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Fish Crazy
I've heard they arn't blind, they just have very poor eye sight. I had a long time ago when I was a beginner and it died unfortunately.
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What Is The Most Fragile Tropical Fish
- Thread starter QuotheRaven
- Start date
I've heard they arn't blind, they just have very poor eye sight. I had a long time ago when I was a beginner and it died unfortunately.
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Miss Wiggle
Practically perfect in every way
I thought the problem with elephant noses was feeding not eyesight. They like to rummage around in the substrate for food, but in an aquarium you'll pretty much never get that much live food in the substrate for them to feed on so it's nigh on impossible to keep them alive. 
either way they are supposed to be a bugger to keep.
In my personal experience it's my expensive cory's, they're gold and the first imports of that variety into the UK, cost me £60 for 6, had 3 die within a fortnight in a tank with perfect stats, well maintained, no predators, I still have no idea what killed them, probably just too much stress for them moving. Thankfully the 3 I have remaining are now flourishing
Other than that the only species I've ever suffered major losses from are angels, and that's becuase I bought a dodgy pair from a bad lfs, they were riddled with disease and nuked my tank and there was nothing I could do to treat it.
either way they are supposed to be a bugger to keep.In my personal experience it's my expensive cory's, they're gold and the first imports of that variety into the UK, cost me £60 for 6, had 3 die within a fortnight in a tank with perfect stats, well maintained, no predators, I still have no idea what killed them, probably just too much stress for them moving. Thankfully the 3 I have remaining are now flourishing
Other than that the only species I've ever suffered major losses from are angels, and that's becuase I bought a dodgy pair from a bad lfs, they were riddled with disease and nuked my tank and there was nothing I could do to treat it.
babybell911
Fish Addict
In my experience guppies never last long but I've had no problems with my other fish touch wood!
Vicky99
Fish Fanatic
For me Guppies and Gouramis. I decided I'm not meant to keep them! They just seem to die - water stats fine etc - no idea why.
The guppies go pretty quickly I'd say within a fortnight to 3 weeks of getting them. The Dwarf Gouramis lasted about 3 months but the honey gouramis only lasted a few weeks. I'll avoid fish that start wiith G.
Had no problems with neons though.
The guppies go pretty quickly I'd say within a fortnight to 3 weeks of getting them. The Dwarf Gouramis lasted about 3 months but the honey gouramis only lasted a few weeks. I'll avoid fish that start wiith G.
Had no problems with neons though.
catxx
Fish Gatherer
everyone says otos are hard, but i've got lucky with my 3, was wary when i got them, but 5 months on they're happy and thriving!
i've had bad luck with Thai bettas, they've all dropped dead in a month or so. they just don't adapt to hard UK water I don't think.
i've had bad luck with Thai bettas, they've all dropped dead in a month or so. they just don't adapt to hard UK water I don't think.
I have kept (and failed ) with various species that are so fragile you are frightened to breathe in front of them for fear of them dying.
Potamorrhapis guianensis, Amazon needle fish; would go into shock and keel over every time food was placed into the tank and large water changes had to be done immiediatly to prevent them from dying, they were so sensative to water quality that if you could even detect nitrate they started dying.
Polynemus paradiseus, Threadfin paradise fish; nearly died on the 15 minute journey from fish store to home, supposedly so delicate that if even one whisker on them is damaged the fish will die. Died because a tiny piece of shrimp got trapped under a rock and raised the nitrate to 50ppm.
Hydrolycus scomberoids, Vampire tetra; drop dead for no reason once they reach around 12", no one knows why as they should grow to at least 2 feet and up to 4.
Monocirrhus polyacanthus, Amazon leaf fish; Need soft acidic water and live foods, prone to fungus and can go from healthy to dead in minutes.
) with various species that are so fragile you are frightened to breathe in front of them for fear of them dying.Potamorrhapis guianensis, Amazon needle fish; would go into shock and keel over every time food was placed into the tank and large water changes had to be done immiediatly to prevent them from dying, they were so sensative to water quality that if you could even detect nitrate they started dying.
Polynemus paradiseus, Threadfin paradise fish; nearly died on the 15 minute journey from fish store to home, supposedly so delicate that if even one whisker on them is damaged the fish will die. Died because a tiny piece of shrimp got trapped under a rock and raised the nitrate to 50ppm.
Hydrolycus scomberoids, Vampire tetra; drop dead for no reason once they reach around 12", no one knows why as they should grow to at least 2 feet and up to 4.
Monocirrhus polyacanthus, Amazon leaf fish; Need soft acidic water and live foods, prone to fungus and can go from healthy to dead in minutes.
