I don't want to debate QT vs not. This advice is for the people who will not, do not want to or are not sure if they will ever be able to QT correctly, which is probably well over 90% of the people out there.
For fish to thrive, they need to feel safe and secure. Fish diseases also need to fight for their lives in as inhospitable of a place as possible. Inverts can bring in fish diseases too.
If you are not going follow a 100% QT regiment for all fish, corals and inverts, then these things can really help your chances to save fish lives and save you money.
First, start your tank with real live rock from the ocean. This rock will have microfauna that will eat disease tomonts when they fall off of the fish during the life cycle - large and small pod, worms, starfish, etc.
Second, use a substrate. While live sand is not always possible, the microfauna on the live rock will populate the sandbed in time. You want worms, pods, snails and all other manner of critters popping out of the substrate to much on a nice meal that just landed nearby.
Third, do not make caves, arches or other bonsai structures - these are not good for fish. Fish need to have tight spaces to escape, feel totally secure and to get away from things. Just stack up rock so that the fish can totally leave your sight.
Fourth, start with captive fish. These fish are used to the unique living style of tanks and are good fish to start with. They can also teach new fish to eat things that they have never seen before - even mysis and brine shrimp are not floating around reefs out there and are from inland lakes.
Fifth, understand that your new fish might have a different feeding style at first. Some fish pick, some only eat from the water column, etc. Your new fish is a week from swimming in the ocean, so if you have a planktivore, then turn the pumps off and dump in tiny amounts of food every minute for ten minutes. If you have a picker, then allow the food to sink to the bottom or on the rocks for the fish to pick off. Eventually, most fish adapt, but this can take time.
Sixth, avoid most wild fish until the microfauna from your live rock has spread to the rest of the tank.
Seventh, assume that NOBODY has done a well enough job of QT on your new fish. Nobody. Always assume that diseases are possible unless you QT yourself. ...so expect diseases.
Avoid sterile tanks which can be like petri dishes for fish diseases to multiply. I know that live rock can cost more, but how much is anybody saving over dead/dry rock when their new Naso Tang and Regal Angelfish die of ich in a tank with no microfauna to help with control disease? Bottled bacteria and pods do not add the kind of things necessary to
Don't underestimate how much caves and arches can stress fish if they cannot get into a crack or crevice somewhere to hide. Fish should not be stressed out or darting around the tank at all - they should not be spooked.
None of this leads to a disease-free tank. It is just a way to help, but it can really help a lot. If you are not going to set up a coral QT for inverts and corals, then chances are that you are going to get diseases into your tank anyway, so why not help the fish as much as possible even if you do some level of QT.
If anybody is wondering if there is any precedent for this, just go back to some of the message boards from older times. Most of these tanks started with live rock and nearly nobody QT'd any fish. The old advice was to wait 6 months for your expensive fish. The idea is that the tank parameters were mature by then and the fish had an easier time - while this is true, this is also the time that the fauna from the rock had spread all over the tank and could help with diseases.
In the end, I feel that the caves and arches bonsai structure of many modern reefs along with the lack of biodiversity from using dry rock are some make fish disease more of an issue than ever. Use live rock and stack it up.
For fish to thrive, they need to feel safe and secure. Fish diseases also need to fight for their lives in as inhospitable of a place as possible. Inverts can bring in fish diseases too.
If you are not going follow a 100% QT regiment for all fish, corals and inverts, then these things can really help your chances to save fish lives and save you money.
First, start your tank with real live rock from the ocean. This rock will have microfauna that will eat disease tomonts when they fall off of the fish during the life cycle - large and small pod, worms, starfish, etc.
Second, use a substrate. While live sand is not always possible, the microfauna on the live rock will populate the sandbed in time. You want worms, pods, snails and all other manner of critters popping out of the substrate to much on a nice meal that just landed nearby.
Third, do not make caves, arches or other bonsai structures - these are not good for fish. Fish need to have tight spaces to escape, feel totally secure and to get away from things. Just stack up rock so that the fish can totally leave your sight.
Fourth, start with captive fish. These fish are used to the unique living style of tanks and are good fish to start with. They can also teach new fish to eat things that they have never seen before - even mysis and brine shrimp are not floating around reefs out there and are from inland lakes.
Fifth, understand that your new fish might have a different feeding style at first. Some fish pick, some only eat from the water column, etc. Your new fish is a week from swimming in the ocean, so if you have a planktivore, then turn the pumps off and dump in tiny amounts of food every minute for ten minutes. If you have a picker, then allow the food to sink to the bottom or on the rocks for the fish to pick off. Eventually, most fish adapt, but this can take time.
Sixth, avoid most wild fish until the microfauna from your live rock has spread to the rest of the tank.
Seventh, assume that NOBODY has done a well enough job of QT on your new fish. Nobody. Always assume that diseases are possible unless you QT yourself. ...so expect diseases.
Avoid sterile tanks which can be like petri dishes for fish diseases to multiply. I know that live rock can cost more, but how much is anybody saving over dead/dry rock when their new Naso Tang and Regal Angelfish die of ich in a tank with no microfauna to help with control disease? Bottled bacteria and pods do not add the kind of things necessary to
Don't underestimate how much caves and arches can stress fish if they cannot get into a crack or crevice somewhere to hide. Fish should not be stressed out or darting around the tank at all - they should not be spooked.
None of this leads to a disease-free tank. It is just a way to help, but it can really help a lot. If you are not going to set up a coral QT for inverts and corals, then chances are that you are going to get diseases into your tank anyway, so why not help the fish as much as possible even if you do some level of QT.
If anybody is wondering if there is any precedent for this, just go back to some of the message boards from older times. Most of these tanks started with live rock and nearly nobody QT'd any fish. The old advice was to wait 6 months for your expensive fish. The idea is that the tank parameters were mature by then and the fish had an easier time - while this is true, this is also the time that the fauna from the rock had spread all over the tank and could help with diseases.
In the end, I feel that the caves and arches bonsai structure of many modern reefs along with the lack of biodiversity from using dry rock are some make fish disease more of an issue than ever. Use live rock and stack it up.
