Is Quarantine Nesessary?

[Dave Legacy]

Hey Everyone,

I was curious if you guys usually quarantine your fish before adding them to your already established communities? I'm going to be ordering a Hogchoker Sole (Trinectes maculatus) from a business in Florida, USA, this week and was wondering if it would be nesessary to put it in a QT or if I could just acclimate and add it into my established archer tank.

Also how much bio-media should I move into the QT? Probably very little, right? Do you think a Magnum350 Canister Filter in a 20G Tall will be too much flow for the little guy?

Thanks in advance,
David

 

[nmonks]

My experience of freshwater soles and marine flatfish is that both are indifferent to water quality, but very sensitive to low oxygen levels. They seem pretty tough animals otherwise.

I'd recommend quarantining a new sole or flatfish only because feeding them is tricky. At the very least, you'll be able to fatten the little guy up a bit. Beyond that, ask them what salinity they're maintaining them in. If the answer is freshwater, and you're running at SG 1.010 or more, then I would imagine the risk of parasites getting into your brackish tank is close to zero.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Dave Legacy]

They were collected and are being kept in freshwater. The SG of my archer tank is 1.015. So I guess I'll be ok with parasites. The only thing is the smallest specimen is 1.5" and the largest is 2.5" so I need to decide which would be the easiest to feed. Sounds to me like I might be stuck feeding live food for a little while unless I can coax it to eat mysis off some foreceps.

BTW, thanks for the excellent article in last months TFH Magazine!

 

[nmonks]

Hi Dave --

Glad you liked the TFH article. It was fun to write.

Anyway, I suspect a 1.5 inch sole will be archerfish food. So I'd keep that specimen, at the very least, in another tank until it matures a bit.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Dave Legacy]

What's the growth rate like for soles? My archers are only about 2.5"-3" in length but I'll keep the sole seperate just to be on the safe side. Thanks for the advice!

 

[nmonks]

No idea. I'd expect your specimen to go from 1.5 inches to about double that within the first year, if marine flatfish are anything to go by.

A little known fact is archers can use their "spit" to clean sand away from the substrate, exposing prey. I've seen pufferfish do this, too. Anyway, I wouldn't trust an archer with anything small enough to fit in its (remarkably big) mouth.

Cheers,

Neale

What's the growth rate like for soles?

 

[Dave Legacy]

Neale,

What about a 1" female fiddler crab? Could she be harmful to the sole or might she night even notice it at all? My archers actually use thier jet to stir up the sand now and then... it's pretty neat.