Thinking Of Giving Up.

[TimNorwich]

Earlier this week my mother Bristlenose Plec died, for what seems to be no reason. I spent ages trying to find a suitable pair and get the water perameters just right so that they would breed. 1-2weeks after they bred one female died, and then the mother female also died.

Then yesterday my tank comes down with white spot disease, more money needed to buy Protozin.

I'd carry on, but it seems I'm always spending money on fish tank(s), fish, treatments and food.

It's not that I don't have the money, I need to start saving money for a nice car.

So do I find a couple of low maintenance, good sized fish for my 125L tank and obviously still do the regular water changes? Or do I just shut down my big tank and keep my little 17L ?

Thanks,

Tim.

 

[awilson360]

Earlier this week my mother Bristlenose Plec died, for what seems to be no reason. I spent ages trying to find a suitable pair and get the water perameters just right so that they would breed. 1-2weeks after they bred one female died, and then the mother female also died.

Then yesterday my tank comes down with white spot disease, more money needed to buy Protozin.

I'd carry on, but it seems I'm always spending money on fish tank(s), fish, treatments and food.

It's not that I don't have the money, I need to start saving money for a nice car.

So do I find a couple of low maintenance, good sized fish for my 125L tank and obviously still do the regular water changes? Or do I just shut down my big tank and keep my little 17L ?

Thanks,

Tim.

Don't give up mate, it's the worst thing you could do. Keep going and maybe get another BN plec or just get some little low maitenance Zebra Danios to fill the space while you save up!

AW

 

[simonas]

it shouldn;t cost you much to maintain a tank and if you are lightly stocked and do regular water changes then your current fish should be fine and your only expense would beyour food and theelectricity to run it

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

When i kept guppys they were always getting diseases- every single time i bought some from a pet shop they always brought in some sort of new disease. I looked after the guppies perfectly but i think that these days pet shop guppys are too weak & inbred and are just very disease prone fish (the platys weren't much better). Ever since i traded in my guppys & platys for some robust natural color swordtails i have never had a single disease/parasite outbreak in the tank ever since (and this was well over a year ago now). I also used to keep neon tetras, but they got fish TB (brought in by the guppys) and because they all looked identical it was very difficult to eradicate the disease and so i got rid of the neons too.

So just based on my experiences, i would advise getting rid of the guppys & platys (& maybe neons)if you don't want to be dealing with disease/parasite outbreaks all the time. Fish which i have always have good experiences with are Cherry Barbs, Harlequin Tetras, Corys, (natural colour) Swordtails & Pearl Danios. I am a good fishkeeper (i do weekly water changes, feed the fish good diets, maintain good water quality, stock the tank appropriately, make good habitats for the fish etc) but i really do think that some fish are more disease/parasite prone than others.

 

[mattlee]

When i kept guppys they were always getting diseases- every single time i bought some from a pet shop they always brought in some sort of new disease. I looked after the guppies perfectly but i think that these days pet shop guppys are too weak & inbred and are just very disease prone fish (the platys weren't much better). Ever since i traded in my guppys & platys for some robust natural color swordtails i have never had a single disease/parasite outbreak in the tank ever since (and this was well over a year ago now). I also used to keep neon tetras, but they got fish TB (brought in by the guppys) and because they all looked identical it was very difficult to eradicate the disease and so i got rid of the neons too.

So just based on my experiences, i would advise getting rid of the guppys & platys (& maybe neons)if you don't want to be dealing with disease/parasite outbreaks all the time. Fish which i have always have good experiences with are Cherry Barbs, Harlequin Tetras, Corys, (natural colour) Swordtails & Pearl Danios. I am a good fishkeeper (i do weekly water changes, feed the fish good diets, maintain good water quality, stock the tank appropriately, make good habitats for the fish etc) but i really do think that some fish are more disease/parasite prone than others.

isnt this what quarentine tanks are for........? most lfs tanks are linked to 1 system so the chances are that if 1 tank has say ich then the whole system and all the tanks will be carry the parasites before long

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

isnt this what quarentine tanks are for........? most lfs tanks are linked to 1 system so the chances are that if 1 tank has say ich then the whole system and all the tanks will be carry the parasites before long

Oh i did quarentine the fish, usually for 2-3weeks, but diseases like fish TB may not show symtoms for months and stuff like gill parasites can go unnoticed if the fish are displaying few symptoms (which in a shoal of say neon tetras, can be very difficult to spot). Quarentining fish for a few weeks only helps you get past the main issues like whitespot or finrot etc- unless you do what zoo's do (quarentine fish for months on end) then there is always a chance that diseases/parasites will get through unnoticed.

The fact of the matter is that some fish are definitely more robust than others, and some petshops sell better quality fish than others. Even the best fishkeepers in the hobby will all deal with a fish disease, parasite or unexplained death at some point in their fishkeeping hobby, even if they do do everything by the book.

My point with my case is that my lfs sold very poor quality guppys (they were often noticeably inbred too, like birth defects etc) and i have never dealt with such disease prone fish in my whole life ever. If a fish has a weak immune system because of its poor breeding, then what wouldn't bother most fish will come down hard on it. Guppys used to be famed for being tough little survivor fish, but times are changing & they are becomming increasingly fragile these days.

 

[SlimyReef]

I'm not sure what would bring me more happiness, a nicer car or a happy fish world.
Sadly...or is it rightly...only god knows...I'd be more satisfied with my happy fish friends.