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Introduction
Many fish stores use the same water and a large filtration system over many
tanks. This is more efficient for the store and easier to maintain than having
many individually filtered tanks, and as long as there is no disease in the
water, fish kept in a system like this tend to thrive. However, always be aware
that a single sick fish in one tank in a fish store could indicate that the disease
is present in all tanks. The last thing you want to do is introduce a stressed
and disease carrying fish into your own setup. The disease itself may already
be present in your own tank, like ich, but will be dormant because your fish
are healthy and resistant. Keep in mind that your new additions, no matter
how well transported, will be stressed, and therefore vulnerable.
It is always recommended that if you are introducing a new fish to your tank
that you do not introduce any new water to your own setup. Even if the fish
you introduce is perfectly healthy, the water may not be. Therefore, once you
have gone through the temperature and water condition acclimatization, you
should catch your fish in a net and then add them to your tank. You should
also leave the lights off for at least an hour after doing this.
This particular step must, however, be ignored for some types of fish.
Puffers, for example, must never be taken out of water because if they
inhale air it is usually fatal. In the case of fish that must be kept under water at
all times, it is recommended that you introduce as little of the new source
water into your tank as possible. You should aim to add twice the volume of
water in the transport container from your own tank, and then use a cup just
big enough to hold the fish safely to take it from its transport container and
add it to your setup.
Quarantine?
If you are a keeper of marine fish, then your fish are not only valuable as lives
under your responsibility, but also in terms of your wallet. Those aquarists
who keep expensive fish swear by enforcing a strict quarantine of all new fish.
This is done by introducing the newly acquired fish in a separate tank setup
designed to be as close to the final conditions that the fish will eventually be
introduced to, but without the risk of contaminating existing stock with
diseases. Even if your fish are not expensive in terms of how much they cost,
you may want to consider doing this for all fish that you wish to introduce into
your tank setups. It is, by far, the safest way of ensuring that you do not
inadvertently introduce disease into your precious tanks. However, many
aquarists, especially beginners will not have the equipment necessary for this,
and as such will simply have to take the risk of introducing fish directly into
their target tank.