Odd Question

[Jpat82]

I was at pets mart today, my mom and dad went crazy and bought a 46gallon tank, so we were brousing. Either all the fish were at the top of the tanks or the bottoms, only few tanks the fish were actually swimming. The sales guy said it was cause they wanted to be fed. They get fed in the morning and once in the evening. This didn't sound right, but we werent there to buy fish, just look. Has anyone seen fish do this before? I feel like the answer he gave me wasn't the right answer. I wouldn't have bought any of the fish just because of the way they were acting, but as I said we were just looking. Any comments?

 

[Jenste]

You were right not to buy the fish. Petsmart and Petcos sadly have poor stock most of the time.

Now that you have a decent sized tank, I suggest you and your parents start looking into "Fish less cycling" your system and planning out a great stocking rather than just chucking odd and end fish in.

You have a LOT of potential in this tank....

 

[Boromir]

Think its just the type of fish. I have Danios they are always at the top half of the tank, then I got my tetras and they are mostly always in the middle of the tank then I got all corries that spend all there time on the bottom shooting up for a bit of air sometimes. The clown loaches will sometimes come out and ride the flow of the water produced by the powerhead.

Pretty much when feeding my fish they stay at the same level the danios always gets first dibs.

Edit: did you mean they were like half dead?

 

[Jpat82]

They may have been half dead, not sure. This accounted for a good third to half or there stock. Mollies, platies, danio, guppy, and others I can't remember the names to.

This was the petsmart closest to us, the one about an hour away, their tanks are beautiful, fish swimming around, no dead fish in tanks, only one tank had clamped fins.
As i said I found odd, how the fish looked I just wanted to see if anybody had seen this or knew why.

 

[Scates11]

Pestmart is better than Petco imo but both of them tend to use 1 or 2 large sumps to supply the water and filtration for all of their tanks so if 1 fish has an issue it can easily spread to all of them. I have bought fish from petsmart before and had no issues but now that I have done my research I buy all of my supplies, plants, and future fish from one of the many local fish stores...hope you live in an area with some decent lfs's they are more knowledgeable, have a much larger selection and generally (not always as I have found some smart fish folks at petsmart) are more knowledgeable....again this is just my opinion

 

[twofish]

When the LFS like Petco/Petsmart get their orders in, the fish are in big bags of blue tranqualizered water. The stores have the right to reject the order if the fish come in half or all the way dead. I never buy fish on the same day they are shipped to the LFS. I always wait a day or two, gives them a chance to acculate to their new surroundings. If they are looking good after a day or two of arrival, I will buy. I always buy the Bamboo shrimp and mostly they are always healthy. Our Petcos pump and cirulate into 6 tanks on one filter so I always look also at the condition of the fish that are in the tanks that circulate on the one filter. Petco has a 30 day guarantee on fresh water friends. Very fair, other stores are two weeks only if your water test is correct. Not having much luck with guppies (elders yes) I am very careful what I buy from ANYONE. This is just my opinion and what work for me. I don't have salt water friends, so I have no opinion on that. Welcome to this wonderful site and a most educational hobby. You will learn to love your fish