Buying a school....?

TexasTanker

My LFS has a special going on for Zebra Danios. They're 2 for a dollar. That's a quarter the cost of other stores. They are in good health and look great. I would like to get 20-30 but I'm not sure how to go about it. I was debating on doing five at a time, so I don't shock my 55 gallon cycled tank. Additionally, once my son's 16 gallon tank is cycled he will be getting ten. Is there a way I can get say 20 at a time, or do I need to spread it out? What's a safe number to add per time and how long should I wait between new additions?

I just added 7 emerald cats and was going to wait about a week before adding anything else.

By the time the zebras are introduced my tank will have 4 Platy, 2 Guppy, 1 betta, 10 emerald cats, and some fry. The Platy and Guppy are mostly likely moving on to another tank in the near future.

1077

Six or seven with ten days between new additions Is what I usually do with small schooling fish. Would srongly reccomend quarantine for fishes before I added them to display tank.
Platys ,cory's, and Danios would do well together considering that they all prefer cooler water than say mollies and guppies. Temps around 75 or 76 degrees F would suit the fishes and they don't seem to last long at temps much above 78 degrees F.
Would feed the cory's after lights off for the day for there are few fishes any quicker than Danios at snatching food ,which could hamper the cory's efforts at getting their food.
Would observe the Danios closely and steer clear of fishes that look extremely thin, or fishes with curved spines. would select fish that are schooling with others and avoid those fish that are isolated from the others. I like to place my hand near the surface of the tank and select those fish who quickly rise to the surface in anticipation of food. those fish hovering away from the group or resting near the bottom are avoided. Good Luck.

TexasTanker

I have a ten gallon qt tank that the newbies go into. the kids wont have any fish in their tanks so I wasn't going to bother with qt'ing them.

Byron

I asgree with 1077's post, but I would mention that if this is a planted tank and since it is a 55g, I would add the zebras all at once. First, plants assimilate a considerable amount of ammonia/ammonium, and outcompete the nitrosomonas bacteria for it. Second, the bacteria themselves can multiply in 9 hours by binary division, each bacterium divides into two new bacteria. They do this if there is an increase in ammonia, and they will do it (up to their limit of course) sufficient to handle the new ammonia. The nitrospira bacteria multiply similarly but take up to 20 hours. But this is sufficient to handle 20-30 small fish in a 55g. And as I said, with plants, it is not even an issue.

Byron.

TexasTanker

So the tank below should be okay with a big introduction?

Attached Images

DSC04767.jpg (36.2 KB, 28 views)

Byron

Assuming those are all live plants, and the water column is interconnected (flows throughout through the filter notwithstanding the dividers), yes.

TexasTanker

yes, they are live plants. And yes there is flow through, in addition to a Marineland biowheel 350 on one side and a 100 on the other. I'm an overfilterer.