Captive bred - death rate etc

[Maz]

I am currently cycling (fishless) a tank that I have adopted.

I have some worries whether I am up to fishkeeping or not.

How common is it to lose fish - I am sentimental re animals and dont want deaths on my hands that are my fault.

Also are tropical fish largely captive bred or caught from the wild? From recently seeing Finding Nemo I now have images of a daddy looking round for his son that is now in my tank planning how to escape!

I know this probably sounds really daft but if I follow all the rules is there a v good chance I will be able to have happy fish that live to the end of thier natural lives

 

[JAYJT]

Hi Maz,

Yes if you follow the 'rules' or guides to keeping tropical fish, all your fish will live a long and happy life

So dont worry to much, How ever there may be a few deaths if they are ill or badly treated before you get your new tank mates home...

Good luck

 

[Bol]

I know this probably sounds really daft but if I follow all the rules is there a v good chance I will be able to have happy fish that live to the end of thier natural lives

A good chance? Most likely. There are a lot of variables involved, though, including some outside of your control, and just some blind good or bad luck.

With good setup and maintenance (including quarantine for new arrivals!), and depending on the hardiness of your fish, it's quite possible to have very few fish die.

However, there is always disease (which can show up even in the most pristine conditions), aggressiveness, and just plain old bad luck.

As far as captive/wild, it depends a lot on the species. Most livebearers (guppies, platys, mollies, etc.) are quite prolific, and I'd guess that most of them are tank-bred.

On the other hand, some fish don't seem to breed well in captivity. For example, I'm fairly sure that most loaches are wild-caught.

I would have to guess that most of the "dollar or two apiece" fish, like those livebearers, tetras, danios, etc. are probably tank-bred. Could be wrong, of course.

 

[wuvmybetta]

How common is it to lose fish - I am sentimental re animals and dont want deaths on my hands that are my fault.

Depends on the fish, your water conditions and their diet (that you supply). I personally prefer fish with a long life expectancy. The thought of having a tank stocked with fish that have a one to two year life expectancy is a turn off. Who wants and endless circle of death in their tank? My large tank is stocked with African cichlids that have a 20 year life expectancy, I want my daughter to be able to grow up with these fish and say "sheeesh,my mom has had those fish forever"

Most fish are tank bred fish, although there are a lot of wild caught fish available. If you keep wild caught fish you just have to cater to their needs such as water and food (I bend over backwards to do this for my wild fish)

It's a great hobby and very addicting. Search around about different species and see what suits you the best as far as tank size, life expectancy, compatibility and nutrition.

 

[babyfish]

No matter how concientious you are some fish death will happen, you can only do your best to ensure that they live in optimum conditions to keep them as healthy as possible.
Most fish disease and death have 2 causes, stress and too many differing water parameters. Stress is easy enough to solve, don't keep incompatible fish together, a small fish will be very stressed in a tank with larger fish, territorial fish will bully everything that even looks like it may invade thier territory.
The differing water parameters are not so easy to deal with until you get the fish home and in your quarantine tank where they will be staying in water which is the same all the time. Your quarantine tank should have the same water parameters as your main tank and your fish should remain in the quarantine tank for at least 4 weeks to make sure they are free of disease, at the same time they get used to your routine of feeding cleaning and lighting.