Baby fish & quarantine or straight to new tank?

[NancyFish]

So our LFS has a 1” yellow watchman goby, they infrequently have little fish and are the cleanest within a hour of us.

We have a new (cycling) 45g tank, pink Fiji Caribsea sand. Should we quarantine him in a non cycled tank qt, or after we cycle can any new fish just “quarantine” in the big tank? Is there concerns when they’re so tiny, or any fish?

Also, my daughter also wants a very specific clown fish from a not so clean fish store (lots of algae on most their tanks). He is also tiny, I definitely wouldn’t want to mix him if I got from the other place even though it looks healthy (but what do I know). Think it can be worth getting him and placing in quarantine?

Thoughts, tips, advice? Thanks!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So our LFS has a 1” yellow watchman goby, they infrequently have little fish and are the cleanest within a hour of us.

We have a new (cycling) 45g tank, pink Fiji Caribsea sand. Should we quarantine him in a non cycled tank qt, or after we cycle can any new fish just “quarantine” in the big tank? Is there concerns when they’re so tiny, or any fish?

Also, my daughter also wants a very specific clown fish from a not so clean fish store (lots of algae on most their tanks). He is also tiny, I definitely wouldn’t want to mix him if I got from the other place even though it looks healthy (but what do I know). Think it can be worth getting him and placing in quarantine?

Thoughts, tips, advice? Thanks!

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

You should wait until your tank is cycled before adding fish to it.

Tiny fish can be more of a challenge than larger fish; they require much more frequent feedings, and if they missed feedings while travelling through the supply chain, they have a difficult time recovering the lost food energy. A 1" watchman is smaller than I would buy myself.

Quarantine is always best, but I realize that for most households, with a single small tank, it isn't easily done. Your next best option would be to buy prequarantined fish, or tank raised fish that have never been mixed with wild caught fish.

Here is the quarantine protocol that I developed:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2023 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before...

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