A practical conundrum regarding purchasing fish

[bosk1]

There is probably a really simple solution to this that I haven't thought of yet, but here goes...

My favorite lfs (yes, it's still my favorite, despite the recent exploits of "Dude" and "Chick," if you've seen that other thread) gets new fish on Tuesdays. I have seen posts saying it is best not to buy fish until they have been at the lfs for at least a week or so to decrease the odds of bringing home diseased or overly stressed fish. Makes perfect sense to me, and seems like a good idea. BUT, there are a lot of people out there who do not operate on this wisdom, and will buy up the cool fish right away. So my question is, how do I avoid having all the "cool" fish being gone by the time they are settled in enough for me to buy? This particular lfs is fairly small, so they tend not to get tons and tons of fish, and only stock what they believe they can sell relatively quickly. So what do I do? I was thinking maybe I just show up when the new fish come in, pick the ones I want, and have the lfs keep them separate somewhere for a week. Is there a better way?

 

[BillD]

I see fish on hold at the local Big Al's all the time. It is a viable way of doing it, even if you have to prepay.

 

[Franco7]

I would say, if its an option for you, to by a 10 galon quarintine tank and keep it up and running all the time, so that way any and all new fish you buy you can put in there for a couple weeks and let the fish release there stress in there, and also it makes for catching dieases in your big tank less likely imo and i think in a lot of people on here.
I know cause i do the same thing now a days.

 

[bosk1]

Excellent advice, Franco. I think it is a very good idea, and one I plan to implement in the future. It is not an option at the moment, however. It doesn't completely address my question here because this lfs has such a short warranty period (5 days) that I might get a sick fish that lives in the qt tank longer than the warranty, and I would be out of luck. But for purposes of keeping my entire tank healthy, it is something I plan to set up when I can. Thanks!

 

[nomadofthehills]

I never understood, how does one keep a QT tank cycled? Keep the filter on the main tank?

 

[Franco7]

I keep a couple of small fish in my tank all the time, and just add all my new fish to it whenever i buy some. That way if new fish have dieases it only affects the new fish i bought and the couple small ones i spend .99 on lol... Thats one way, also a second way is to by a sponge to keep in your big tank and remove it and put it in the qt when the time is needed, because the sponge already has good bacteria on it.

Bosk you lfs only gives you a 5 day, that sucks. I beleave mine is 30, but not a 100% i know its alot more then 5 maybe 2 weeks atleast if not 30 days. Well if you get a qt, atleast 5 days if the fish are stressed there going to die likely within those 5 days i would think, so it still helps out your new fish buying because u can monitor for those 5 days.

 

[TomK2]

Put a sponge on your main tanks intake. Then when you put fish in the QT, move the sponge over. Sterilize it before putting it back inthe main tank. Or take colonized bio-media from the main tanks filter, and put it in the QT filter as needed. Throw it out after use.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Since sponges are cheap, when you move the sponge to the QT tank, why not just get a new sponge and put in the main tank, and after you are done with the qt tank, just dispose of it rather than trying to steralize it. Just another idea to throw out there.

 

[Guest]

I have the same, and i alwyas go to look on the day they get deliveries... I actually believe if you buy them sooner they are less likely to pick up all the diseases at the LFS... because sometimes the "Fish Farm" they come from are kept better than the fish stores. I know that is true of the fish farm in Florida that all the local stores order from.