Griz
Fish Herder
For me it has been Otocinclus, my record with them hasn't been good at all.
We have four Gouramis and they are the hardiest things we have raised except the common plecs.
One of ours got filterised (trapped, presumably, for several hours overnight, came out all bruised looking, floating on it's side, sort of bent, blood streaks in it's skin - we figured he had mere hours and put it in isolation with some antibiotics to give it at least a slim chance) and in a few hours, he was doing better, next day he was swimming about looking pretty much ok, then he gradually un-bent and was fine.
All four were pretty accident prone as babies, but all four are still going strong.
They never bred but they seem happy and will feed from your hand. AND more importantly, they quit having accidents the bigger they got.
Guppies, well, you put them in, enjoy them for a few minutes - and never see them again.
One of ours got filterised (trapped, presumably, for several hours overnight, came out all bruised looking, floating on it's side, sort of bent, blood streaks in it's skin - we figured he had mere hours and put it in isolation with some antibiotics to give it at least a slim chance) and in a few hours, he was doing better, next day he was swimming about looking pretty much ok, then he gradually un-bent and was fine.
All four were pretty accident prone as babies, but all four are still going strong.
They never bred but they seem happy and will feed from your hand. AND more importantly, they quit having accidents the bigger they got.
Guppies, well, you put them in, enjoy them for a few minutes - and never see them again.
b.c.f.c
Fishaholic
ye, guppys drive me up the wall, in the last 2 months ive brought 5 guppys , 2 males 3 females, and the males just seem to get worse and worse as the days go on befor they eventually die.felmales are a bit hardyer imo , probly due to the less heavy finage.
im not going to be buying any more guppys for some time which is a big shame rearly because there a lovely fish.
im not going to be buying any more guppys for some time which is a big shame rearly because there a lovely fish.
discus n rummynose tetras
for us it would have to be Glo-Lite Tetras and Guppies.
When we frist started out and had no clue what we were doing we got guppies and had at least 4 die on us in just a few months.
The Glo-Lite Tetras do better, but are very prone to disease in our tanks for some reason. The three of them got bacterial infections, after a week of treatment we lost one and a week later one of them had to be pulled from the community tank because he's showing signs again
Cardinals and Neons have worked out great for us somehow. They all shoal together (along with the single Glo-Lite lol)
When we frist started out and had no clue what we were doing we got guppies and had at least 4 die on us in just a few months.
The Glo-Lite Tetras do better, but are very prone to disease in our tanks for some reason. The three of them got bacterial infections, after a week of treatment we lost one and a week later one of them had to be pulled from the community tank because he's showing signs again
Cardinals and Neons have worked out great for us somehow. They all shoal together (along with the single Glo-Lite lol)
rob newland
Fish Crazy
I have always had terrible luck with plecs. Common plecs tend to die within a few days/weeks (no matter what size) and so I have never tried any different plecs.
My record for a fish dying was 1.5 hours >_< which was a glass knife fish I bought a couple of weeks ago. Although it wasn't water quality which did it - came in to find it nearly dead being attacked by my firemouth cichlid with its head hanging loose >_< poor thing.
My record for a fish dying was 1.5 hours >_< which was a glass knife fish I bought a couple of weeks ago. Although it wasn't water quality which did it - came in to find it nearly dead being attacked by my firemouth cichlid with its head hanging loose >_< poor thing.
Egmel
Fishaholic
Wow - begining to wish I hadn't got guppies as one of our first fish, they went in on Sat and so far are thriving but by the sounds of it if they last the week then we're doing well!
Saying that they'd been at the LFS for a few weeks before we got them so maybe we're got some of the hardier ones. :fingers crossed:
Saying that they'd been at the LFS for a few weeks before we got them so maybe we're got some of the hardier ones. :fingers crossed:
Tokis-Phoenix
^_^
Some of the fish that i have found the most fragile, have also been some of the most hardy at the same time- for example, i have a panda cory in particular that is quite a few years old, while others i have bought in the past have only last a month.
Same goes with oto's- some of the oto's i have bought in the past barely made it past the first week, while others i have got are going on a year old now.
I think it mostly depends on where the fish came from before they went up for sale, what the conditions in the lfs are and how much time they spend in the lfs's tanks before being bought- also what they are fed and which other fish they are put with is very important too as well as the size of the tank they reside in.
If the lfs looks after the fish well and properly, chances are they won't be so fragile when you acclimatise them to your tank and will have a head start in life in comparison to other fish which havn't been treated with so much care in other lfs's.
