Safely quarantining lyretail anthias without in-fighting

[Saralay]

Hi everyone,

After velvet wiped out all my fish, I’m planning to quarantine everything wet for 65 days before it goes into my 250-gallon tank.

I’d like to keep a group of lyretail anthias—around 7 in total. The problem is that quarantining all of them together would almost certainly lead to aggression and infighting in the reduced QT tank space (30 gallon).

My initial thought was to quarantine them in smaller groups of two or three. However, if I do that, each time I finish the 65-day quarantine cycle, there’s a good chance a new male will have already developed in the next group.

What’s the best way to handle this situation?

Thanks.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone,

After velvet wiped out all my fish, I’m planning to quarantine everything wet for 65 days before it goes into my 250-gallon tank.

I’d like to keep a group of lyretail anthias—around 7 in total. The problem is that quarantining all of them together would almost certainly lead to aggression and infighting in the reduced QT tank space (30 gallon).

My initial thought was to quarantine them in smaller groups of two or three. However, if I do that, each time I finish the 65-day quarantine cycle, there’s a good chance a new male will have already developed in the next group.

What’s the best way to handle this situation?

Thanks.

Separate tank applying Ruby rally pro starting with a 60 minute bath

 

[Saralay]

Separate tank applying Ruby rally pro starting with a 60 minute bat

Ruby Rally Pro does not treat ich. Since I’ll be adding a Powder Blue Tang, I want to be extra cautious and make sure the tank is completely ich-free.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ruby Rally Pro does not treat ich. Since I’ll be adding a Powder Blue Tang, I want to be extra cautious and make sure the tank is completely ich-free.

I recommend ruby rally as they are susceptible to uronema over ich but for general qt, coppersafe st 2.25ppm is also safe

 

[areefer01]

Outside of the QT order Lyretails are still going to do Lyretail things. Single large group or several smaller. There will be a harem built with one dominate transitioning.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi everyone,

After velvet wiped out all my fish, I’m planning to quarantine everything wet for 65 days before it goes into my 250-gallon tank.

I’d like to keep a group of lyretail anthias—around 7 in total. The problem is that quarantining all of them together would almost certainly lead to aggression and infighting in the reduced QT tank space (30 gallon).

My initial thought was to quarantine them in smaller groups of two or three. However, if I do that, each time I finish the 65-day quarantine cycle, there’s a good chance a new male will have already developed in the next group.

What’s the best way to handle this situation?

Thanks.

That is often a tough issue. Trying to get just one male and the rest female often helps. I agree, small groups is going to leave you with multiple males that will just fight in your DT.

You might try posting in the general fish forum to see if anyone has any good tricks.

Try to get East African lyretails, they always do better for me.

Ruby reef isn’t a solution to your question.

 

[Michael Hughes]

Did you ever find a solution to this problem? I'm looking to add a group of anthias as well and had the same question.

@Jay Hemdal, do you think buying pre-quarantined (from a vendor that sources from East Africa) is worth the risk in this situation? If buying pre-quarantined I would want to run them through at least an observation period, but then that presents a similar problem of aggression during observation...

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Did you ever find a solution to this problem? I'm looking to add a group of anthias as well and had the same question.

@Jay Hemdal, do you think buying pre-quarantined (from a vendor that sources from East Africa) is worth the risk in this situation? If buying pre-quarantined I would want to run them through at least an observation period, but then that presents a similar problem of aggression during observation...

Depends on who does the pre-quarantining. I’d trust Dr. Reef’s process, but some local stores use a truncated process that doesn’t work so well.

 

[Michael Hughes]

Thanks, Dr. Reef is who I was considering. Still about a year out in my stocking plan, but wanted to figure out feasibility now in case I needed to make any changes.

Would you still do an observation period before adding to the DT?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks, Dr. Reef is who I was considering. Still about a year out in my stocking plan, but wanted to figure out feasibility now in case I needed to make any changes.

Would you still do an observation period before adding to the DT?

I’d ask them, but IMO, I would not, I’d put them straight in the DT.

Observation periods, to really catch anything, need to be 40+ days, and my argument is, you might as well do a full quarantine if you are spending that amount of time (grin). Quarantine is derived from the Italian word for forty……

 

[Michael Hughes]

I’d ask them, but IMO, I would not, I’d put them straight in the DT.

Observation periods, to really catch anything, need to be 40+ days, and my argument is, you might as well do a full quarantine if you are spending that amount of time (grin).

Thanks! Makes sense to me.

Quarantine is derived from the Italian word for forty……

You learn something new everyday...

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks! Makes sense to me.


You learn something new everyday...

Yes, I had to look it up just now, their word is quaranta. The old sailing ships were held outside the port for 40 days to keep diseases from coming ashore.