"Ben" wrote in message
news
I haven't been paying attention to my quarantine tank, since I haven't
had
fish in it in several months. There has been no heater since the last
time
I had fish in it, although there's a corner filter that's been running
continuously. I was quite surprised with today I noticed a .5" neon
tetra
in there. The water temp was around 65f so I turned on the heater to
bring
it up to about 70f. I tested the water and ammonia and nitrates are
zero,
pH is off the scale to the high side.

What do I need to do before I can put this little guy into my community
tank? It's heavily planted, but I'd still worry a bit about him
getting
eaten. I also don't want him to just die of shock. Is .5" really small
for
a fry that has to be at least 3 or 4 months old? Since I haven't been
feeding him I guess he's just been living off whatever was in the tank.
What should I start feeding him?

Feed sparingly and experiment a bit. I like Sally's frozen baby brine
shrimp for small growing tetras, but there are many other options. Do
try to give him some food that he would eventually get in the community
tank. When you eventually set him loose, do it unobtrusively, though the
back of the tank, in the evening, with the lights off. Will he ever be
surprised by all the room :~)

NetMax