Looking to Add New Fish to Established 20 Gal Tank with Fish

[NorthPoleFish]

I have a 20 gal tank that has been established for almost a year now. I currently have 5 fish and a couple snails living in it. I have one blue platy and then 4 of her babies that are grown living in the tank. I am looking at adding a small school of fish of either some kind of guppy, swordtails, tetras, or zebra danio. All depends on what our local PetCo has. (The only pet store that sells fish where I live). I have a 3 gal cylinder tank that has been established for over 2 years now and only has two snails that live in it. I have been reading on how to introduce new fish to an established tank that already has fish and quarantine the new fish is the best option to go. I've read that quarantining for up to 2 weeks is the best option to make sure the new fish from the store don't introduce disease/bacteria into your establish tank.

So, my question is, would my 3 gal cylinder tank work as a quarantine tank for a week or two while I monitor the new fish for any disease?

Also, I read that female betas can also be good tank mates with platys. Is that true? Would a female beta be a good community fish in a 20 gal tank with 5 platys and maybe 3 or 4 guppies or another small type of fish?

Thank you for your input.

 

[NorthPoleFish]

I'm still interested in information if my 3 gal tank will work as a quarantine tank for a week or so.

 

[Fishkeeper123]

I would just do the 3 gallon tank as a shrimp and snail tank but I said a response on your other thread. Then just risk the fish your adding, I would try and find a trusted supplier if you have one. For stocking, I would get some cories, choose whichever species are your favourite and get say 6-8. Then I would add maybe a single centrepiece fish like a Bolivian ram or honey gourami, and that would be a fully stocked tank. I would only do one livebearer in a 20 gallon because you will have a lot of fry to deal with. I’ve not kept bettas so I’ll duck the question about keeping a female betta with platies.

 

[VioletThePurple]

May be late but I wanted to add my input as I have a very similar tank. I had a female betta in with my platies before. It was fine until I went on vacation for a couple days without a feeder. I'm assuming due to the change in feeding is why my betta attacked ended up attacking the platies and I had to move her. To piggyback on what the other user said, cories are super cute and fun fish but they may not work if you have gravel as it can damage their barbels. As for gouramis, make sure to get a honey gourami not a dwarf, as dwarf gouramis are prone to a disease contagious in their species called dwarf gourami disease. You can also try ordering fish online, they tend to have a higher quality then the corporate stores.

 

[NorthPoleFish]

May be late but I wanted to add my input as I have a very similar tank. I had a female betta in with my platies before. It was fine until I went on vacation for a couple days without a feeder. I'm assuming due to the change in feeding is why my betta attacked ended up attacking the platies and I had to move her. To piggyback on what the other user said, cories are super cute and fun fish but they may not work if you have gravel as it can damage their barbels. As for gouramis, make sure to get a honey gourami not a dwarf, as dwarf gouramis are prone to a disease contagious in their species called dwarf gourami disease. You can also try ordering fish online, they tend to have a higher quality then the corporate stores.

I have thought about ordering fish online, but have my reservations about it. How well do the fish survive the shipment? I live in Alaska and while shipping up here is generally good, there are times when things go missing in transit. And I would assume that I have a limited shipping window due to where I live as in I could probably only have fish shipped to me during our warm months and not year round.

Could you recommend some places online to order fish from?

Thank you for your input and it wasn't too late since I've decided not to add any new fish or change either of my tanks right now, not until after summer.

 

[Innesfan]

The Wetspot is in Oregon which puts it closest to you among the lower 48 options and they also happen to be among the very best IMO. I just looked it up and they are closer to you than they are to me in NYC. I've ordered from them for decades and have never had a single loss even when there were rare FedEx delays. Their packaging for shipment is excellent.

https://www.wetspottropicalfish.com/

 

[Magnum Man]

I'm not a fan of buying fish from small local corporate stores... the fish are always sickly, from my only local place, I still try to buy as much as I can from them, like frozen foods, etc... I have bought a handful of fish over the years, but always quarantine, and there are several on line sellers, that I would risk before the local place with no quarantine... it's always best to quarantine, but I've skipped it several times, from the best on line sellers

 

[NorthPoleFish]

The Wetspot is in Oregon which puts it closest to you among the lower 48 options and they also happen to be among the very best IMO. I just looked it up and they are closer to you than they are to me in NYC. I've ordered from them for decades and have never had a single loss even when there were rare FedEx delays. Their packaging for shipment is excellent.

https://www.wetspottropicalfish.com/

Thank you for suggesting the Wet Spot for buying fish. I'll look into them and knowing they are in Oregon is great since they are relatively close to Alaska.