Wild Caught with Tank Raised?

[abw0004]

Good morning,

With my fish population waning a little bit, I am starting to consider restocking my aquarium soon. I currently have a honey Gourami, 4 Neon Tetras, 1 clown pleco, and 3 nerite snails. My aquarium is a 25 gallon.

I am wanting to add a pair of Scarlet Badis and Cardinal Tetras. After researching the wild Cardinal Tetras and how they are caught sustainably I am leaning towards buying those wild caught as I never have gotten healthy tank raised tetras. I originally was going to wait out the Neon Tetras, but I don't like keeping them in a group of 4, a I know they need a much larger group.

My question is having wild caught and tank raised fish in the same aquarium cause issues? Mainly disease and health concerns? Thank you.

 

[Andy Sager]

The issue is more that wild fish can have more stringent water chemistry and quality issues as well as having diseases that they have become "immune" to or better suited to handle than your tank raised fish. The best way to mix them is to quarantine the wild fish for a full period, ( some do it for 2-3 months as lifecycles of certain diseases can be long) before just mixing them together and seeing what happens.

One last point, just because a fish is tank raised does not preclude it from needing to be quarantined. Many fish get diseases because of the other fish in the system so with today's fish, everyone should be quarantined before added to a main display tank.

 

[abw0004]

The issue is more that wild fish can have more stringent water chemistry and quality issues as well as having diseases that they have become "immune" to or better suited to handle than your tank raised fish. The best way to mix them is to quarantine the wild fish for a full period, ( some do it for 2-3 months as lifecycles of certain diseases can be long) before just mixing them together and seeing what happens.

One last point, just because a fish is tank raised does not preclude it from needing to be quarantined. Many fish get diseases because of the other fish in the system so with today's fish, everyone should be quarantined before added to a main display tank.

Oh don't worry, I quarantine everything, including plants for a minimum of 1 month. The only current issue is my QT tank is being used by my blind German Blue Ram.