Slew of Questions (Cycling, Stocking, and Care)

Realizing I am late to note this, The start of my long post should have said fish in at the top part. I can not edit it now but a mod may want to. It should have read:

"If you want to do a fish in cycle they are not as awful as folks make out. For a long time this was the only way tanks were cycled and fish keepers knew how to do them properly. There are drawbacks to doing a fish in cycle however."

Sorry, my bad.
 
Just to touch on the snails thing, it all depends on the species of snails too, or at least in my opinion. An over population of mystery snails, and you have an ugly mess that takes over. I had a 5 gallon betta tank that was fed properly with no waste and zillions of mystery snails covered the glass. An over population of ramshorn snails though, is not a problem in my opinion as these snails stay fairly small, my oldest and largest is dime sized and do a great job eating dead plant matter. Plus they come in pretty colors, such as blue, red, and leopard; and mostly stay on the plants and driftwood rather than the glass. A single apple snail, to my knowledge, can not reproduce when kept singly. I had five assasin snails that loved my sand substrate apparantly, as they quickly bred and I had 50+ easily. If snail over population is a concern, I'd stick with a single apple snail or ramshorns, if you feed sparingly then a single mystery is okay as well. But any dead plant or left over food and you'll get babies.
 
Also to touch on cost wise. I understand parents not liking large tanks, however if you go look on craigslist in both the general and pets section, I bet you could fine a great deal for a 29 gallon tank or a 20 long there! Im talking under fifty for an entire set up. I got a 29 with stand tank hood light filter and heater for twenty bucks. So it's worth looking at. As for stocking, I would definately recommend corydoras catfish. Best clean up fish I have ever had. A school of six bronze cories are very active, and will find every bit of food and eat it up. They need a soft round substrate though, the best and cheapest like ten bucks I use is Ace Aqua Quartz pool filter sand, I dont rinse it, and never had any problems with it. If they dont have it in store they can order it online. Cories do need supplement feeding like shrimp pellets, and LOVE frozen bloodworms. They slurp em up its adorable. Everyones already covered cycling and stuff, so I wont ramble on about that. Do make sure if you get gouramis, that
 
You get your dwarfs from a reputable source where they are healthy. Dwarfs are notorious for bacteria diseases that are fatal it seems. Sorry for multiple posts my phone wont let me type too much at one time. Random, but why dont you buy live animals from petsmart? As for plants anubias seem impossible to kill, and always look nice. :)
 
To answer your question on the whole "won't buy live pets from petsmart thing", it is really not about the fish. I also love guinea pigs (and own two rescue pigs myself), and other small mammals. However, it is known that all PetSmart guinea pigs are carriers of, or are already infected with ringworm. What's more, the live small mammals (guinea pigs, hamsters, etc.) are all kept in filthy conditions. I just don't like to support something like that. So no live animals there for me. I know that if you want to make change you stop shopping there altogether, but my LFS is a small operation, using their shelving space for nice tanks for their stock rather than focusing on a large collection of supplies. It is not practical to shop there for anything other than fish in turn. Therefore, we try not to buy PetSmart live animals, and focus on just the supplies.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
It is not practical to shop there for anything other than fish in turn. Therefore, we try not to buy PetSmart live animals, and focus on just the supplies.

I get your concern and hate to go off topic, but your LFS and Petsmart makes little/nothing on selling fish. Selling supplies is where it's at.
 
To answer your question on the whole "won't buy live pets from petsmart thing", it is really not about the fish. I also love guinea pigs (and own two rescue pigs myself), and other small mammals. However, it is known that all PetSmart guinea pigs are carriers of, or are already infected with ringworm. What's more, the live small mammals (guinea pigs, hamsters, etc.) are all kept in filthy conditions. I just don't like to support something like that. So no live animals there for me. I know that if you want to make change you stop shopping there altogether, but my LFS is a small operation, using their shelving space for nice tanks for their stock rather than focusing on a large collection of supplies. It is not practical to shop there for anything other than fish in turn. Therefore, we try not to buy PetSmart live animals, and focus on just the supplies.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

+1 :D It's so awesome to see other people who know this about them!! I sort a figured that was why, and just wanted to see if I was correct. I completely agree with you, it is absolutely disgusting and appalling how their suppliers (there's multiple undercover investigation videos of their suppliers) and sometimes even stores treat their animals. Plus, they use GLUE TRAPS!!!

Only thing I used to support was the adoption program they had up front, since those animals weren't there to make profit and all donations go to the charity. (Where I adopted five rats, in which they kept the males with the females!!!! Since you like rodents, I'm sure you're aware how easy it is to sex rats.)

And although they don't focus on fish sales, according to some online posts by employees, they have a certain sales goal they want employees to make. Nor are they allowed to tell a customer no. If that doesn't tell you about how little they care about their animals/animal welfare, I don't know what else does. Especially given that excluding the few rare employees I've talked to at one location, are completely clueless about fish, and most animals for that matter. Not too mention how they encourage "impulse buys."

Granted most LFS need to sell stuff and animals for money to keep their business running, but I've also known LFS/ smaller pet stores to turn down people and refuse to sell people animals including fish, because they knew it would be a bad home for the animals.

I think it makes perfect sense to shop there for only dry goods, and not animals. Yes it keeps the business running, but perhaps sales will eventually be so low in live animals that they start selling less and less and focus only on dry goods and the adoption programs. :)

Back on topic, definitely check on CL for tanks and even fish, if you get fish from there, typically you don't have to worry about getting sick fish :)
 
For what it's worth, mystery snails *are* apple snails. It's the all squares are rectangles, but not vice versa thing.
 
For what it's worth, mystery snails *are* apple snails. It's the all squares are rectangles, but not vice versa thing.

Yah I believe it's just two names for the same snail. Also they are very easy to do population control with. Apple snails lay their eggs in a clutch above the water. If you don't want babies just remove the clutch and throw it away.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
AquariaCentral.com