I just bought some new tropical fish to restock my aquarium. The new fish are isolated in a “hospital tank” until I am confident they are healthy and won’t contaminate my main tank. Anyway, it’s been awhile since I’ve bought new fish, and I cannot recall if you should feed the new fish on Day Zero at home. I understand it wouldn’t hurt to skip a day, so maybe it is better to be safe than sorry? Your thoughts?
Also, how long would you leave them isolated in the hospital tank before moving them to the main tank? A week? A month?
I always feed them right away. I find they de-stress quicker if they find food int heir new environment. Some may not eat until they’ve been exposed to light for a day - depends upon how long they’ve been boxed up.
As for hospital tank length it depends on the species. Clown loaches and other scaleless species get a month to be absolutely certain they are ich-free. For scaled fish from a dealer I know I will go only three weeks. I put them through a course of anti-parasite food, and then a course of wide-spectrum anti-biotics, then four days with 30% water change each day.
I’ve had some serious tragedies and near-misses from adding fish and plants in the past. I have a scorched earth policy when it comes to aquarium disease.
I always isolate new fish for a month. I figure that is usually long enough to know fi there is anything wrong.
I usually don’t feed new fish the first day. Most of the time they are too stressed to want to eat right away and uneaten food can foul the water.
Assuming your hospital tank was just set up now, don’t forget to introduce some filter medium or a decoration from the established tank to allow the beneficial bacteria from the established aquarium to help the new tank to “cycle”. The bacteria are really the most important part of making a healthy tank environment.
