Jawfish Quarantine

[nodoubt471]

Hello all,

We are going to be purchasing a yellow headed jawfish in the near future, and are wondering if we should quarantine it or not. As a general policy we quarantine all our fish when we get them, but we have been told by other sources that it isn't wise to quaranine a jawfish in a tank with no sand (which obviously our QT tank is) as it is very stressful to the fish to be in an environment without sand. What are all your thoughts about this? Which is more risky- having him stressed in QT (and possibly getting sick as a result????) or placing him (after a dip) right into the tank with the sand?

Thanks!

 

[artful-dodger]

Go ahead and quarantine. Even without sand, if you give them someplace to hide (a shell, a piece of PVC pipe) they'll do fine.

Be careful to provide protection against jumping (while in quarantine or from the display...they are prone to lauching themselves when frightened.)

 

[nodoubt471]

Ok we have pvc and stuff in the QT and the tank is covered, so I guess I should be ok?

 

[ReefHotSpot]

I hate to do this kate but I do see a lot of these guys. I'd say drop him in you display. Well . . .relative you how much you like your display versus you jawfish. Jawfish on import arrive in the country and are held in specimen cups which are not transparent. They get extremely stressed in any sort of bare bottom setup. And, if there is anything I've learned, "psychological" stress on a fish is a close second to "environmental"stress. I'm not saying that keeping the fish in a bare bottom tank is going to kill him but you will be weakening him before you deliver him into your tank. On another note, jawfish aren't very good hosts.

 

[nodoubt471]

Thanks for your response redrunblue, judging by your website it seems that you have lots of experience with both receiving and keeping fish. You mentioned that jawfish aren't good hosts (which is always nice to hear!). What percentage would you say come in to your store diseased?

 

[TippyToeX]

It just takes one fish to have any disease though. Just one. Would you like it to be yours? How would you catch in in a display after you notice any problems?

Never ever worth the risk IMHO. They need hiding spots so that they feel safe, that will lessen any fear of stress you might have. FWIW stress was being wild caught, stress is being put into a dealers tank only to be shipped again. Stress is going into a display. How is a peaceful tank with plenty of food, no competition, places to hide and excellent water quality going to ruin it mentally?

QT it gets my vote of course.