dancerhas

Our 3 new swordtails and 1 new platy were purchased from a trusted friend of mine. This guy knows his fish and takes pretty good care of them. (although he favors his African Cichlids) Anyway, our Q-Tank is only about 3 gallons and I figured 6 fish would be too much for it to handle, so I added the fish I bought from him directly into the new tank. The tank developed ick about 4 days later, but that was also right after a bunch of temp ups and downs from a broken heater. I'm unsure if it was caused by the fish, or the heater.

Either way I just was wondering what everybody thinks about the need to quarantine quality fish, not from a LFS. Was this a reckless move, or a calculated risk?

Sometime I need to post pics of these new fish too....

Dozey

IMO I’d say more of a calculated risk. I feel it is the unhealthy environment in which fish live in at the LFS that contribute to the poor health of the fish we buy there. Knowing first hand that fish are coming from a healthy tank certainly reduces the risk. But I guess the really safe thing to do would be to quarantine all fish, but I would certainly not add any fish to my take from the LFS, but I might if I was getting the fish from a trusted friend.

sirdarksol

Every time you add a fish without quarantining, it's a risk.
That being said, I've done it for almost exactly the same reason you've listed. Sometimes, there's a question of which has the greater potential for harm: putting the fish in the undersized Q-Tank, or putting it directly in the tank. Either way, you're taking a risk.