Need opinions and ideas from all your great folks ;)

[Isabella17]

With only one zebra and 2 ghost shrimp left in our "tank of horrors" (plus some zebra fry that I can't worry about because I can't see them!) and an extremely upset boy, I am looking for some ideas on where we can buy fish in the future, even via mail.

We plan to let the tank run for a good month before we even consider putting our 5 little fry in there (from our 3 gallon tank we have). After that, we will use the 3 gallon tank for quarantine. I told my eldest, who got real upset, that we would buy fish from a good place next time and we could start thinking about where and what we wanted to put in there next time.

So I am looking for ideas and suggestions on 2 things:

1) Any good reputable fish places online (or any lfs in the Raleigh, NC area)

2) Idea on some really good, very hardy community fish. Our fry are a guppy and some platys. They enjoy the whole "pregnant mommy gives birth and watching babies grow up" cycle and we use it as a great educational tool (homeschoolers and I am getting fatter as we speak with my own little halfing...great way to kinda tie it in).

Thanks guys! You have definately been invaluable these last few weeks

 

[neilanh]

Can't help you on LFSs, sorry.

There's tons of different fish you can choose from. Don't shy too far away or get too caught up in what fish are hardy or not, etc. They're tougher than they look, but you've got to get a good batch. If you got to a new LFS, walk through, and if you see dead fish, it's usually a bad sign.

I find that smaller fish stores tend to have much better quality than chains, but you pay more.

 

[jim.m257]

Is the tank relitively new?

 

[Isabella17]

Yes, it is pretty new. It will have been running around 2 months before we consider buying any fish. We will have a zebra danio and *hopefully* 2 juvenile platys in it. I will definately want to put in more zebra danios. Our poor remaining zebra danio needs company. I really LOVE long fin black skirt tetras (they seem to survive everything) but I worry a bit about eventually getting something that will "nip" at fins, without realizing it. Tho I guess I could just make sure I don't. Do zebra danio's nip?

 

[bs6749]

What size is the tank? If it's rather small I'd recommend both Endler's livebearers and Red Cherry Shrimp for a couple of reasons. The first is that they are both small and would do sell in a small tank. Secondly, they are both colorful. Male Endlers are very colorful having patches of pink,orange,green, and black (females are drab). On the other hand, it's the female RCS that are a deep red and the males are rather pale. Thirdly, they are both interesting to watch, especially in a planted tank with lots of mosses, which will also provide cover for all of the babies you will have. Fourthly, as I just mentioned, you will have lots of babies in no time. Both RCS and Endlers are very prolific breeders. Female Endlers generally give birth evey 23-28 days with about 10-12 babies being the average. RCS usually take 3-4 weeks to go from eggs to miniature adults. If you are interested in either of these send me a PM. I have RCS available right now and I will have some Endlers for sale in a month or so. My Endlers are "Class N" stock meaning that their bloodlines can be traced back to pure wild blood. You wouldn't want to keep them with guppies as they are closely related and will interbreed if kept in the same tank. You would lose the "Class N" title if you kept them in the same tank. Your fry would eventually be considered "Class K". Also, one more thing, both Endlers and RCS do well in hard alkaline water which is easy to achieve if your tap water is soft and acidic. Endlers and RCS will co-exist well in the same tank provided that there are lots of places for the RCS to hide and given that you feed your tank 2 times a day to prevent the baby RCS from being eaten. Shrimp over about 1/8" should be safe though.