# Quarantining New Fish



## Steeners (Mar 28, 2010)

Hi all,

Just have a few questions about introducing new fish. I bought myself a few Boesemani Rainbowfish (well 6) and have them in a 10g for now. They look happy and are eating well. 

I thought of using my python on the 10g and realized that would not be a good idea since I would be cross contaminating with my 55g. Right? Should I go out and get myself one of those hand pump gravel cleaners? (there is no gravel in the tank - it's bare with a sponge filter).

I have been using water from my established 55g for the quarantine. 

I read somewhere that even though you quarantine new fish, they can still be carriers of disease/parasites and they suggested to putting fish from an established tank to the quarantine tank. Stress a fish out by leaving it in a bucket for two days and putting it in a quarantine tank to see if they get sick!?  

I don't think I can put my guys through that!  

Oh and if anyone has some advise on best care practices for these rainbows then please let me know. They are eating well. They had some bloodworms and daphnia today. Should I be giving them zucchini? peas? since they are herbivores.

Thanks!


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## Steeners (Mar 28, 2010)

Here is a picture of one of the boys. They are still pretty young, about 2".


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Steeners said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Just have a few questions about introducing new fish. I bought myself a few Boesemani Rainbowfish (well 6) and have them in a 10g for now. They look happy and are eating well.
> 
> ...


Make sure that you have a filter in there with established biomedia from your old tank. Not just the water. If you can not tranfer directly (ie, you have the sponge filter) take a bit of media from your old tank, wring it out in the new tank next to the sponge filter so it all sucks onto it, then discard. Don't put the old media back in the big tank because of cross contamination.

Boesmani Rainbows are VERY easy fish to care for. Just get a good quality veggie food. There is no need whatsoever to supplement with fresh vegetables etc. Get a good quality veggie/kelp pellet and you'll be happy for years. Examples of good food choices: Dainichi Veggie Deluxe or FX (www.dainichi.com), Fish Head 20% Spirulina Flake (Finatics fish store, Kennedy Rd), Omega One/Omega Sea Kelp Pellet (Finatics and others)

Still good, but less good: Sera Granugreen (Menagerie), HBH 8 Veggie Flake (everywhere).

DON'T feed them much protein. Blood Worms and Daphnia are ok-- but not every day. Not as a meal. Usually vegetarian fish have poor digestive tract motility- they require fiber to push food through them, vs things which require virtually no fiber, like small shrimp and some highly carnivorous fish like bumblebee gobies.

If you feed something protein rich, which you occasionally should, make it 1/3 of a meal
follow it up with 2/3 veggie. If you just ate steak, you'd be blocked up. Salad is needed to push'er through.

That rainbow looks to be in perfect health. I'd quarantine for at least 2-3 weeks.


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## Steeners (Mar 28, 2010)

Thank you for the advise  The sponge filter that I put in the quarantine was from my established tank and was running for a while - about a month. 
I bought some veggie flakes by Omega One and they don't seem to like it. They just spit them out and make a mess.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Steeners said:


> Thank you for the advise  The sponge filter that I put in the quarantine was from my established tank and was running for a while - about a month.
> I bought some veggie flakes by Omega One and they don't seem to like it. They just spit them out and make a mess.


they were probably fed the wrong food by the last guy. Squeeze the juice out of garlic and soak them in it for a minute. Also crush the flakes into small pieces and feed them when theyre hungry. They'll eat it. They won't starve themselves.


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## Steeners (Mar 28, 2010)

I crushed up the flake food and they seem to be eating it - thanks for the idea. Are there symptoms or things I should be watching out for while I have them in there?

I was waiting for a long time for Alternative Aquariums to get these rainbows in and they never did. So I ended up buying them from BA in Oakville. I was reluctant to do so but figured that I would be okay if I quarantine them anyway. They looked to be in good health there... but I really don't like how they overcrowd their tanks. I know I looked at their rainbows every week and they would have fungus on their heads - poor babies  I complained and looks like they moved them to another tank with less fishies in there. 

These guys looked good, they were in a separate tank from the big rainbows. So I guess I'll wait and see.

It's day 2 and they are quite active and up to mischief


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

Steeners said:


> I crushed up the flake food and they seem to be eating it - thanks for the idea. Are there symptoms or things I should be watching out for while I have them in there?


Ya, fish diseases. Look em up.


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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

Steeners said:


> I crushed up the flake food and they seem to be eating it


The reason they are eating now may be because _"Boesemani Rainbows have large mouths, their throats tend to be narrow"_.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=747+870+1053&pcatid=1053
I have read that on a few other websites as well. I wonder what advantage does the fish have with a more narrow throat?
Here is a good website with a list of fish diseases and pictures: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/fish_palace/tropicalfish_disease_identification_1.html


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

Adrian Tappin's free ebook on rainbowfish is worth reading even if you don't have rainbowfish for the excellent info on diseases and live foods. It's the authoritative reference, based on extensive experience with these fish in the wild and in captivity: http://www.mediafire.com/?ehmtjmkdkww


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## Steeners (Mar 28, 2010)

AquariAM said:


> Ya, fish diseases. Look em up.


Okay okay, it was late!  it was a dumb question


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## Steeners (Mar 28, 2010)

Thank you all for your advise. 

Nope, it doesn't look like they have any of those diseases so far.


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