Both quarantine and isolation tanks are best left unplanted and bare, save for a handful of loose plants—any will do, but those naturally without roots such as Ceratophyllum or Nitella look best. Then, if treatment is needed, there will be less chance of the drugs being destroyed by mulm or other tank contents, and the job of cleaning and sterilizing afterwards will be much easier. These tanks should also be small ones, which have thinner glass and so can be sterilized with hot water, which take a small water volume so that the amount of drug needed is less, and which can more readily be shifted and filled and emptied without much danger of developing a leak. Tanks of 3 to 5 gallons’ capacity are about right; even 1- or 2-gallon tanks may be used for individuals or pairs receiving treatment.
Breeding Batteries
A battery of smallish un planted tanks is also best for breeding most species. These tanks can also be sterilized easily and moved about, and if they are kept in a battery under a common thermostat the rather higher temperature appropriate to breeding in most tropicals and for raising fry is provided to all tanks. The various methods for preparing and using these tanks are described in the chapters concerned with breeding. To some, the sterilized, almost bare and ugly-looking breeding tank advocated here may seem rather a shame, and it also may be something of a surprise to those who have been used to providing the first food by means of natural infusurial growth in the breeding tank itself.
