2 buy / not 2 buy

[reg2k2]

Want to get H&TL tetra so the one I have has a 'friend'. I kinda wanted to get one from the same batch, but I noticed a couple of fish in the tank have a white splotch on them. Do you think it's something to worry about, or maybe just a physical injury?

 

[adeyc]

Where are the white spots what does it look like exactly and how big is it? It may be an idea to leave them for now or you can get any of the ones that look healthy, just keep an eye incase it needs meds. I'll let the others voice there ideas.

 

[reg2k2]

On my last stop I noticed one that had like two half-circles of white along top of body. Didn't see him, but the two I did see had a white circle, maybe a 1/4 body height, pretty good size, anyway also either toward or on top, before the dorsal. Not cottony, though.

 

[Dragonslair]

I personally would avoid buying them, you don't need to introduce a problem to your existing tank. Fish that arn't perfect specimens unless you know what has happened or how to treat the problem exactly is best left alone. Otherwise you will be spending needlessly and still end up with dead fish.
reg, as to having 1 friend from the same batch is a myth. All fish find their own species and H&TL tetras are shoaling fish. The are usually seen at their best when there a 5 fishes or more together. They don't distinguish between brothers and sisters or mothers and fathers as we do.(I have several different species of shoaling tetras) If you only have one at the moment, it may be well worth considering having more than just another. I would try and find a lps/lfs with healthy specimens. These fish are quite a hardy species and does well in a shoal.

 

[Dragonslair]

Whoops, excuse the typos. Fingers typing faster than the grey matter would allow.

You get the idea though. I've disabled the spellchecker on this keyboard, takes too long to run through each word. Hence the typos. SORRY!!!

 

[reg2k2]

'Bout a month ago, I had one adult H&TL (he's gone now), and had wanted to get more, but the LFS was out.  :0  
Other fish caught my eye, so I ended up with a mix again.  I'd rather have all one species, but they're here now.(re:  'Stocking levels' )
'Til I figure out vacation schedule, just wanted to add one more of his kind, then maybe add more later.  
As for getting one from the same batch, I was thinking more along the lines of coloring, and yes, well that they might recognize each other, I guess.  (Not personally, but maybe from the same 'town'.)  
I guess I'll take a look around.  But, if anyone has any ideas as to the spots not being contagious, please let me know.

 

[Dragonslair]

You're a sentimentalist, you must remember fish arn't. Fish know their own kind and that is it. They don't recognise like us, although we sometime like to think so. Especially when they come to you at feeding time. It's the Pavlov's dogs syndrome. Don't worry if you get the next batch from Timbucktoo, as long as the water parameters match yours you will be fine. The defination of intelligence is cognitive recognition. Fish I'm afraid don't possess this, and nor do a lot of animals, including your own pets. I don't know how somebody has measured this but a fishes memory is only 3 minutes long. The rest is instinct.

 

[gadazobe]

You mean they don't recognise me as the blob that feeds them Then why do they dash to the front of the tank whenever I'm around but hide when guests come and want to see the "pretty fish" (the cichlid tank)

 

[james80000]

i agree with Big Bird. When I turn on the light every morning they come swimming to the top coz they know they get fed in the morning. When anyone else turns on the light, they dont go near the top!
Goldfish have a memory of 3 seconds though-this is why they swim round and round the bowl. Dont know bout tropical fish.

 

[Dragonslair]

As I said earlier, Pavlov's syndrome. I'm sure you have all heard about Pavlov's dogs!!!

 

[reg2k2]

Enlighten me, please.

 

[Dragonslair]

Before I sink my teeth into this subject about Pavlov's dogs, does anyone else want to give a short answer?

 

[Davy Reynolds]

Sorry Drag, but fish do have memorys. Way the hell can you train Oscars. how do they know feeding time etc etc. I'll try and find an article written in the PFK sometime this year. It has a full article about the memory of a fish.

 

[Dragonslair]

That would be interesting Davy. there is a divisional line between memory which means that you credit a fish with intellegience and reasoning and instinct which is learned behaviour. ie: If you put a fish in a clear box in a tank, will the fish reason and try and find a way out or will it do what nature has programmed it to do and keep swimming into the side of the box until it exhausts itself or injures itself? In all animals self preservation is the ultimate aim. No creature will die willingly, it will react instintively. Even we humans,if put into a deadly situation, we react first,then we reason and using our intell. find a solution. I'm not going to disagree with you, but just to say there is a difference to what we percieve as intellect and what animals do naturally.

 

[Davy Reynolds]

There are limits. Like training a dog, it's repeating things that make them remember.

For instance.
Feeding instinct. Eat the food when entered into the tank.
Feeding memory. When the gets opened, go to a certain piont and wait for the food and eat it.

The article is good. I'll hunt it down, do you have past copys of PKF?