new ditherers

[raving_wayne]

hiya folks i have just found myself some lovely dither fish they are
red rocket minnows look fantastic in the tank so i picked up 18 of them they are in my 450litre tanks in hopes that my larger clowns will now surface a little as i dont see them as much no more. what would be the ideal amount of these red rocket minnows to have in such a tank? should i maybe pickup another 15 or so?

rave

[Emma Turner]

Hi Rave,

When you say Red Rocket Minnows, are they the long finned version of the White Cloud Mountain Minnow (Tanichthys albonubes)? If so, they prefer temperatures far cooler than what the clowns need.

Emma

[chefkeith]

Also you need to quarantine new fish for now on. You might of just cross contaminated your main tank with pathogens.

[raving_wayne]

hi emma they are short finned i checked out a profile on them and it says they can tolerate upto 80 my loach tank is regulated at 78.8 at present,

the fish have been quarantined prior to goign in the tank, the local fish shop i use allows me being im in there almost daily to have a quarantine tank out the back of the shop for any such fish i wish to get from him. the minnows have been in there for 4 weeks before they went to my tank, i wouldnt even consider adding any fish to my tank without a Q tank first

[Jim Powers]

The key word is "tolerate". They may be able to live at that temp, but they probably won't thrive or live as long as they would in cooler temps.
They would probably to better in a hillstream tank.

[Emma Turner]

I agree, they may 'tolerate' the higher temperature short term, but it's far from ideal over a longer period. White clouds are better housed in a temperate tank. Maybe it's a good excuse to set up a tank for hillstream loaches or weather loaches, rave?

Emma

[raving_wayne]

now theres an idea lol wonder if my missus would go for that, time to start the grovelling

thanks for the advice guys and gals
rave

[chefkeith]

the fish have been quarantined prior to goign in the tank, the local fish shop i use allows me being im in there almost daily to have a quarantine tank out the back of the shop for any such fish i wish to get from him. the minnows have been in there for 4 weeks before they went to my tank, i wouldnt even consider adding any fish to my tank without a Q tank first

Still that is not sufficient. The main purpose of quarantining is disease prevention, but it is also so that you can slowly acclimate the fish to the water chemistry and biodiversity of your main tank. You shouldn't pass the buck or the responsibility of quarantining.

[lf11casey]

the fish have been quarantined prior to goign in the tank, the local fish shop i use allows me being im in there almost daily to have a quarantine tank out the back of the shop for any such fish i wish to get from him. the minnows have been in there for 4 weeks before they went to my tank, i wouldnt even consider adding any fish to my tank without a Q tank first

Still that is not sufficient. The main purpose of quarantining is disease prevention, but it is also so that you can slowly acclimate the fish to the water chemistry and biodiversity of your main tank. You shouldn't pass the buck or the responsibility of quarantining.

Just out of curiosity, what if your lfs has the same water company as you, would you still quarantine at home even if they held the fish for 4 weeks. I still quarantine my fish at home of course, but I'm wondering what your opinion would be.

Also I didn't think it was a good idea to take water from your established tank and add to the qt. That's what it sounds like when you say acclimating to the biodiversity of the main tank. I know that you can acclimate them with fresh declorinated water to get them used to the chemicals of your water. Maybe I'm confused with everything, lol. What I do is quarantine at home for 4 weeks, then I put them in a bucket with qt water and use the drip method for an hour so with the tank they are going into. That way they get used to any chemical and biodiversity differences from the qt. Am I doing something wrong? Should I be adding water from the tank they are eventually going to during water changes? This is what you make it sound like chefkeith.

[chefkeith]

Just out of curiosity, what if your lfs has the same water company as you, would you still quarantine at home even if they held the fish for 4 weeks. I still quarantine my fish at home of course, but I'm wondering what your opinion would be.

I'd quarantine because I don't trust fish that haven't been with me for at least a few months. I probably wouldn't trust any LFS either. What if a fish dies? Would the LFS net out the dead fish and put another fish in the tank to replace it?

In my opinion, Quarantining should also include prophetical treatments for the most common parasites. Unfortunately, ich and internal parasites can go unnoticed when you do a proper low stress quarantine.

Also I didn't think it was a good idea to take water from your established tank and add to the qt. That's what it sounds like when you say acclimating to the biodiversity of the main tank.

Your established tank has the water that your fish will be living in, so then why wouldn't you want to use it? The main tank should have good healthy water. For q-tank water changes, I usually start off with a 50/50 mix of tap water and main tank water. I increase the use of main tank water over the coarse of the quarantine treatment. Eventually, the q-tank will have nearly 100% main tank water.

I know that you can acclimate them with fresh declorinated water to get them used to the chemicals of your water. Maybe I'm confused with everything, lol. What I do is quarantine at home for 4 weeks, then I put them in a bucket with qt water and use the drip method for an hour so with the tank they are going into. That way they get used to any chemical and biodiversity differences from the qt. Am I doing something wrong? Should I be adding water from the tank they are eventually going to during water changes? This is what you make it sound like chefkeith.

I think you need to adjust your proceedure. It's not necessarily wrong, but it could be better if you incorporated water from the main tank earlier. A 1 hour drip acclimation in a bucket can be very stressful to the fish.

Fish can also experience some environmental shock when they are introduced to a new tank. It takes some time to get use to new physical surroundings and the other new fish.

It would be best to acclimate the fish to the main tank water in the quarantine tank, then just skip the bucket drip method completely.

[raving_wayne]

just to clear up any confusion i live next door to my LFS the guy is one of my best friends so he defo wouldnt ever dream of nettin out a dead fish and replacing it, i have had issues of a fish dying in quarantine in the past and he is always very upfront with me, the quarantine tank is only in the shop as i dont have space for it in my home it is 100% maintained by myself and he watches for any signs when im not there, he also assists in all treatments of my quarantine tank aswell as any issues i have on my main tank, he is the only LFS that i trust 100% and is my preffered shop of all the shops i have been to in the past, we use the drip method direct from my tank via a insulated hose which we run on a permanent fixture through a cavity direct to the Q tank, my Q tank is a juwel lido 120 and my main is a juwel 450 custom

thought i would clear up any confusion on this i woudnt have a Q tank any distance away that i cannot manage it properly

Rave

[chefkeith]

Living next door to the fish shop sounds like a dream come true. That's quite a unique relationship you have with your fish shop. I should look for a house next to my favorite shop someday. Hmmm.

[raving_wayne]

it defo has its bonuses, i get a fair amount of cracking deals thats for sure, plus i tend to help out a little in the shop which also help in paying for various things like filters and such