Hansmatt,
Thank you for your post. All of our fish, inverts, corals, plants and live rock are shipped directly from the wild or their breeders to be held in our aquatic centers. All of our livestock is collected from the best and most reliable sources. We receive high quality live items and house them in state-of-the-art facilities.
The specimens we receive wait in quarantine being fed high quality frozen foods and constantly inspected for illness. Some species are held longer than others. If any fish, invert, or coral from their bin shows any sign of illness, the entire bin will be medicated as necessary before being released for shipment again.
To help further insure that your established aquarium remains pathogen-free, we highly recommend quarantining new specimens for at least two to four weeks before introducing them to your main aquarium. In addition to preventing the spread of infectious disease, quarantine tanks allow the new fish to get adjusted to a new type of water and food. When they are not being used for quarantine, these tanks can also double as treatment tanks. Treating the entire display tank for a problem that only infects a few fish is not a good practice. Quarantine tanks allow the infected fish to be safely treated without damaging fragile species or water quality in the display tank. Another use of quarantine tanks is to provide a breeding area for fish, a recovery area for harassed fish, and a place to allow newly hatched fish to safely grow.
We will ship you the highest quality specimens available, however a quarantine tank is the best protection for your investment. A quarantine tank doesn't need to be large or expensive, and in the end, it will pay for itself many times over. We hope that this information is beneficial to you, and hope that your aquarium setup is successful.
Mike S.
Drs. Foster and Smith
LiveAquaria