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Re: J. Floridae
They do seem to be a pretty hardy species, but don't acquire them without
caution.
I asked a lfs (Petco) if they could order in a few. 4 males came in. I took
all four home, though a few didn't look too good. One particuarly, had nearly
all fins missing and had a ruddy looking color. I thought they were being
picked on in the tank by the more active sailfin mollys. I believe they may
have been wild-caught? because they wouldn't eat a morsel of flake, which a
few females, who I obtained a few months earlier, did.
They were in quarantine for a while. My quarantine tank was not able to
handle the fish load of 4 of these heavy-bodied guys, and I was removing
them, as their fins appeared to heal, 1 by 1. The 4th guy was eventually
euthanized, since he just continued to decline.
The disease seemed to spread. They will appear bloated, or have pale spots.
Eventually another lost most of his fins. Having been in the community tank
for a while, I left him go, since he managed to learn to swim quite well as
he was, and didn't seem to be suffering in any way. At the time, there was
some discussion on list about TB, and I euthanized him. I have 2 of these
males left. 1 still looks suspicious, with some paler streaks through his
body looking at one side (profile), and on this side he also has a perpetual
eye cloud.
I think this is probably the exception, rather than the rule. I think the
fact that they are hardy just means if they carry a disease, they can live a
bit longer than another fish which will drop over much sooner.
On the brighter side of things, I found that my females adopted a rather
amusing behavior while they were stuck in a 20-gallon tank with Those
Breeding Rams. After getting attacked for a while, they learned to just *play
dead* when attacked. I have to admit, the first few times I saw this, I would
have swore they were goners. Even though they've been removed from that tank
when the aggression was noticed, they've hung on to this trick. When another
fish gets a little too close, or appears threatening, the female FF will hang
vertically in the water, motionless and appear dead, until the attacker (or
not) goes away. They don't do this with the male FF, though.
Sylvia
> Ask your LFS to try another supplier. FFF are an inexpensive, native
> species to the US. Unlike so many other fish in aquaria, they are not
> inbred so they have high disease resistance. Don't forget to tell the LFS
> guy their scientific name.
>