Quarantining newly purchased fish is so important as we can’t see if they are carrying parasites with the naked eye.

Set up another tank to introduce fish to first and you’ll have a chance to properly acclimate them, get them feeding and rested, identify any health problems and treat disease if necessary. A quarantine tank can double-up as a hospital tank to treat sick fish or even a breeding tank too. Here’s what you need:

Fish tank

A quarantine tank doesn’t need to be large and a 60cm aquarium will be fine to quarantine most fish up to 4” in length. It doesn’t need to be luxurious either so pick function over form. It does need a tight-fitting lid however as newly purchased fish are very prone to jumping. A bare tank and hood are all you need to get started. 

Fish tank filter

Use an air-powered sponge filter or a small internal power filter, but mature the sponge in your main tank for a few weeks beforehand. Water quality issues are common in quarantine tanks as typically they are set up in haste and without a mature filter. Even low levels of ammonia or nitrite can push a stressed or diseased fish over the edge so mature the filter media to eliminate any risks. Test for ammonia and nitrite on a daily basis. 

Aquarium heater

Choose a simple heater/thermostat to warm the water, but check the temperature with a separate thermometer. Heat can be used to help combat Whitespot by turning the temperature up as high as 30C, so make sure that temperature is within your heater’s (and your fish’s) range. To select the right heater you need one watt per litre of tank water. So a 50 litre quarantine tank requires a 50 watt heater, in most homes. 

aquael in the box
Aquael fish tank

Aquarium lighting

You don’t actually need a light in your quarantine tank as bright light can stress new fish. Most main tank set ups do come with built in lighting however so leave the light off or just put it on to closely inspect the fish. If building your own quarantine system you could choose an under-powered light like a small LED to just provide very subtle lighting. 

Quarantine tank decor

Quarantine tanks and hospital tanks should not contain any substrate materials as some parasite lifecycles involve a substrate dwelling stage. So go bare bottom but to cut the glare out and make the new fish feel a little more comfortable, paint the underside of the tank base black or site the tank on a dark surface.

Some species will be stressed if they can’t hide though so add some pieces of cut pvc tubes that the fish can fit into, or a flowerpot. A plastic plant can be used to.  

If your fish is suffering from either bacterial infections, fungal infections or parasitic infections visit our aquarium fish disease treatments section here.