Life expectancy of (PetSmart) Tetras?

[trennamw]

Only 2 years?

I've had a really healthy tank for 2 years, no incidents of ammo/nitrite spikes, no algae bloom, no illness running through the fish.

But recently I've been losing one glow light tetra every 10 days or so.
Two harlequin rasboras too.

They decline very slowly, each in a different way. They just start swimming less well and their colors fade. Some end up at the top, some at the bottom. I scoop them out into a quarantine tank and have tried various remedies. Fins, eyes, body, scales look pretty normal. One had a bendy spine for a few months. One got a cloudy body maybe 9 months back then regained translucence (that one is bobbing an inch below the surface now, paddling in circles, he's looked a little sideways each morning when the light comes on).

Tank is planted 56 gallon column. I've always used Seachem equilibrium and cichlids buffers to get KH and GH up to about 4 each, so water is still soft. 78 degrees. Water changes, water tests with APi Kit, the works. Fish less cycle before introducing fish. I've never seen a trace of ammonia, ph steady at 7.8, nitrates 20, nitrites zero. A little Excel and Flourish. Two canister filters (total of 100 gallon capacity).

Danios and 2 angelfish are doing fine. They don't pick on the tetras either (and the tetras have lots of hiding places). When I find a tertra seriously struggling the angelfish watch it curiously for a moment, once an hour, but stay back, then go away.

All I can think of are ... The glow light tetras are stressed because their numbers are dwindling. Or, these are the only fish that came from a big box store instead of LFS so maybe they're a little inbred or less hardy or something.


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[Tropical Aquarist]

2 years seems about right, I googled it and the majority of the websites said 2-4 years..... Considering that they had to be at least 4-5 months old when they got to the shop, and could have been there a while, I think they had a good life! Your ph is pretty high, and all the fish are fine with lower ph, maybe want to reduce what you add?

 

[trennamw]

2 years seems about right, I googled it and the majority of the websites said 2-4 years..... Considering that they had to be at least 4-5 months old when they got to the shop, and could have been there a while, I think they had a good life! Your ph is pretty high, and all the fish are fine with lower ph, maybe want to reduce what you add?

Thanks for that reassurance!

The crazy thing is, the current one in hospice care has figured out how to get around pretty well using only one fin. It's eating and puttering around the top. Might put it back in the tank and let nature take its course.

That's the lowest pH I can maintain stably. And it makes water changes simpler. My city water has the crazy combo of almost zero KH or GH, yet pH of 8.2.


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[trennamw]

Doing a little more research myself ... Seeing higher temps reduce life span, and they've spent a few months at the upper end of the range about a year ago. They've been moved twice too.


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[Fresh2o]

I've heard of the higher temp and lower lifespan observance.
I'm going to throw in an exception to the typical life span ...in 2007 I picked up 6 golden tetras from the same pet store chain. Never heard of this species and thought they looked interesting. For the next 6 years I've kept six (actually 2 died over that time but they did breed and 2 survived to adulthood). Despite the lack of regular water testing, inconsistent water changes (they even spent a summer outdoors in a garden pond and were not retrieved until the air temps dropped into the 50s in OCT), they lived on. Only in the last 3 years did the numbers dwindle to the lone survivor in my planted tank. So this tetra is either at least 9 years in captivity (or 5 years if it is one of the surviving fry). Either way, it's definitely beyond expectations.


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[Tropical Aquarist]

You know I have the exact same situation! Not even kidding! My water ph is also 8-8.2, but kh is ~1 and gh is ~1! The water here is super soft but they add something to make the ph go up, as if it's too acidic the pipes will rust! I don't add anything to my water, just slowly acclimate them. Have you had issues when you tried less of the crushed coral?


And wow 9 years would be extremely amazing!!!

 

[trennamw]

I've heard of the higher temp and lower lifespan observance.
I'm going to throw in an exception to the typical life span ...in 2007 I picked up 6 golden tetras from the same pet store chain. Never heard of this species and thought they looked interesting. For the next 6 years I've kept six (actually 2 died over that time but they did breed and 2 survived to adulthood). Despite the lack of regular water testing, inconsistent water changes (they even spent a summer outdoors in a garden pond and were not retrieved until the air temps dropped into the 50s in OCT), they lived on. Only in the last 3 years did the numbers dwindle to the lone survivor in my planted tank. So this tetra is either at least 9 years in captivity (or 5 years if it is one of the surviving fry). Either way, it's definitely beyond expectations.


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I wonder if the less common species are less inbred and more hardy?


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[trennamw]

You know I have the exact same situation! Not even kidding! My water ph is also 8-8.2, but kh is ~1 and gh is ~1! The water here is super soft but they add something to make the ph go up, as if it's too acidic the pipes will rust! I don't add anything to my water, just slowly acclimate them. Have you had issues when you tried less of the crushed coral?


And wow 9 years would be extremely amazing!!!

I don't use crushed coral. Tried it, it was imprecise and messy and I still had ph swings.

I lost a lot of fish before I started supplementing the water.

My favorite fish book (the one that led to my keeping healthy fish) advises against adding anything to the water -- EXCEPT when water is very soft, and then it advised using a small dose of "buffered cichlid salts." Precisely because it's more precise.

Our LFS uses the same approach for their community tanks, in fact, due to Portlands extremely soft water. They have their own cichlid blend and use a 1/3 dose in every tank, bringing GH and KH up to 3-4. I use cichlid buffer and instead of cichlid salts I use Seachem equilibrium because it has a wider array of minerals.




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[Fresh2o]

I wonder if the less common species are less inbred and more hardy?


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Interesting point. Sounds good to me. I have had several opportunities to part with this fish but there is an attachment factor with this one.


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[trennamw]

Interesting point. Sounds good to me. I have had several opportunities to part with this fish but there is an attachment factor with this one.


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I've read they're pretty, and hardy.

And not to knock PetSmart either. You know what they say about Otos, and I did lose a few awhile back. But I still have one, it's 2 years old from PetSmart.

I'm trying to decide whether to buy another handful of the glow lights so the surviving 4 will feel more secure. One of the rasboras is looking like she's next too. The rasboras and glow lights were the first inhabitants of my first "real" fish tank, after I learned about water quality.


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[Tropical Aquarist]

If you live in Portland you can get fish from the Wetspot, and they could be able to get WILD fish for you, in case you want to try that out!

Anyways consider yourself lucky to live close to such an amazing shop!!!

I haven't had any issues with fish dying off more than sick ones, but I might consider adding something. I need to get a TDS meter!

 

[trennamw]

If you live in Portland you can get fish from the Wetspot, and they could be able to get WILD fish for you, in case you want to try that out!

Anyways consider yourself lucky to live close to such an amazing shop!!!

I haven't had any issues with fish dying off more than sick ones, but I might consider adding something. I need to get a TDS meter!

The Wet Spot is my favorite to be sure!! And since I use the same thing they do, and my water parameters match theirs exactly, the fish need less acclimating!

I'll be interested to see if I end up with 4 glow lights and 6 rasboras that live far longer ... I got a handful of each at each store.


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