The perfect quarantine

[GaryE]

A couple of weeks back, I picked up ten Poropanchax normani, Norman's lampeye. I put them in a fully cycled, planted quarantine tank (which here means an unused tank...) for the requisite month to six weeks. Since I had more males than females, I threw in some breeding mops for cover.

I think you can see where this is going...

Today, I decided to move the females to their own QT, so I can condition them for spawning. These fish were something uncommon - full sized adults. Most Norman's lampeyes arrive in stores very very young. I bought them because of their size. I used to breed this fish like they were guppies, and my last 3 attempts had produced no eggs. I guessed these were farm breeders being dumped because of their size and age. If I wanted very long lived show fish, I'd buy young ones. But I wanted babies to build a large shoal with. These suspiciously large ones might live a 6 months to year at most, but I gambled they might breed.

I checked the mops, and saw an egg. Then I saw 36 more.

It'll take a day or two to see if they're fertile, and 2 weeks to see if they hatch - but I do believe they're doing well in quarantine.

 

[plebian]

I know you weren't being literal, and I assume you know this, but there is no perfect QT. Fish that appear perfectly healthy can be carriers of parasites, bacteria, or viruses which they are immune to but others are not. You only discover this after adding them to an existing aquarium with other fish.

 

[GaryE]

I know you weren't being literal, and I assume you know this, but there is no perfect QT. Fish that appear perfectly healthy can be carriers of parasites, bacteria, or viruses which they are immune to but others are not. You only discover this after adding them to an existing aquarium with other fish.

I know you are being literal there.

I quarantine for weeks, and try not to mix farm bred with wild caught, or to mix wilds from different regions. I've seen the limits of quarantine, and we are only dealing with the obvious and avoidable as we do it. We wait out the simplest bacterial and viral diseases, and watch for the basic parasites.

My view is a properly set up qt is a single species tank that runs with no new additions for up to 3 months. After that, you take your chances. But while it's going on, the fish don't have to be out of the loop. This normani QT is a tank working, and if I get fry, part of my goal is achieved. I bought them to breed up a larger group, and here we go. I can admire their beauty in their single species tank.

Perfect? I don't think anyone uses that one without a degree of humour. It's doubtful if it describes something that exists or can exist. In the real world, it kind of means "extremely good enough", doesn't it?

 

[Back in the fold]

Excellent ! I hope those eggs are fertile and that they hatch out into a Norman’s Lampeye horde .