I learnt a lesson the hard way over the weekend, so I thought I'd pass it on in the hope that others may avoid making it.
The first type of fish I fell in love with, even before I bought my tank, was the Siamese Fighting Fish, and indeed bought one when my tank was set up. He died a little while ago, and this weekend my family and I went out to replace him.
I wanted a different tail-type this time, (the previous being a veiltail) and knew that one particular LFS had some Crowntails in stock. There was a particularly lovely electric-blue Crowntail in a tank slumped in a corner of the tank, who I would have loved to buy, but it was obvious he was NOT going to last very long.
There were plenty of others in various tanks all swimming happily, but I noticed a deep magenta Crowntail who was just stationary at the surface. "Just resting" I told myself. I called my kids over, pointed him out, and they all said "yeah, lovely, shall we get him?" but then one said, "Are you sure he's ok, Dad, he's not swimming around?" "He's fine," I said, "They do swim at the top".
In my head, I knew he wasn't right, but I let my heart rule me, and we bought him. I know how a SFF should behave, and I'm quite peeved at myself for buying this fish - he barely survived for 24hours.
The moral of this story is - listen to your head, not your heart, when you're buying fish.
The first type of fish I fell in love with, even before I bought my tank, was the Siamese Fighting Fish, and indeed bought one when my tank was set up. He died a little while ago, and this weekend my family and I went out to replace him.
I wanted a different tail-type this time, (the previous being a veiltail) and knew that one particular LFS had some Crowntails in stock. There was a particularly lovely electric-blue Crowntail in a tank slumped in a corner of the tank, who I would have loved to buy, but it was obvious he was NOT going to last very long.
There were plenty of others in various tanks all swimming happily, but I noticed a deep magenta Crowntail who was just stationary at the surface. "Just resting" I told myself. I called my kids over, pointed him out, and they all said "yeah, lovely, shall we get him?" but then one said, "Are you sure he's ok, Dad, he's not swimming around?" "He's fine," I said, "They do swim at the top".
In my head, I knew he wasn't right, but I let my heart rule me, and we bought him. I know how a SFF should behave, and I'm quite peeved at myself for buying this fish - he barely survived for 24hours.
The moral of this story is - listen to your head, not your heart, when you're buying fish.
