Are your LFS's feeder guppies heavily diseased, too?

[NewETown]

I used to work at a privately owned shop near my house, and I can say from my experience the problems are mostly from the supplier side. Many of the feeders and stuff we get (from the stores) are from Thailand. This applies to all fish stores, regardless of your personal location. I'm sure there are a handful of stores that breed their own stock, but that would be a rare treat to find .

The major chain stores (PetCo PetSmart etc) usually have decent filtration on their feeder tanks, but that doesn't do anything about the myriad of disease the fish encounter/get between their breeding facility->supplier warehouse-> the store.

Bottom line is, if you're really having trouble getting good feeders, setup a large breeding tank or build a pond and throw some comets in it, you'll have plenty .

 

[Druu]

I used to work at a privately owned shop near my house, and I can say from my experience the problems are mostly from the supplier side. Many of the feeders and stuff we get (from the stores) are from Thailand. This applies to all fish stores, regardless of your personal location. I'm sure there are a handful of stores that breed their own stock, but that would be a rare treat to find .

The major chain stores (PetCo PetSmart etc) usually have decent filtration on their feeder tanks, but that doesn't do anything about the myriad of disease the fish encounter/get between their breeding facility->supplier warehouse-> the store.

Bottom line is, if you're really having trouble getting good feeders, setup a large breeding tank or build a pond and throw some comets in it, you'll have plenty .

Comets take a while to mature and have offspring. Throw a heater into that tank, find a handful of gambusia, and you're set!

 

[Avonnite]

Well, I still have just a few left from the last bit, and I got some Trisulfa today, so maybe that'll work. Just need to set up a good breeding population.

 

[Dr Joe]

Only ich here (which I won't but either), but that's one of the criteria I use to judge a LFS, are their feeders health. If they are willing to sell you sick or diseased feeders what else are they willing to sell you?!

Breeding your own feeders is the best way to control problems, but isn't as easy as some say and there are diseases (flukes & fungus come to mind) in the wild. Calculate the number of feeders you use a day, then calculate how long it would take to raise them to that size and quantity and perpetuate this volume by staggering breeding schedules. It's not difficulty, three 10g tanks, sponge filters and 2 months to get you up and running.

Here Gambusia (mosquito fish) are in almost every drop of water outside (tilapia are in the rest ) and are prolific breeders. But like wonword noted some people think they are fin nippers... this is wrong as they are just taste testing and will eventually eat the whole fish since they are meat eaters . Well fed, pond raised females can get to 3" too, but average is 2" easily.

Remember, what you treat your feeders with...you treat your fish with. So be careful.

Dr Joe

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[Avonnite]

I had no idea mosquitofish do that! Gotta check my feeders to see if there's any of them in there... I have no faith in that LFS anymore. (last time I went in for medication, they ran out of the stuff they recommended, so they gave me this stuff that didn't work and would hardly dissolve in the water. looked it up online and no one even knows what it is)

Yea, I noticed that on some packages of medication, it said "not for food fish," so it's probably not the healthiest stuff to be ingesting for fish either. So I've just stayed to using Triple Sulfa, which is pretty safe nilly: I hope) and avoided the tetracycline...

Please live, guppies!!!

 

[Nabbig2]

Don't expect feeder fish to be healthy. A month ago I bought 12 feeder guppies, but now I have just one; but he is healthy.

 

[Adam-011]

Not Here my lfs has nice Feeders.

 

[Cappuccino]

I don't know if everyone has had this trouble, but every batch of guppies I get is loaded with fish dying of disease... (severe tail-rot, gill disease, open sores, mouth rot... etc.) Most of them die within a few days, even though I've put them in a non-feeder set up with good filtration. I even tried fish medications, but most of them are already too heavily diseased. One female actually got to dropping fry, but only a few were not deformed. (Inbreeding?)

Is this the trouble with all feeders? Or did I just try a LFS with bad stock?

I was thinking of trying another place, but do you think that all the stores around one city get their supply from one wholesaler?

I also noticed That some fish stores Hav disgusting feeder guppies, But I do not go to those stores.Instead I go to A local fish store That has Healthy Fish. The best advice I can give you Is to ban And boycott That fish store.You should also give their name So people know the quality Of the fish at that store.

 

[Arizonagrace]

My favorite lfs won't sell feeder guppies as they say they are prone to diseases easier then other fish, and they can never get a supply of them that aren't sick. But, they won't even sell me a female guppy from the tank if she doesn't look 'quite right'. They are really good about that.

I have another lfs further away, but I won't go there because most of their fish have dead fish in the tank or have something on them. I once found the most gorgeous red and bluish swords, but they were all very, very sick.

 

[bassmaster221]

my store keeps there feeder guppys in a nice and big 110 gallon and for the most part they stay healthy but i only buy maybe 15 at a time and once in a while i get some dead ones.