It is amazing how so called "starter" fish are very difficult to keep well. Swordtails need much space and excellent water quality. Barbs need excellent oxygen content in the water, tetra's can not handle large fluctuations in water chemister, etc. The so called "bread and butter" fish that the hobby was started on are incredibly difficult to do well over many years. This is a lesson that has taken 20 years for me to understand, but is still difficult.
Starter fish are difficult. No really.
- Thread starter azmtns
- Start date
You want to know the real reason we don't see that many nice rainbowfish displays... the fish are so finicky and difficult to keep for years that people quit and try something else. I enjoy breeding barbs and tetra's, you'd think I would know something after all these years. Its still luck. I moved a group of young fish to another tank because I needed the space and they all died the other day. Overnight. Water was to different from tank to tank in a fishroom with the tanks being only about 20 inches away from each other. Go figure. Just venting, and enjoy your fish while you have them.
Biological Filtration overload can do that easy unless filters bio load in new tank was close to that of old. Usually the case with numerous fish moves in known healthy systems with water from same source in my limited experience. Sorry for yor loss, I've done it with a school of neons
Just did it with all my feeder guppies. Been breeding them for 4 years with out buying a single on since 1st purchase.
Moved them the other day to a new tank and used 95% water from original tank.
Woke up to over 500 dead guppies on the bottom.
Today I go and make another 10 dollar purchase of them and start over.
SUX had them long enough that they were dual purpose pets and feeders LOL
Rich
Moved them the other day to a new tank and used 95% water from original tank.
Woke up to over 500 dead guppies on the bottom.
Today I go and make another 10 dollar purchase of them and start over.
SUX had them long enough that they were dual purpose pets and feeders LOL
Rich
Reminds me of plecostomus species in general.
People expect them as their "cleaner" fish when in reality they need quite a varied diet (algae wafers, vegetables, some species need bogwood, etc.). It's also quite a shame how (especially the common pleco) even though they grow large they have no intentions of getting larger tanks and therefore not only they have a malnourished pleco but also a stunted one. It's quite sad to be honest :/
People expect them as their "cleaner" fish when in reality they need quite a varied diet (algae wafers, vegetables, some species need bogwood, etc.). It's also quite a shame how (especially the common pleco) even though they grow large they have no intentions of getting larger tanks and therefore not only they have a malnourished pleco but also a stunted one. It's quite sad to be honest :/
Although moving water from one tank to the other gives a chemical consistency advantage. Water itself does not carry beneficial bacteria, beneficial bacteria are sessile (live on surfaces). So unless you move enough seasoned media along with the water to pick up the slack, the tank can easily go bad overnight if the bioload is large enough.
I have to say common shiners are the hardest fish to keep I haven't been able to keep them for more than a couple weeks
The only two species I couldn't even manage to keep alive was the neons and the log perches. Ive had hard to keep catfish species/ clown loaches, cichlids, tetras, all kinds of plecos, native fishes but never a freaking log perch or neons but could keep cardinal tetras and all other ones. Lol
Probably water conditions being bad for them (they are super picky) or stress related issues. Ya never know
I dived into the deep end with my first tropical betta and then 3 months later african knives and a pink tail chalceus