platypus said:
Excellent, I think mine must be Petitella georgiae as the redness goes quite far back (well, most of the time - as soon as it starts to fade I always do a precautionary water test - the poor chap is like a canary down a mine shaft).
P.georgiae are the ones with the
least amount of red and the very broad black stripes on the tail, with the centre stripe extending well onto the body. They are also broader and flatter than
H.bleheri and have very "conventionally fish-shaped" pointed noses.
H.bleheri have the deepest red noses (if in good condition, as you've discovered) which extends well beyond the eye. Their tails have quite clear separations between the silver body and the black-and-white tail and have quite symmetrical stripes. Their noses are somewhat blunter and generally they are a smaller and slimmer than
P.georgiae.
So I suspect you have
H.bleheri , not
P.georgiae.
The "aquarium canary" nature of these fish shows good observation on your part - a rare commodity. Which is why I think people have trouble with them. Many fish keepers are simply not that observant or diligant but think "Oh, it'll be all right". You can't be like that with these fish. If you buy some, check the pH of the bag water they come in and drop or raise the pH slowly (roll down the top of the bag and put it in the tank. Then swap out a cup of water every 10-20 minutes until you have them acclimatised. Put an air-stone in the bag and don't leave it too long as any ammonia build-up will kill them.
However, just due to the stress of transport you may still lose one or two. Last time, I got four and lost one, but I think now I've worked out the key which is
1. A well matured filter in your quarantine tank and matured gravel - you can't afford to have too little beneficial bacteria if you intend to keep them alive.
2. Drop pH slowly but not too slowly - that just prolongs the agony.
3. Give live food if possible, really top quality frozen food if not (they'll eat anything but you have to nurse them through the moving experiece).
I don't think they are all that delicate once in your tank, however. Mine have survived a polluted tank with nitrates in excess of 75ppm (they were a bit pale, admittedly); a pH crash when I tried to use peat and didn't know what I was doing; a dodgy thermostat that practically boiled them and this summer, ambient temperatures that nearly boiled them; and a dose of ick following the pH stresses. It's really amazing any of my fish have survived my incompetence!
)
In fact, apart from that new fish, the only rummy-nosed I've lost was due to an accident in which I dropped a tank lid on his head and brained the poor beastie!
!
