Pet Shop Tank Vs Our Tank Question

This thought often baffles me. Lot of pet shop tanks are not optimal, and most of them never even run tests like us, they over stack quite often..STILL they have a lower death rate...why? I know breeders who breed in buckets..beating all the science and logic..how ? How? HOW?

 

Trade secrets...if they told us they probably kill us.

Also I’m sure it’s practice, practice, practice. They build experience by having losses as well. They can afford losses...us...we go nuts when we lose a fish.

 

Most shops do daily water changes or on a system with much more volume of water that you don't see. They also don't feed as much, lowering the waste in the tank. The tanks are also used to the bio load so there's more BB in the tank (gravel, glass, filter).

When fish die, you're not there to see them pick out dead fish. Bucket breeders change water often and are in rooms with temp control.

The devil's in the details.

 

I stock my tanks like a pet shop tank .

 

A good pet shop removes dead or dyeing fish several times a day. The other thing is they stock there best selling fish,so they sell out quick.

I walked into a small LFS the other day and counted at least 3 dead fish in every tank. I walked right out. If they can't keep up with that it's because there buying bad stock at the lowest price they can find.

 

And they all survive? Share the secret with us please..and...beer s on me

 

You’re right, we’d have to kill you.


My shop has 10 year old sponge filters in each tank, so they’re absolutely loaded with bacteria. However, I can assure you that we lose fish often, we just remove them before you see them. With over 2000 fish, you lose some.

 

idk what ur talking about losses, i see dead fish all the time at my lfs and lps lol

 

I don't think I ever walked into a shop and didn't find any dead fish. I got 4 local shops and they all suck. I order on-line now.

 

For those who breed in buckets, the secret is to use plants. Plants are so underrated in my opinion. Plants provide shelter, remove CO2, remove excess nutrients from the water, and oxygenate the water, not to mention they can also help to stabilize the water parameters. I have had numerous small and large aquariums with no filtration. The only thing I had in them were plants.

 

Also plants grow microorganisms that provide a healthy snack for young fish.

 

In a 45 gal tank..how many plants I should have. Right now i have 5 potted ones

Attention everyone: we have an honest individual here!! This forum rocks..the best thing I ever did was to join this group

 

More. Much more.

My 40g

 

In a nutshell..i believe we all will face a good percentage of death rate..and no one can really avoid it.

 

Fish die, it's part of the hobby.. they're living things and a lot more sensitive to their living space than we are, a lot less adaptable more susceptible to things than we are.

 

You can have as many as you want. This is my jungle 10 gallon. I don't really like a jungle tank, but some people do.

 

You're getting the anacharis in the 40b. They seem to be the most healthy and green. I have some just as nice in my shrimp tank but I have a limpet problem in there with no fish to help out so I don't think you'd want them.

I have 2 lights on this tank so it always looks overexposed in pics.

 

A tad off topic to the thread, but talking about plant coverage, my goal is to not be able to see any substrate (haven't reached it yet) and with the amount of plants in this tank, it has never shown anything but 0/0/0 when I do my water tests (also not shown is the mass amount of roots in the filter that suck out excess nutrients)

 

Oh I've removed most of the plants in this tank its an old picture. Your plants look fantastic. This is what it looks like now. In a few weeks it will became jungle again.

 

I feel like there should be a limit to how many plants/decors in a tank otehrwise it takes up swimming space