Livebearers

[[-fireStorm-]]

I manage Aquariums/fishrooms for a large petstore chain. I can't seem to keep Livebearers alive in a newly opened shop, unfortunently management turned the filters on the same time they put fish in the tanks I couldn't do anything about that descision (I arrived a little too late on the scene ), so I cycled the filtration (sponge) as best I could using dirty media/water from home.

The only fish that I can't seem to keep alive are the Livebearers! I haven't tested for harmful chemicals (ammonia etc) yet, the water is PH 7, hardness about 150. Any special secret about Livebearers anyone can tell me? I'll admit I don't know alot about them (I keep CATFISH), but surely they can't be THAT hard to keep alive?

I'm opening another store next month, the tanks are already running and the fish don't arrive for 3 weeks

Thanks in advance

[kevkoi]

SALT THEM UP!! Newly arrived livebearers need to be salted up quite a bit as they are kept in almost brackish water conditions to minimise bacterial infections and fungus. SALT, SALT, SALT!!

[bungholio]

Normally in a new tank you should run tetra's in them for a week or so, and then your livebearers should be fine, but if your filter are cycled, then its a mystery as both my best friend and i keep live bearers and never add salt, we keep the hardness at about 120 and the pH anywhere between 6.5 and 7.5. If you work for Pets Parad*se that could also be a problem LOL, but im not sure.... i the same experience when i was new to mollies, i lost 5 in 1 day, as my tank wasnt cycled oops, but without experience i used to do 90% water changes and they thrived, i had 12 for about 1 year.. now i have 7... but they are all fine. Hope they start surviving.

adam

[Alan]

What symptoms do the fish display before they roll over? Do they "clamp" all the fins ? Do they sit on the bottom and "pant" ? do they get the "shimmies" and swim strangely? Do they all hang at the top and gulp at the surface ?

These are all typical of different ailments common to new livebearers, they do not take to sudden changes in pH or hardness. Temperature is also important but is the least of your problems.

Because they a cheap common fish they are often not afforded the care that they require. A loss is a loss in live stock handling whether it is 100 $1 fish or one $100 fish.

I supply guppies (among others) to a distributor just 15 K down the road from me. But thier water is totally different from my ponds. Every time I make a delivery I bring home a couple hundred liters of thier water. When I catch out their next order the fish are changed slowly over a couple of days to the new water. As a business like that does not have the time to do this, is just something I do to gurantee 100% survival.

Alan

[[-fireStorm-]]

Kev, thanks for the suggestion.

Adam, no I do not work for Petz Paradisio (changed spelling to avoid lawsuit). My company actually cares about the welfare of its animals, and the needs of its customers We want each section of the stores to be like a shop within the shop...So the aquarium section is bascically an aquarium. Not just a petshop that sells fish.

Alan, I can't say exactly what the symptoms were most of the fish died overnight and I didn't have much chance to observe them during the day.

They've stopped dying now. I think it was probably a combination of thing that caused them to die, most likely the 1/4 cycled filters and the shock of changing tanks/water conditions. Although I did acclamitize them as slowly as I could. I might try adding some salt now (to be on the safe side) and also next time I order more livebearer stock.

Thanks for the help guys

[MollyMan]

as mentioned previously, add salt, and up the temp a few degrees... good insurance for a small price...