i think you're a little caught up in the exitement of stocking all your tanks with all the fish you'll ever want right now. i know the feeling. i've reentered the hobby this summer after mostly ignoring my tanks for 3 years, and it's been hard for me to resist getting a school of scats and archers and monos and.... listen to pufferpunk and bettafishmommy. going a couple of months (instead of days) with stable tanks, no deaths, and water chemistry in equilibrium with the fish load is not only a good idea, but rewarding. there's enjoyment in working on getting a tank up to speed, but sometimes it's nice to stop working on it and just stare at the little suckers.
while the lfs problem is especially bad in your area, you may have to rethink some of your options. it's much more time consuming, but imho there's no substitute for regularly cruising the lfs's, asking how long it's been there, and if it's been a couple of weeks, put a hold/deposit on it and come back in a week. if it's dead, that's their problem. if it's alive, you've really bumped up the chance it's survive long term.
BTW, i think i've read that orange chromides are best kept as a breeding pair, which would require picking out a couple that seems to have paired off in the store's tank. Green chromides are schooling and get much bigger.
Hope i've kept the grammar/typos to a minimum.
Good luck.
Steve
while the lfs problem is especially bad in your area, you may have to rethink some of your options. it's much more time consuming, but imho there's no substitute for regularly cruising the lfs's, asking how long it's been there, and if it's been a couple of weeks, put a hold/deposit on it and come back in a week. if it's dead, that's their problem. if it's alive, you've really bumped up the chance it's survive long term.
BTW, i think i've read that orange chromides are best kept as a breeding pair, which would require picking out a couple that seems to have paired off in the store's tank. Green chromides are schooling and get much bigger.
Hope i've kept the grammar/typos to a minimum.
Good luck.
Steve
