I had the opportunity to pick up some fry (about 1.25" frontosa) for an awesome price, current tank inhabitants are about 2-3.25". Catch is their coming monday so I have a few options. Put them in the tank? Quarantine? If so my first issue is they are coming in 7 days, I ordered a small sponge filter off amazon that will be here tomorrow. Is seven days enough time to seed if I run it in the new tank? The third option I can think of (nursery) is to buy a small 10-15 gallon tank, drill it and run a powerhead from my main tank into that and let it overflow back into the main tank. What's the best option? Or something I didnt think of? And again, is seven days enough to seed a small sponge filter in the main tank?
Incoming fry, now what
- Thread starter savannah_az
- Start date
I would qt them using whatever bio media you use from the main tank in a small hob filter, add a heater and call it a day.
Right now it's a tricle filter. That's why my thought process was if 7'days is enough, just run the sponge filter in the main tank and transfer it over do,a 10-25 whatever laying around. If not to just skip quarantine and run a nursery tank
Bio balls from the trickle would work. A week isn't really long enough to seed a new filter, even in an established tank.
So assuming they go thru seclusion period ok. Would it then be wise to keep them in such a small tank for a bit or move them to ththe mai. Tank (11 fry and only 4 in the main) with a full adult pleco
Well, that really depends on whether you are willing to accept the chance of spreading disease or not. I'm not saying they will infect your tank, just that they could.
No no I meant after say 2-3 weeks and I know its ok should I combine the system but keep them separate and let them grow a bit more?
Ah. My apologies. I mis-read. Frontosa are slow growers. You may be waiting for a while if you decide to grow them out. At those sizes, it shouldn't be too much of an issue depending on what your existing stock is. It would help to rearrange the tank right before adding the new fish. What size tank?
Quarentining is not only about the incoming fish carrying a disease.
The established tank you already have set up, may have fish that are immune to certain pathogens, that the new fish aren't (and I consider fronts to be fairly sensitive to certain pathogens). And if the new fish become ill, this could overwhelm the immunity of your established fish, in the confines of a tank
When I quarantine, I add a little water from the established tank they will go into "daily" to the quarantine tank. This helps the new fish, not only acclimatize to water conditions, but to the type bacteria they will be subjected to when ready, so may then also build up the same immunity as the fish in the main tank.
For me a quarantine of 2 months is not overkill.
A friend of mine who runs a public zoos aquatic exhibit, quarantines all fish for at least 6 months just to be safe.
The established tank you already have set up, may have fish that are immune to certain pathogens, that the new fish aren't (and I consider fronts to be fairly sensitive to certain pathogens). And if the new fish become ill, this could overwhelm the immunity of your established fish, in the confines of a tank
When I quarantine, I add a little water from the established tank they will go into "daily" to the quarantine tank. This helps the new fish, not only acclimatize to water conditions, but to the type bacteria they will be subjected to when ready, so may then also build up the same immunity as the fish in the main tank.
For me a quarantine of 2 months is not overkill.
A friend of mine who runs a public zoos aquatic exhibit, quarantines all fish for at least 6 months just to be safe.
Most Frontosa fry now are mostly captive breed. I would QT them and watch for ich the most common disease in this hobby. Also, try to keep them all together in same tank rather then split them up, they will happier with large group and they are extremely slow grower. I would remove the pleco since it's a pooping machine and down grade your water constantly and not benefit to Frontosa fry. Some folks will say large (50%~75%) water change is bad for frontosa but I would say it's not true since most fry are now captive breed so they are somewhat adapted to our modern world life style 
I"m doing 50%~75% water change per week to keep nitrate below 40 ppm and ny fronts are happy with the WC schedule.
I"m doing 50%~75% water change per week to keep nitrate below 40 ppm and ny fronts are happy with the WC schedule.