With guppys- yes, some are notoriously fragile. I personally find home bred ones are far hardier than shop bought ones (particually ones which are around only 3 months old) which have been transported long distances before ariving at the shop.
For example, i have 2 different lfs i go to when buying livebearers. One lfs always has guppys riddled with deseases and infections (i've seen everything from fish TB to internal parasites), while the other lfs's guppys are almost always in excellent health. I asked the two lfs where they got their guppys from- the lfs which sold guppys in poor health said they got their guppys from a site 8hrs drive away, while the shop whose guppys were in good health said they bred their guppys on site in the back of the store.
Generally speaking though, the fancier the type of guppy, the more weak they tend to be.
When shopping for male guppys, go for ones which are the largest and have more masculine shaped bodies- many highly inbred males grow very small in comparison to the females (although it is normal to have males slightly smaller than the females, there shouldn't be a massive difference in sizes) and have very curvy bodies. Longer tails weight the guppys down and can stress them out in tanks with strong filtration, so try to go for shorter tailed guppys as these are generally stronger.
With female guppys, avoid heavily pregnant or very young ones- the trip from the lfs to your tank can be too stressful for very pregnant females or very young ones. Also look out for and avoid ones which look like they've just given birth (low activity levels, sunken stomaches, drooping tail etc).
Female guppys are more or less constantly pregnant, so its best to go for the largest, most active females which don't look very pregnant.
Having many females in your tank in comparison to the males is very important for both genders in mixed gender guppy tanks- if you have too few females, the males will be practically raping them all the time. If you have too many males, they will be constantly fighting amoungst each other.
So its better to have many females to males (2 females per male is the absolute minimum, more females is better though), as the females can spend more time choosing which males they want to be with and will also have more time to their own, also by having less males the males will fight less amoungst each other, so the tank will be much happier overall
.
Having happier guppys will also obviously lower stress levels, so they are more likely to live more fullfilling and stress free lives and ultimately live longer .
Same goes with oto's- some of the oto's i have bought in the past barely made it past the first week, while others i have got are going on a year old now.
I think it mostly depends on where the fish came from before they went up for sale, what the conditions in the lfs are and how much time they spend in the lfs's tanks before being bought- also what they are fed and which other fish they are put with is very important too as well as the size of the tank they reside in.
If the lfs looks after the fish well and properly, chances are they won't be so fragile when you acclimatise them to your tank and will have a head start in life in comparison to other fish which havn't been treated with so much care in other lfs's.
With guppys- yes, some are notoriously fragile. I personally find home bred ones are far hardier than shop bought ones (particually ones which are around only 3 months old) which have been transported long distances before ariving at the shop.
For example, i have 2 different lfs i go to when buying livebearers. One lfs always has guppys riddled with deseases and infections (i've seen everything from fish TB to internal parasites), while the other lfs's guppys are almost always in excellent health. I asked the two lfs where they got their guppys from- the lfs which sold guppys in poor health said they got their guppys from a site 8hrs drive away, while the shop whose guppys were in good health said they bred their guppys on site in the back of the store.
Generally speaking though, the fancier the type of guppy, the more weak they tend to be.
When shopping for male guppys, go for ones which are the largest and have more masculine shaped bodies- many highly inbred males grow very small in comparison to the females (although it is normal to have males slightly smaller than the females, there shouldn't be a massive difference in sizes) and have very curvy bodies. Longer tails weight the guppys down and can stress them out in tanks with strong filtration, so try to go for shorter tailed guppys as these are generally stronger.
With female guppys, avoid heavily pregnant or very young ones- the trip from the lfs to your tank can be too stressful for very pregnant females or very young ones. Also look out for and avoid ones which look like they've just given birth (low activity levels, sunken stomaches, drooping tail etc).
Female guppys are more or less constantly pregnant, so its best to go for the largest, most active females which don't look very pregnant.
Having many females in your tank in comparison to the males is very important for both genders in mixed gender guppy tanks- if you have too few females, the males will be practically raping them all the time. If you have too many males, they will be constantly fighting amoungst each other.
So its better to have many females to males (2 females per male is the absolute minimum, more females is better though), as the females can spend more time choosing which males they want to be with and will also have more time to their own, also by having less males the males will fight less amoungst each other, so the tank will be much happier overall
. Having happier guppys will also obviously lower stress levels, so they are more likely to live more fullfilling and stress free lives and ultimately live longer
.Pheonix
Fish Crazy
i always had trouble with dwark gouramis again i think it was down to supplier though rather than anything else everything in my tank other than them was happy.
never had a problem with guppies personally but seems lots of you guys out there have!!
never had a problem with guppies personally but seems lots of you guys out there have!!
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