# Best Livestock Survival Rate (Stores in GTA)



## cerebrous (Jan 30, 2013)

Hey guys 

Just wanted to get an idea on which stores you guys have been having good / bad survival rates (Fish & Coral). 

Intention here is not to bash any store but just to inform or maybe let me know if I'm doing anything wrong in my QT process


----------



## cerebrous (Jan 30, 2013)

My last purchase 
2 Cleaner Wrasse
1 Yellow Wrasse 
1 Red dragon (scooter) goby

1 week and I have lost 1 Cleaner + Yellow disappeared + Red Dragon is not looking so hot... 


My Acclimation process 
- Drip for 2+ hours (slow drip) 
- QT tank with Display tank water in a 10G running with filter (1 Day) 
- If all looks well I plop them in the Display tank.


This is the process that I always do (right or wrong??) 
- Some store I've had ZERO deaths 
- Other stores I have 75% death rate within a month 

Whats going on????


----------



## blair (Jun 22, 2013)

north american is pretty good h20 is also good and reef raft although ive only bought a few fish from there, on a side note scooter blennys are hard to keep unless very established tank they eat similar foods to manderins, id bet money yur yellow wrasse is ok hes prob hiding maybe under the sand bed, and cleaner wrasse are hit n miss at best they usually dont live long in aquariums, not bashing here aswell but i avoid buying livestock from BA all together, hope this helps


----------



## Announce (Aug 27, 2008)

While I won't comment on individual stores, I know some quarantine their fish, this would be something to look for. Another thing to look for is that they are eating (of course) and that the staff are willing to answer your questions about that particular fish.

That being mentioned the fish you got were not good chances for someone who has trouble with fish. Cleaner wrasse should not be housed together, they tend do be very aggressive towards each other (this explains the disappearance). 

Yellow wrasses burrow under the sand at night, if this is a new fish to Canada, you have to consider that they do in fact get "jet lag" he could quite possibly think it is night time. If you didnt have sand in the QT tank this would add additional stress to the animal.

Scooter gobies are generally very picky eaters, which if the fish isnt eating could explain why hes not looking so hot. 

Finally, and this is minor, a two hour drip is usually a bit excessive for fish (coral are different) because they tend to get very stressed out in the small container they are kept in, mind you this is just my personal interpretation.

I hope this helps, and good luck finding a store you are happy with.


----------



## wildexpressions (May 3, 2010)

I agree with the others regarding the choice of fish. Those particular fish all do better in larger well established aquariums. 

Long drip acclimation is a pretty controversial issue as well. There are a lots of factors to consider.

The bottomline is some shops move the stock though as quickly as possible and although the prices are often better the odds of survival are lower. I generally suggest finding a store you like and can trust and working with them almost exclusively. 

We don't sell a lot of fish anymore but we used to and we generally tried to avoid selling any live stock until it had been in our systems for a week. We took the losses instead of our clients but obviously it added to our overhead and eventually led us to pretty much quitting on the fish sales. If more clients had been more loyal (and many were very loyal) we would have kept it up but many people just can not resist impulse buying and these days a small local store needs all of the support it can get.


----------



## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

I suppose buying fish, let it be FW or SW, it has its up and down. Normally I take a good look at the fish but I will not buy if it just arrived into the LFS. I will wait a couple of days and go back but the chances are someone might have bought it if there are not many. If I know the store owner, then I reserve it to pick up about 4days later. 

I bought a pair by chance from R20, maroon clown two days after arrival and now its more then six months, they are doing great. Its hard to find maroon clown pairs since they often fight.


----------



## goldfish (Nov 22, 2011)

Did I read correctly that you QT for 1 day only?

Normally, the recommended period for QT is from 6-8 weeks for observation and treat with medicine if necessary.

I know most people don't bother with QT though

If you are going to bother setting up a QT in the first place, why not keep your new fish there until you are confident that they are healthy and diseased free?


----------



## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

lately, I got the fish from Big Al and pay twice the price but fishes do survive.

For example Flame Angel. Not many people will buy it in BA for $70-80 and as result I got fish which was at the store for at lest 1 month. the same happened with Blue and yellow tangs.

2 angels from LFS for $40 gone in 3 days
probably just good luck this time, but it is worked fine

*100% free webcam site! | Awesome chicks and it is absolutely free! | Watch free live sex cam - easy as 1-2-3*


----------



## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

I don't know of ANY LFS that does a proper QT procedure on imported fish or coral. 

Seeing what LFS are charging and knowing what general export prices and factoring import/shipping/handling fees as well as time involved, a proper QT not a profitable procedure to implement as a whole. I am sure that the extra effort is made for expensive/rare specimens, but that's about it.


----------



## wildexpressions (May 3, 2010)

wtac said:


> I don't know of ANY LFS that does a proper QT procedure on imported fish or coral.
> 
> Seeing what LFS are charging and knowing what general export prices and factoring import/shipping/handling fees as well as time involved, a proper QT not a profitable procedure to implement as a whole. I am sure that the extra effort is made for expensive/rare specimens, but that's about it.


I would agree completely with you on this. I know I tried quarantining for a while and lost my shirt. Even holding them for a week before letting them go I at best broke even.


----------



## rickcasa (Dec 7, 2011)

You won't hear me bash BA. My success rate with their fish, corals, anemones, etc is close to 80%. Man, they've even given me credit for fish dying within a day. Except Bengaiis, tough SOBs to keep alive no matter where you buy them...


----------



## mr.omz (Feb 12, 2013)

*best lfs for coral and fish*

i find that everything i buy from rivers 2 oceans (R2O) in sauga always thrive in my tank fish and coral.. and the prices arethe best .. everything i buy from any big als is shit they die or infest my tank with ich so i dont bother with BA at all..


----------



## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*fish*

ive had good luck at NAFB -yellow tang/Big als scarb-clowns -beauty /reef boutique -blue tang -eating and doing great .....

all fish I have had luck with were stores that had the fish in there systems for a few weeks to a month .so while the beauties are there at the beginning and the longer they are in system u take a chance with the availability ....
stores I have had crappy luck have always been fish on sale ....

my opinions of the stores that I have had crappy luck I wont mention cause I don't think this is the place to bash .... I just wont shop there again for fish or will at least be selective ..........
cheers


----------



## Bayinaung (Feb 24, 2012)

these are good observations. thanks for the contributions guys.


----------



## cerebrous (Jan 30, 2013)

Awesome guys 

Anyone get stuff from that Carl aquarium guy???


----------

