Question about LFS

[dnorton1978]

My LFS that has the best prices has a couple of practices that concern me.

#1 - The fish tanks do not have any rock or structure at all.

#2 - There is no type of substrate at all.

He claims it is just because it is easier to maintane, which I do believe. The fish noramlly look good, but I may see a dead something on every other visit. Today I found 2 dead cleaner shrimp.



I always heard if you find a dead fish at a LFS it is a bad sign, I know thats true. What about the above practices, could that be why?

 

[Anonymous]

Well I can only tell you what I did. I would keep a layer of substrate as well as a few rocks for hideouts for the fish I kept for sale. I did this to make the fish more comfortable and help them adjust after shipping. It could be a PITA when it was time to net them though. That being said I also never crammed my fish and I keep fish that need more room to swim in 3 foot sections all by themselves. Probably a little too much, but for me it made me feel comfortable.

Keeping the fish the way yours does probably doesn't help much making the fish comfortable after shipping. But, theres almost always going to be some losses after shipping no matter what so I wouldn't be too concerned if I saw some DAA in the store here and there.

 

[dnorton1978]

Thanks for the info. The other store I frequent, rarely has anything dead in there. Maybe they just pay better attention, and pull them out quicker.

 

[bleedingthought]

Thanks for the info. The other store I frequent, rarely has anything dead in there. Maybe they just pay better attention, and pull them out quicker.

Attention doesn't keep fish alive every time, though.

Your second thought is probably right.

 

[SnowManSnow]

i dont see why those things would be a problem. The reason some fish stores dont have substrate is that it makes cleaning much easier. My favorite shop here in alabama Has 8 BIG rubbermaid sumps that are all interconnected with water flow. Each display sump has a sheet of plastic lighting grid about half way up with reef plugs and corals sitting on it. No substrate..

B

 

[K9coral]

Not a problem. Keeping a fish only tank is much easier without the substrate and liverock. This is provided that there is a good filtration system.

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, the best shop around here uses a layer of substrate and either PVC pipe or small rocks in each display, and the owner swears the fish stress less with hiding places and are therefore healthier.

 

[cjsrch]

even bigals pulls fish and they have super filtraion and sand and decorations in every tank . but also have some one always pulling fish ( friend works there and by no means do they have less deaths)

a lfs isnt a magic place where nothing dies and if a lfs tells you otherwise.. leave ...


the place i work has decorations in every tank and sand. it is a real PITA cause it can never be kept spotless like the people expect it to be

but we also have "cubes" for some fish ( royal grammas. dotty backs and so on) these have decorations and no sand really there isnt much difference in the death rate after arival but the fish do display better



id say dont worry about the store you go to esspecialy if the deaths are new arivals