Evansi anthias quarantine

[maroun.c]

Have tried these a few times with no success so trying for the last time.
Major issue is to get them to feed so this time I prepared many more food options ... to try to get them to feed. Asked the store to get 15 but they got 24 which I picked up in shipping bags so I can do my own acclimation and avoid 2 tank shifts as well as disease from store tanks ...
Have 3 Qts running and wondering wether I should split them in 2 Qts or keep all in one.
Evansi interact more than other anthias abd I believe larger numbers would make them feel more safe.
Also not sure about aggressive behavior if I split for now and have to re I trounce later in the tank....
Any tips or advice appreciated!

 

[mcarroll]

This would have been great to research before ordering – eep!

Please digest Sustainable Aquatics' white paper on acclimation:

http://www.sustainableaquatics.com/docs/Acclimation-White-Paper.docx

I don't know how big the fish are nor how big your QT tanks are, but for a home setup 24 fish sounds like an awful lot per tank.

Make sure they are set up for QT and not for hospital.

The latter is more like a prison cell or operating room and is stressful....good for short term chemical treatments, etc.

A good QT is more like a plain fish tank with (non-porous) decorations, fake plants and hiding places....NOT stressful....should be appropriate for longer-term housing/viewing.

Assuming you have a good, mature display tank waiting for them, of adequate size, with adequate rock/hiding places, I don't think you'll have a problem post-QT.

(That said, Anthias are known problems in this regard...)

 

[maroun.c]

This would have been great to research before ordering – eep!

Please digest Sustainable Aquatics' white paper on acclimation:

http://www.sustainableaquatics.com/docs/Acclimation-White-Paper.docx

I don't know how big the fish are nor how big your QT tanks are, but for a home setup 24 fish sounds like an awful lot per tank.

Make sure they are set up for QT and not for hospital.

The latter is more like a prison cell or operating room and is stressful....good for short term chemical treatments, etc.

A good QT is more like a plain fish tank with (non-porous) decorations, fake plants and hiding places....NOT stressful....should be appropriate for longer-term housing/viewing.

Assuming you have a good, mature display tank waiting for them, of adequate size, with adequate rock/hiding places, I don't think you'll have a problem post-QT.

(That said, Anthias are known problems in this regard...)

Evansis are not large anthias and do well in larger groups .
Acclimation feeding basic Qt and medication isn't really an issue. Qts are large 2x50G and a smaller 10g one. Skimmers, mature filters and hiding places out of plastic.... im also set for easy instant water changes so that's not an issue. Plan changed with lfs getting 24 (actually 23 as one arrived dead) instead of 23, guess to make sure they had 15 alive so I jumped on the occasion.
I can QT them easily in 1 QT but with 23 instead of 15 I can easily have 2 nice groups in 2 qts for them to feel safe and at the same time have less loaded qt. This also doubles my chances against disease and mishaps.

The real concern is anthias develop hierarchy and dominants turn male so im afraid of encouraging that by splitting and then having issues when moving to DT.

Dt is a 400 G which wouldn't have any issues with space, hiding spots or other.

 

[maroun.c]

Please digest Sustainable Aquatics' white paper on acclimation:

http://www.sustainableaquatics.com/docs/Acclimation-White-Paper.docx

Great article thanks for sharing. Had discussed the technique with few store owners in Europe where they dobit more with Co2. I always considered doing it with a controller and CO2 so I could even control the rise back to normal PH.... as well as not having to deal with Acid and it's risk...
I live in the middle east so shipping time is much less, haven't measured ammonia in the bag which would have been a great exercise I guess for next time. Normally I have Prime ammonia remover on hand so if I see fish arriving trashing in the bag I open bag just enough to drop few drops and close it for 30 min as this eliminates ammonia in shipping bag. I float the bag to temp acclimate while waiting.
Will make sure to measure ph and ammonia when I get a fishnin shipping bag and not acclimated in lfs...
Any thoughts on the ammonia remover Vs low PH acclimation ?

 

[Sabellafella]

Have tried these a few times with no success so trying for the last time.
Major issue is to get them to feed so this time I prepared many more food options ... to try to get them to feed. Asked the store to get 15 but they got 24 which I picked up in shipping bags so I can do my own acclimation and avoid 2 tank shifts as well as disease from store tanks ...
Have 3 Qts running and wondering wether I should split them in 2 Qts or keep all in one.
Evansi interact more than other anthias abd I believe larger numbers would make them feel more safe.
Also not sure about aggressive behavior if I split for now and have to re I trounce later in the tank....
Any tips or advice appreciated!

In terms of aggressive behavior, male is larger. Color is just a hair different.

My male would court a group of females similar to how the bimacs would round up the group to spawn. I believe majority of the the evans ive brought in were almost always a huge grouping of females.

In terms of overall aggression, i did get the occasional transition male try to fight its way up. Untill the population got smaller which yea, it took a few years.

I personally would just introduce all of them at once after QT. And unfortunately let them sort it out. I would also use the 1 qt tank instead of 2 just incase you do windup with a male in each tank. The males may fight after the DT introduction.


The two times ive tried evans, i had really good success with. They eventually took onto eating whatever frozen i added to the system without spitting it out. I also did not medicate the qt system untill they started eating and get their behavior to a healthy point.

 

[mcarroll]

Any thoughts on the ammonia remover Vs low PH acclimation ?

I would consider doing their full process in the worst case scenarios, long shipment times. (Most of us don't get shipment times that long either, but it happens sometimes.)

Clean, well-mixed seawater (ie where pH has normalized with atmospheric CO2 levels) is a fine transition water for less severe cases. Same basic process though.

Normally I have Prime ammonia remover on hand so if I see fish arriving trashing in the bag I open bag just enough to drop few drops and close it for 30 min as this eliminates ammonia in shipping bag. I float the bag to temp acclimate while waiting.

If the water is rotten, I'm not leaving the fish in there for 30 minutes, no matter what.

If it's more of a borderline case where you feel you have the time, perhaps. But keep in mind what that acclimation guide says.

I don't think I've used prime the way you're suggesting, but there are are other dedicated ammonia blockers and I know they are recommended by some people in this situation. Could be worth having on hand for just the right occasion.

 

[maroun.c]

Thanks for the info!

 

[Daniel Doherty]

How did these do for you? Thinking of getting a group for a 120x50x80cm tall tank. Thanks

 

[maroun.c]

They unfortunately never ate. I tried dofferent foods daily with small and large frozen mysis, artemia fish eggs and small pellets mix as well as flake foods and they never fed and wasted away after 2-3 weeks. Not sure if it was shipping stress or what.
I ordered another batch but received Carberryi instead abd these are doing great in QT abd will be moving them to DT after one more round of Prazi next week i hope. Still wanting to have evansis as well so might order 10 more and try to keep a mixed school of anthias in the DT if they work out.