Scott Stevenson

@laritheloudI was thinking a 40g or 60g breeder tank. As I said the number of male Gourami would literally be two or three. I'm not super sure of the specific species name, I think I saw them called 3 spot, but here is a pic of what I was thinking.

In the course of considering a Platy tank, I was wondering about potential tankmates. Gourami came up. I'm sure most would say to keep just one male Gourami in such a community tank, however if I had a suitably sized tank with plentiful enough plants and hardscape to allow two or three male Gourami to stake out their own space, could I keep said two or three male Gourami in a Platy tank under those conditions?

This is a very interesting topic I have a small group of 3 albino BN. They were very young when I got them, to the point that they couldn't really be sexed yet. they are at the point that it appears (with my untrained eye ) that I ended up with (2) males and (1) female. At what point are females able to start producing eggs? my males do not have much for bristles yet so would not be able to do their part.

Thanks for the kind words, I am glad it was as helpful for you as it was for me

This is great folks, perfect, your info completely cleared up all my concerns about doing a quarantine tank correctly. I knew that quarantine tanks are supposed to be bare so I was wondering how to get the hardness/ph without creating a substrait type situation. thanks for putting up with my ignorance.

Makes sense, but does that mean just wholesale adding crushed coral right on to the bare bottom? ...of the QT

@DaveO@David W @Guppysnail@H.K.Luterman @Gannon @xXInkedPhoenixX Follow up question; Thus far I have only kept cold water fish that didn't need hardness. How do prepare a QT for fish that need hardness?

LOL yeah and I'm not very practiced at netting fish out of a tank regardless. 😃 Now you have a great excuse to start up a new tank in the name of quarantining. 😄

For sure and yeah I suppose getting them out easily is a good thing to remember. I was kinda thinking maybe a few dwarf chain loaches, but they're kinda speedy.

Hey Gannon thanks for the post, I had kinda thought about that also. I suppose that as long as the few little fish you kept in a QT were known to be healthy, it could be a good option. In my mind it would just be a matter of choosing a hardy, relatively "tidy" species to put in the tank. I already feel a lot more confident about this project with all the great input I've been getting.

David, This is a very cool idea. I will def. look in to this as an option.

Hey, thanks everyone! I'm loving all the great info! I'm soaking it up. You make being a new fish keeper so much easier. It's nice not having to fail so hard for that learning curve.

HydraSlayer thanks for the info. both the snail and the food angle have crossed my mind, but I did't know if that would be problematic or not. Have you personally done the fish food tactic? I'm a little worried that it might encourage too much hetrotropic bacteria and cause a bacteria bloom.

From what I've seen Oto's are "findable" without too much of a prob. and Im new at this so if i can find them, it should be doable for you and your LFS.

Thanks! That is actually a very good point!

Thanks, that's sounds doable. As I am a beginner, I don't have any spare filters atm. My initial plan to inoculate my new QT is to pull stones from an established tank, but the filter idea sounds promising. Maybe it's time to put in a new order to Aquarium Co op.

I've come to realize that a quarantine tank needs to be cycled just like any tank, I guess i should have just realized that, but sometimes I'm a little slow on the up take. Anyway my question is not about how to cycle a tank, but rather how do I keep a quarantine tank cycled? I'm setting up a new quarantine tank however I will not have any immediate need to use it. How do I maintain a health culture of good bacteria in a quarantine tank when I wont have any bio mass being put into said tank? Wont the bacteria just die off if it doesn't have any ammonia or nitrites to consume?

Im considering starting a Mbuna tank, Ive been reading up and see that it is recommended to keep them in the high 70's temp range. I live in Minnesota but keep my house about 70 degrees year around. Are the high 70's absolutely mandatory?

Im starting my first ever tank and I want to get some corys and Khuli loaches. Will it be a serious sin to use pea gravel instead of sand?