Quarantine of sucker mouth fish

[beastie]

So last week I bought a group of juvenile red lizard whiptail (loricaria). Given I also remade my big tank to which they will go to, replaced substrate, replanted, washed and scrubbed the glass, I opted for quarantine as I feared they would have nothing to eat otherwise. They are healthy, from a local breeder, same water as in the city, no visible issues. I wouldn't normally quarantine otherwise.

The fish are in my 10 liter ikea box with a clump of moss, frogbit, a filter sponge and a jackfruit leaf. The idea was I will get them to feed and watch them before releasing them to the big, now mostly clean tank where they will have to rely on food pellets or have to compete for food with other fish.

 But I have never seen them eat. Or move to be honest. They just hang somewhere, not even on the leaf, mostly under it, under the moss. There is a brown diatom on the box wall and it doesn't seem to interest them. I feed them in the evening, a bit of microworms, a bit of an algae wafers. I don't see them excited for either. I can't check the presence of the microworms and in the morning the wafer is mostly there and snails are eating it. Repashy jello was gone over night but who knows.

Does it still make sense to keep them in the quarantine box? They are really small, 4,5-5,5 cm max.

I plan to cut some frozen bloodworms now and see if that makes a difference. They just watch me with the black eyes :))

[Tony s]

On 8/24/2024 at 10:00 AM, beastie said:

But I have never seen them eat. Or move to be honest. They just hang somewhere, not even on the leaf, mostly under it, under the moss.

Yeah. I have the same kind. Got them about a month ago. They never move. That you can see anyway. Mine are always hanging off the driftwood. I assume that’s what they are eating. And surface algae. You could try feeding repashi at night and cleaning it in the morning. 
 

as for quarantine. That’s a personal choice. It’s always best to quarantine. But if you think they’re good. They probably are 

[Odd Duck]

On 8/24/2024 at 9:19 AM, Tony s said:

It’s always best to quarantine. But if you think they’re good. They probably are

Truth!  Quarantine is always best.  It lets you spot issues and treat appropriately before the fish go into the main tank.

Tagging @Lennie because he’s kept these before, but Repashy can be pretty persistent so if it’s disappearing overnight they are probably eating it.

[Lennie]

On 8/24/2024 at 6:25 PM, Odd Duck said:

Truth!  Quarantine is always best.  It lets you spot issues and treat appropriately before the fish go into the main tank.

Tagging @Lennie because he’s kept these before, but Repashy can be pretty persistent so if it’s disappearing overnight they are probably eating it.

Beastie is a friend of mine so I shared my opinion with her before but I will share my personal experience here too so some others may see it

 

Personally, when I got my juveniles from the store and when I raised my fry, they were all pretty active fish. In a level actively hunting live baby brine shrimp in the container or constantly out jumping from one plant leaf to another, moving around the glass, and so on!

My adults became a bit less active in a species only tank when I tried to breed them but now in a community tank they are fairly active and always visible. Just like plecos, males tend to claim a tight circular tube and spend majority of their time in there if provided.

 

Mine eat anything I put in the tank. I usually feed Algae tabs, krill flakes and high quality pellets as well as tropical insect menu. They love them all. 

 

Mine also LOVE grazing on leaf litter, mainly banana leaves. 

 

They are not really grazers, so don't expect feeding on diatom/algae really.

 

I didnt qt mine, one gradually stayed skinny and small, and feeding Sera Baktotabs for a week solved the issue and she became a healthy adult later on. I find these fish a bit fragile to quarantine.

Also at this point, since my tanks are going on for long, I worry more about the upcoming fish dealing with the existing pathogens more than the something potentially new they may bring in