How many fish in a QT tank?

[sumeet]

I now have a 20 gallon QT set-up.... sponge filter, heater, airstone, some plastic plants, thermometer, and a light....
I'm going to put in water from the main tank whenever I get new fish and put in a sponge from the sump of my main tank to add the bacteria... and also add in Cycle and some live bacteria to get the tank cycled right away... I'll check the water daily...
I am planning to keep the salinity a bit lower (not much) in the QT tank.
I'm still not sure on this -- but I may put in a low dose of copper and Maracyn 2 for just a part of the 3 week QT period...
First, any advice on the above set-up?
So how many fish would you recommend I can put in there at one time? I would like to put in 4-5 small / med size fish... I've seen more crowded tanks in pet stores... Would that be okay? Then they'll go into the 125-gallon main tank...
Thanks for any advice you may have!

 

[sumeet]

Good point. I guess I'll introduce 1 fish at a time then...
Just wondering.... what if I buy several fish at one time from the same place? Do I need to have a separate tank for each one? Does everyone just order 1 fish at a time or have multiple QT tanks?

 

[beth]

I would agree with Terry except in some situations where you want to get same species fish and there is a need to intro all at once in order to avoid or limit aggressiveness [a school]. 20gal is not a large tank, so you have to think small if you are putting more than 1 in at a time.

 

[sumeet]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I agree that the ideal situation is to have 1 large QT for each new fish. I'll just go 1 fish at a time for now...
One question... how do the pet shops (and I'm sure these on-line fish dealers) keep more than 1 fish at a time in those small display tanks for weeks? When they receive new shipments, I don't think they QT each fish separately in a huge tank... How do they do it??

 

[nicenakago]

I don't think they do... That's why we need to.