How Necessary is it to QT Captive-bred fish

[Joe Tony]

Hey guys, I'm planning on getting an orchid dottyback soon to share my 30 gallon tank with an yellowtail damsel and ocellaris clownfish pair. I don't have much space in my room for a quarantine tank, and I'd rather not buy another tank, but I do have a plastic bin that might work (but it's lidless)

I wanted to know how RISKY it would be to get a captive-bred dottyback from my LFS and put it in with my clownfish and damsel without quarantining it. Is there a good chance the dottyback would die of some disease in the display tank, with or without having shown signs of possible infection?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Captive raised fish direct from the breeder are fairly safe (I still quarantine them though!) Captive raised fish that go into a LFS’s tanks are then no cleaner than the sickest fish in the system....
Jay

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

See if they can leave them bagged for you directly from the breeder. My LFS would do this for me

 

[Joe Tony]

See if they can leave them bagged for you directly from the breeder. My LFS would do this for me

Good advice! I'll try that!

 

[Joe Tony]

Captive raised fish direct from the breeder are fairly safe (I still quarantine them though!) Captive raised fish that go into a LFS’s tanks are then no cleaner than the sickest fish in the system....
Jay

I suppose that makes sense if they're mixed in with other wild caught fish

 

[Joe Tony]

See if they can leave them bagged for you directly from the breeder. My LFS would do this for me

So I just called my LFS, and they said that they have all of the fish tanks under the same system of water, mixing captive bred with wild caught, but that entire system goes through treatments of copper.

That aside, the guy did say that if I were willing to pay up front, they would be willing to put their next captive bred orchid dottyback in a bag for me to pick up so that it never goes into their system.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Honestly as Jay suggested you will still have some risk. QT is the only way to guarantee disease doesn't make it into your display. Were your other fish QT'd? I like to just leave em bagged and pick them up ASAP so I can acclimate them personally.

 

[Joe Tony]

Honestly as Jay suggested you will still have some risk. QT is the only way to guarantee disease doesn't make it into your display. Were your other fish QT'd? I like to just leave em bagged and pick them up ASAP so I can acclimate them personally.

Even if I pick them up bagged straight from the breeder? Without it ever going into their system?

No. As I said, I don't have the space for a quarantine tank, but the clownfish were captive bred and damsels are tough as nails.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Well think of it this way. Do you know that the original fish pair that bred were QT for 76 days? Lots of variables but in general I think it is safer to get captive-bred. Very much outside of my element so let me leave you with this, there is no way of knowing if fish are disease free unless you follow QT protocols and do it yourself.

 

[Joe Tony]

Well think of it this way. Do you know that the original fish pair that bred were QT for 76 days? Lots of variables but in general I think it is safer to get captive-bred. Very much outside of my element so let me leave you with this, there is no way of knowing if fish are disease free unless you follow QT protocols and do it yourself.

I guess here's what I'm getting at:
This is going to be the last fish I get until I move and upgrade to a larger tank, after which the current 30 gallon I have will be used as the quarantine tank.

This would unequivocally be a CAPTIVE-BRED orchid dottyback. It would not be wild-caught, and I would ask them if it came straight from a breeder. And I would pay my LFS upfront to put the captive-bred fish in a bag for me to pick up so that it never gets put into their system.

Then I would bring the fish home, acclimate it to the temperature of the tank, take the water out, and then put the fish in the display tank.


Would you say that this is an acceptable approach?

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Yup, you are on the money. Monitor him (and your other fish) closely for 30 days.

 

[Joe Tony]

Yup, you are on the money. Monitor him (and your other fish) closely for 30 days.

Perfect! That's what I'll do then. Thanks for the tip! ^^