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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V4 #1574



 
>    Douglas, Losing Cardinals within 48 hours seem to
> be a very common 
> experience.
>  The lfs in area won't even order them anymore due
> to the high losses. I also
> found this to be true of Neons.Several people have
> told me this is due to a 
> genetic
> fault bred into them in the fish farms of Asia. If
> this is true I don't see 
> how they
> produce so many millions of them?
>     I've had the same experience with cardinals and
> neons.Since I have been 
> unable
> to locate any cardinals I bought neons and used a
> drip acclimatization 
> method.
>  Of the 15 neon's I introduced to a 75 planted tank
> I have lost 1 in four 
> months and
> he had obvious injuries. The 14 are doing very well
> with no problems.
>    I'm adding 30 more in Feb and I think I'll divide
> them into 2 groups and 
> use the
> standard and drip acclimatization methods to see if
> there is a difference.
 

Losing neons and cardinals initially is a very common
problem.  I find out when the LFS receives fish
shipments and then I wait at least four days before I
purchase neons or cardinals.  I don't agree its a
problem with genetics, but a problem with handling
them.  When I worked at LFS I never used a net to
catch cardinals or neons as most people do.  I had a
net frame minus the net.  I would wrap the bag around
the frame of the net and then place that in the tank
and chase the neons or cardinals into the bag with
another net.  This served two purposes.   The fish
didn't lose those very fine scales they would normally
lose when they contacted the net, and their slime coat
did not touch air.  I had many happy customers and few
doa returns from customers.  Some would look at me
like I was the man from Mars, but it's a technique
that works as long as you are willing to take the time
to catch fish that way.

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