know, those evil "Betta Tanks" you see at the local superstore) and use it as an emergency hospital/quarantine tank. I'm reading that Bettas don't need their water to be filtered (but what about cycled?) but I'm concerned about the other types of fish I might get. Danios need cycled water, yes? How do you guys have your hospital tanks ready for the fish that suddenly come down with something nasty, without waiting a month or few weeks for the tank to cycle before you move them. Do you just always keep a tank running "just in case"?


And hey, one question that keeps pestering me that I never remember to ask once I'm back on the computer: you know those fun little decorations like the scuba diver kneeling in front of a chest of treasure, with the lid that opens and closes with the help of a small rush of water? HOW do those work? I know there's a short little tube hidden behind or under the thing, which you attach to another, longer tube that you connect to something. What do you do, string out a long bit of tube under the gravel/sand and connect it to the power filter thing at the top of the tank? I've seen some cute ones at Petsmart (the aformentioned scuba treasure, but my favorite is the alligator who's mouth opens, lol), and the things just look like fun!

 

[jennybugs]

I'll give you my personal take on some of your points (even though others may disagree with me)

Danios and betta won't mix. Danios, especially that many with a betta will eat most of the food that you put in the tank. Betta are slow eaters from my experiences whereas danios are the first to get to the grub.

Lots of people are lucky in raising a betta in a community tank (by this I'm talking about male bettas). I've had 6 males and none of them have been temperamentally suitable for communities. They either attack all in sightor get attacked by their tankmates. Thus I have bettas on their own in filtered, heated, fully cycled tanks. They have all lead happy and healthy lives.

The scuba diver models work by the tubing being attached to a small air pump. They are fun little things and simple to set up providing you have an air pump to run it from

With regard to cycling your hospital tank, you can use danios to cycle any tank as they are hardy fish and will survive the rigours of a nitrogen cycle.
I keep fish in my hospital tank which is heated, lit and fully cycled. When I find another fish is ill and needs quarantine time I remove my other fish to my community tank and treat the sick fish in the hospital tank. Once the fish has been treated, I add carbon to my filter to remove and traces of medication and give the tank a thorough clean, allowing it to settle before replacing it with my original fish.
I think before you rush out and buy a tank and fill it with fish, you need to do some reading up about how a nitrogen cycle works and the different methods you can use to do that. this is a good article.

 

[Aussie_Dog]

Oh, I've already done the reading on cycling (I thought I was going to cry at first, as it all seemed so overwhelming, a whole new world I'd never seen before, but now I actually understand it, lol). Been doing research for the past month and now I'm getting ready to buy a tank that I've had my eye on, and I'll be cycling that (fishless) for the next month.

I thought Zebra Danios could go with Bettas, as I've heard other people suggest them, but now I'm back in the dark. I'm quite open to keeping the Betta all by himself, but I was hoping, if the Betta allowed it, to bring in other species. It's been difficult finding a "surefire" fish breed that's known to be good with Bettas (okay, that's kind of a lie, there's no such thing, right? lol). I had a good idea that 15 Danios against one Betta was too much, but I wanted to throw that question out there while I was in question mode. Eh. My original idea was about 6 Zebras, but was wondering what'd happen if I tried twice as much.

I'm keeping the Zebra Danio as possibility in my mind, but now I'm going to go back to really reading on what other fish can do well with Bettas (and that note about the eating speeds, that's good to know. Guess I'll have to find other slower eaters, lol. I already have a piggie of a cat who likes to eat everyone else's food too, and it wouldn't be cool to have that same "harmony" in the fish world, lol).

Thanks for your reply, it was helpful!

 

[fourthtimelucky]

If you have a large, fully cycled filter in your main tank with plenty of media (sponge, nodules etc) you can just keep your hospital tank in a cupboard somewhere, rather than have it taking up extra room. Then when you have a fish than needs hospitalization you just take a chunk of the mature filter media from the community tank and pop that in the small filter for the hospital tank. The bacteria colony in the original filter will soon expand to fill the new filter media you replace the old stuff with, and your hospital tank will be instantly cycled. This avoids the dangers of putting an already-sick fish into a partially- or un-cycled tank. This process of 'seeding' a new filter with old media is called 'cloning'.

It's good that you are planning on having the hospital tank in reserve -- having to rush out and buy one in an emergency can be a bit stressful!

Personally, I would never cycle any tank with fish. However hardy they are, I think you're still risking unnecessary suffering to the fish. This is just my personal opinion though, you must decide the best course of action for yourself.

 

[Tolak]

Your water doesn't cycle, and your tank doesn't cycle. You filter media, which contains your nitrifying bacteria is what is cycled. You don't have to leave your hospital or quar tank filled & running at all, you just have to keep a spare filter, or extra media running in a cycled tank. Remove it & fill the tank when you need to use it. Add the filter, or the cycled media to the filter and you have a cycled tank.

Once you have one reasonably large tank cycled you should never have to cycle a tank again. Swap some media & clone it.