quarantine tank setup but no fish

[mvallee]

The dilemma, I setup my quarantine tank a 29gal last weekend to begin populating my 180 FOWLR, the plan was a small Dogface puffer, small Long horn cowfish and maybe a small porc puffer to start. Well after a month of seeing small DF puffers everywhere no one has them and not sure when they will have them (Tropic Isle, Krystal clear, All new tropic world and ugh even the local petco). All new tropic world was supposed to go hand pick some for us to see but something happened with his distributor and that fell through this week and maybe not next. something about a power outage?
My wife wants to see the fish and pick it out as opposed to ordering, the look is quite different from one fish to another and she wants a "baby one" too. I want to get all the fish at the same time due to QT times. I have two pajama cardinals and my CUC all doing good and parameters holding steady so the DT is ready and should be good for as long as it takes.

Now onto the question; I started the QT tank with a Sponge filter I seeded in my main tank. added 70% DT water and the rest fresh and put in a piece of live rock to keep things going while I wait. how long can a tank run empty and still be viable to add new fish, should I just tear it down, put the sponge and HOB filter media back in my sump and be ready for when I can find the fish or would I be better off keeping it running, ghost feeding to keep the BB built up assuming it could be a couple more weeks? if I do should I pull a couple hermits or snails from the DT as well while we wait to keep things going in the QT as opposed to ghost feeding.

Oh yeah and if anyone happens to see a small DF Puffer in there travels please let me know. The Cowfish are not a problem to find and the Porc is only a maybe, I think with the three they will be a bit much for the tank when they get full grown and I still will want to add a few other fish.
Thanks

 

[Chris L]

If your looking to keep the bio load up you can always add a couple pieces of flake food


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[nixapatfan]

Adding a bunch of fish at once is going to increase bioload significantly and your DT won't be able to keep up right away so take your time with adding fish. As for QT keep it cycled by ghost feeding as an uncycled QT is a pain to keep ammonia in check esepcially with several fish at one time. I'm changing water daily in my QT trying to keep ammonia levels in check. A cycled QT may not help with a huge bioload from 3 fish as it will probably kick off another cycle or if you have to treat fish with copper soon after you get them.

 

[mvallee]

so are you saying you think the 2 small puffers 2-3" and a small cowfish usually under 2" would be too much load for my recently cycled tank all at once realizing it will be another 4-8 weeks depending before they are added?
I do have two good sized pajama cardinals that have had no impact on the levels of nitrates nor ammonia and have been in for a couple weeks with the CUC. I have about 70 pounds live rock and 125 pounds base rock well on it's way to becoming live.
I got the 29gallon QT tank thinking I would be QTing 2-3 small fish at the same time while I populate my tank, definitely will be closely monitoring the numbers and have Water ready for water changes as needed.
Thanks for the input and looking forward to any additional thoughts on this, definitely tough to look at a 180 gallon tank with 2 little fish swimming around in it for weeks so keep me in check if it sounds like I am moving to fast.

 

[bdaley]

3 small fish should not pose a problem, just keep an eye on them and quality of water that is what QT is for after all.

 

[nixapatfan]

Like bdaley said shouldn't be an issue if they are 2-3" just wasn't sure what your idea of "small" was, just watch your water quality. Thing to remember about live bacteria is their population only grows with the bioload(their food) so that's why it's best to go slow.

 

[mvallee]

thanks, that is my concern on keeping BB in the QT tank. if I do not find the fish I am looking for this weekend I will tear down and be prepared to re-setup once we find the fish.
I really wanted to start the tank off with my slow movers and then add the fast mover after these guys have settled in , my succession of fish adds after the puffers and Cowfish will be as follows a couple triggers, pink tail and blue throat or pair of blue throats are what I am thinking and a couple tangs Kole and hippo, at some point I would like to add clowns as well and a dwarf angel to finish things off. with 4-8 weeks of QT in between each add this should take 5-6 months to get all these in.
Patience has never been one of my virtues so this is going to be a tough one

 

[jason401]

Here's a list of sponsors. Call a few in your area and see if there's any of your fish in stock.

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/content.php?166-BRS-Sponsors

 

[mvallee]

Thanks I did make the calls last week to all the listed stores located in Salem with no luck. either too large or no dogfaces. Cowfish everyone seems to have, just hoping to buy them at the same time. thx for the suggestion though.

 

[jason401]

No problem, I'll keep my eyes open for ya also