How many fish in a QT

[TheReeferBoss]

I want to know what is too many fish in a 30g qt tank. How many tangs could I put in the same tank with out the fish hurting each other. I'm looking for a second qt tank bigger then the one I have at the moment. Last question how many fish have you had in your qt tank and what size, I would appreciate your input.

 

[Guest]

You can put a divider made of eggcrate to seperate the tangs if they get aggressive. You want qt to be least stressful on the fish so they can get as healthy as possible to go in the tank.


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[Mike M]

Good suggestion Pampee.

Hard question to answer in absolute terms as it depends on the size of the tangs, type of tangs, how long you plan on keeping them in QT, what your filtration can keep up with, hiding spaces if you don't do the dividers so they can swim around more, etc. That said, I've had 3 small tangs in a 40B without incident but not of the same type (i.e. did not put multiple Zebrasomas together).

 

[TheReeferBoss]

@kuyatwo wrote:

Great idea I will for sure keep that in mind great suggestion

@MBSL55 wrote:

At the moment I have:

Powder blue 3" (Acanthuridae)

Naso tang. 6" (Acanthuridae)

Kole yellow eye 3" (Acanthuridae)

Blue tang 5" (Acanthuridae)

At the moment the powder blue is the only one that's showing an ick outbreak. They all look happy. I don't have a good filtration. I have HOB filter and planning on doing water changes until I get better filtration.

 

[Mike M]

I see you have them all listed as Acanthuridae for the family but the genus will give you a better idea of the likelihood of fighting. I think you have just one Acanthurus (Powder Blue), a Naso, Ctenochaetus (Kole), and either a Parancanthurus or another Acanthurus with the Blue Tang depending on if it is a Caribbean Blue Tang or Blue Hippo Tang so that is good at least in terms of lowering the chances of them fighting each other.

That seems like too many to keep in a 30g QT for any extended period of time given the size of the Naso and Blue as well. Any live rock or other bio filtration? If you are not monitoring ammonia levels with a SeaChem Ammonia Alert already I would pick one up ASAP to make sure your water changes are enough to keep the ammonia levels down. I know Petsmart carries them and other places probably do as well.

If your Powder Blue is showing signs I think there is a very high chance they will all come down with it if they haven't already and are just not showing signs yet. I would factor in whether they are all eating and fat when considering all your available options. Some folks may advocate for letting them fight it off with a good diet while others may suggest hyposalinity or copper. At least you found in your QT and not in your main system.