I had a couple questions asked in PM about my tank and I figured I'd respond here so others could see my answers too.
Livestock:
Typically I purchase my livestock locally through a friend of mine that has been in the industry a long time. He doesn't run a retail establishment but still orders livestock occasionally.
If I'm not ordering from him or if I'm looking for something specific, I watch Liveaquarias Divers Den.
Quarantine
Every fish I own is quarantined. It wasn't always this way, and I lost a lot of fish early on in my career.
My typical quarantine protocol is 30 days of cupramine, and 2-3 rounds of praziquantel (prazipro).
For the Cupramine, I double the ramp time. So instead of dosing the full dose, and waiting 48 hours, I dose half the recommended dose and wait 48 hours. On the fourth dose, I test the copper level using the Seachem test kit. It's not as accurate or easy to read as I would like, but I try to target between 0.3 - 0.5. One day i'm going to figure out a way to do it with my Hach Colorimeter.
Quarantine Tank
50 gallon breeder with a portion of the tank partitioned off for an overflow with bioballs and a return pump. I keep this tank fully cycled (very important) and try to keep one or two fish in there at all times (usually a damsel). I have also added a 55 gallon tank with an established wet dry filter made out of a 5 gallon bucket, some bio balls and a 20 gallon long aquarium.
A lot of people don't like doing it this way and would prefer that the quarantine tank be sterilized between quarantine periods. It's my opinion that keeping the tank cycled all the time is much easier than trying to establish a biological filter every time I get new fish. It's also my opinion that a reason why so many people fail with quarantine tanks is because their fish die from ammonia poisoning due to inadequate biological filtration.
If you don't want to keep a fully cycled quarantine tank, it's very easy to keep bio filter materials (bio balls, sponge filters, etc.) in the Display tank sump to be cultured for when you do get new livestock, but it is absolutely critical that the filter is established when new fish are added. Ammonia will kill fish much quicker than ich or flukes.
Quarantine Period
Can be as short at 8 weeks or as long as a year. I'm not just treating or preventatively treating for disease in quarantine, but also getting the fish used to the foods I feed and from eating from me. My display tank has some very aggressive feeders and I need to make sure that the fish in my quarantine tank will be able to compete with them.
During the quarantine period, I take extreme precaution to make sure that none of the water or equipment that is used in my quarantine tanks comes into contact with my Display Tank - They are kept completely seperate. Any equipment that is used in my QT is rinsed and allowed to dry. I wash my hands and dry my hands before I feed my fish if I have recently fed my quarantine tanks (although I try to feed those last to get around hand washing). I have one hose dedicated to my quarantine tank for water changes and one dedicated to my display tank.
Foods
I pretty much feed Larry's Reef Services and PE mysis exclusively. I don't feed pellets, though there are a lot of good products out there. I also like to supplement with frozen and then thawed little neck clams. I could probably feed half a dozen of these every day, but my wallet won't allow it.
Food plays a significant role in a fishes health. It's important to feed them the best foods you can afford, and to do it several times a day. There are some fish that don't need to be fed several times a day, but in general, most of the fish we own are grazing type of animals that feed throughout the day.
If I had the time and money, I could probably feed half a pack of LRS foods to my fish in a day (the fat puffer would eat a third of it).
I've probably left a few things out, but this is my husbandry protocol in a nutshell, hope it is helpful.
Livestock:
Typically I purchase my livestock locally through a friend of mine that has been in the industry a long time. He doesn't run a retail establishment but still orders livestock occasionally.
If I'm not ordering from him or if I'm looking for something specific, I watch Liveaquarias Divers Den.
Quarantine
Every fish I own is quarantined. It wasn't always this way, and I lost a lot of fish early on in my career.
My typical quarantine protocol is 30 days of cupramine, and 2-3 rounds of praziquantel (prazipro).
For the Cupramine, I double the ramp time. So instead of dosing the full dose, and waiting 48 hours, I dose half the recommended dose and wait 48 hours. On the fourth dose, I test the copper level using the Seachem test kit. It's not as accurate or easy to read as I would like, but I try to target between 0.3 - 0.5. One day i'm going to figure out a way to do it with my Hach Colorimeter.
Quarantine Tank
50 gallon breeder with a portion of the tank partitioned off for an overflow with bioballs and a return pump. I keep this tank fully cycled (very important) and try to keep one or two fish in there at all times (usually a damsel). I have also added a 55 gallon tank with an established wet dry filter made out of a 5 gallon bucket, some bio balls and a 20 gallon long aquarium.
A lot of people don't like doing it this way and would prefer that the quarantine tank be sterilized between quarantine periods. It's my opinion that keeping the tank cycled all the time is much easier than trying to establish a biological filter every time I get new fish. It's also my opinion that a reason why so many people fail with quarantine tanks is because their fish die from ammonia poisoning due to inadequate biological filtration.
If you don't want to keep a fully cycled quarantine tank, it's very easy to keep bio filter materials (bio balls, sponge filters, etc.) in the Display tank sump to be cultured for when you do get new livestock, but it is absolutely critical that the filter is established when new fish are added. Ammonia will kill fish much quicker than ich or flukes.
Quarantine Period
Can be as short at 8 weeks or as long as a year. I'm not just treating or preventatively treating for disease in quarantine, but also getting the fish used to the foods I feed and from eating from me. My display tank has some very aggressive feeders and I need to make sure that the fish in my quarantine tank will be able to compete with them.
During the quarantine period, I take extreme precaution to make sure that none of the water or equipment that is used in my quarantine tanks comes into contact with my Display Tank - They are kept completely seperate. Any equipment that is used in my QT is rinsed and allowed to dry. I wash my hands and dry my hands before I feed my fish if I have recently fed my quarantine tanks (although I try to feed those last to get around hand washing). I have one hose dedicated to my quarantine tank for water changes and one dedicated to my display tank.
Foods
I pretty much feed Larry's Reef Services and PE mysis exclusively. I don't feed pellets, though there are a lot of good products out there. I also like to supplement with frozen and then thawed little neck clams. I could probably feed half a dozen of these every day, but my wallet won't allow it.
Food plays a significant role in a fishes health. It's important to feed them the best foods you can afford, and to do it several times a day. There are some fish that don't need to be fed several times a day, but in general, most of the fish we own are grazing type of animals that feed throughout the day.
If I had the time and money, I could probably feed half a pack of LRS foods to my fish in a day (the fat puffer would eat a third of it).
I've probably left a few things out, but this is my husbandry protocol in a nutshell, hope it is helpful.
). I travel a lot, so my ormolator is a MUST have for me.
