Humane Society visit to Pet Store - Poor aquarium conditions

[BruceW]

Good morning,
I attended at a local Pet Store as an Agent for the Ontario OSPCA. Several tanks, 10 to 20 gallons, were down 3 to 5 inches from evaporation. High nitrate levels, overcrowding, no heating devices in use. Both outside doors, to the store were propped open (50-55 degrees). Individual, dirty, outside filters r being used. I'm asking for suggestions as to conditions I impose, in my Order, to the Store.
I am thinking of the following,

- imposing the 1 inch of fish per 1 gallon of water rule
- new glass wool/charcoal in filters changed weekly
- removal of all substrates, decorations, thorough cleaning of tanks
- maintenance of water levels, 25% water changes weekly
- grouping of fish according to compatibility, temp ranges
- heat devices to be used
- appropriate foods

There r several other issues with this store. I don't think I'll get compliance. It's a shame, there are several catfish involved.

A number of loaches r involved, several dead, any food, condition recomendations I can order?

Chris

[S. Allen]

well... One thing to keep in mind is the LFS isn't a particularly profitable venture, so some things may or may not be economically feasible.

One thing I'd say is, I haven't run filter carbon in a year or 2, with water changes once a week of 25% it's probably not necessary. My suggestion would be the removal of old or clogged filter catrtidges/filter wool material, but I've found it easier just do gravel vac and siphon off the waste than even use filter wool. I keep my filters for biological filtration only and it can be a very good arrangement. I mention this as filter cartridges are expensive... at least for marineland products, and if the place isn't making money... it's tough to throw that kind of money away all the time. I dunno... heh, I suppose it could be different as my water changes run from 50% to 90% 2 times a week, but...

anyhow, there are a whole bunch of great catfish and loach foods out there. The best ones vary by the species involved. I reccomend hikari's products highly, but again, expensive... tetra's putting out some neat foods too now, I've got a small predatory catfish that loves their tetramin pro crisps. For plecos and such, pretty much any algae wafer will be fine, and they'll happily take flakes as well. Pimelodids, depending on species, will like shrimp pellets and many other pelleted foods, as well as scavenging flakes.

Hard to say one food, as a good mix seems to get the nutrients across better... no matter how targeted something is, it's still likely to be missing something.

Most of us feed frozen food sometimes, but for the large portion of fish, with the products available today, I'd say it's unneccesary, more of a treat.

one thing in defense of the store on loaches, most are wild-caught, and they're normally cheap... so they pack them in and it seems a good portion of loaches die in transit or quickly afterwards.

all of these are of course my ideas on fishkeeping... and my style has been called a bit odd by some... it's just what works for me.

[RogerMcAllen]

I am less familiar with this board, but I know http://www.aquariumadvice.com has several petshop owners as members. Perhaps you could post this over there too, they should be able to help you from personal experience.

[Dinyar]

Bruce/Chris,

This is the kind of discussion we welcome in this forum.

The tropical fish business needs oversight by people like you, and by all of us hobbyists. There is much room for improvement in many areas. I think that for change to be effective, it needs to occur incrementally. There's a danger of unintended negative consequences if we try to do too much too quickly.

I would pare your list down to just two items (slightly modified by me):

- maintenance of water levels, 50% water changes weekly
- grouping of fish according to compatibility, temp ranges

Some of your other ideas (e.g., inch/gallon) don't hold true in even the best kept pet stores and would drive many/most LFS into bankruptcy, and others (e.g., mandatory heaters) may or may not be relevant (e.g., depending on ambient temperature)

If you can get compliance on just these two things, that would be progress.

This is of course, just MY opinion. Other reasonable people may disagree.

Dinyar

[BruceW]

Thanks for the input.

I'll try and work with the store in providing the basics. It looks like I'll probably have to seize several fish if she ignores the Order. I've lined up other reputable Pet Stores to help me out.

Thanks again,
Chris

[S. Allen]

wow, nice of the stores to help you out.

and... I think dinyar's right about the one inch per gallon... I don't think any of us have all our tanks under an inch per gallon... and the rule's a bit flawed anyway.