# Hospital/Quarantine tank size?



## jerry11 (Aug 25, 2011)

I have a 10g but I'm now adding discus to my community and setting up a 2nd tank for African cichlids. I think a 10g is too small for the larger fish when grown. I always quarantine new fish too and these africans might be bought in larger groups than I have bought in the past.

What is everyone's opinion on a optimal tank size? Bigger is usually better but these tanks need storage space and if meds are needed, more water means more meds, more water to change, etc...

I'm looking at a 20g (24x12x16) and a 29g (30x12x16) but open to other suggestions too.


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## Nwright36 (Jul 27, 2011)

might want to use a 40 breeder or if that is to big i would do the 29 because you have to remember this is just temporary housing


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## chinds78 (Jun 22, 2011)

It also depends on what size fish you already have. If you have small shellies or dwarf mbuna you want need much more than a 20g, but if you have large peacocks, haps or oscars you will probably need at least a 36"tank.


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## jerry11 (Aug 25, 2011)

Ok. I will focus on the 29g. Discus and 5-6" peacocks are the target fish but I have no place to store a 36" tank. 29g is already bigger than I should consider, but...


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

You need a tank size appropriate for the fish, even if short term. Squeezing them into something too small may just encourage stress and disease and be counter productive. I think it'd be better in your case to just buy from a good source and add them to the main. Getting diseased fish from good sources is incredibly rare IME, as it should be.


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## whitedevil13 (Apr 28, 2010)

discus are out of the question with those tank sizes, they get 6"+ and are very fragile and stress really easy, they also need a minimum of 5 to school properly and live a better life. they rely on eachother for security.

You are looking at a minimum of a 48" 75g tank to house 5 adult discus properly. and the smaller the tank the more pwc's you need to do, 50-90% daily is the rule of thumb with discus in smaller tanks, I have 13 in a 210g tank and do 50% pwc's every 3rd day.


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## jerry11 (Aug 25, 2011)

I may end up buying all my african's at once and just putting them straight in my main tank after a fishless cycle since it would be void of fish up to that point anyway. They would be small too. The only issue is that if there is q problem, that is a lot of water to treat and meds can stain things. I would love to hear you opinions regarding good sources for peacocks, etc... PM me if you would! Eastern US suppliers would be best since I'm near Pittsburgh.

As for the discus, remember that I'm talking about a hospital/quarantine tank. They will live in my planted 72gal. I have 2 now in a 10g. One is about 1.5" and the other is about 2". Happy as can be for now. I found a good local breeder and have been talking to Discus Hans. Within the next couple weeks, I will be buying 5 or 6 more 2"-2.5" juvies with plans to keep 5 or 6 once they grow a bit. I will be adjusting water change schedules as needed. 30-50% as needed I know people that change discus water 1x per month with happy fish but I don't plan on going that extreme. If they need it once every 3 days or once evey 10 days... Whatever they need. Some would say they need low ph but mine are in 7.4-7.5 ph and happy as could be.


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