Question about Tropiquarium

[njtiger24 aquariums]

First off I am not bashing this store. This is more a question for members here.

Has anyone purchase fish and/or corals from here?

The reason I ask is because I'm not sure if I am having a problem with my system or not.

Let me give you the background.

My 36g tank is running for about 3 to 4 months now and the first fish was a flurry clown (which I got from Ocean Aquarium). The flurry is a b!tch, bites me when I put my hand in the tank. Awhile back I picked up two Baggi Card from Tropiquarium. Within one day one of them died (was acting a little odd from the get go) and then like 2 or so weeks later the other one died. I kept these fish before and knew they were hardy (they did well in my 54 with two tangs, two clowns, and boat load of other fish). They were eating by what I could tell and they swam with my clown. I chopped it up to my clown picking on them even though I never saw it happen. So I picked up a coral beauty (from ACC) to try and keep the clown in line. The coral beauty and clown get along fine; about a month together in the tank. Over the weekend I went looking for 'schooling fish' and stopped at ACC. They didn't have the numbers I want (they had beautiful fish just not the stock I was looking for). I decided because I had to pass it on my home I would stop at Tropiquarium and check their stock out. I ended up walking out with 4 blue/green chromies (which I had kept before with no issues), a red monti cap, and a green birdnest (corals I didn't plan on buying but just happened). I get home and float the fish and corals like I do all the time. I added the chromies in and dipped my corals. As I am putting my red cap in my clown is biting me and my red cap breaks in half (this is the first time I broken a coral in half when trying to add it to a tank and I have been rougher with corals than I was with the cap). I just chopped it up that I was distracted by the clown trying to bite me. I put the birdnest in without any issues. The next morning I discovered I am down to 3 chromies. I looked all over the tank to make sure the 4th didn't jump out but nope found the dead body with the shrimp. I came home from work last night to find out that I am down to 2 chromies. When I got up this morning I didn't see any chromies in the tank but right before I walked out the door I noticed 1 (but the other might still be there). The lights are off so I will search long and hard when I get home tonight.

I will fully admit I don't drip acc my fish or qt them. I just float them and then add them to my tank (but not any water from their bag). I been doing that for years and never had fish die so quickly on me. Also like I said the clown been the first fish in the tank and he is doing just fine.

As I stated before I had these fish before without any issues. I don't know if my clown and/or beauty are picking on these fish (I noticed some chasing but all seemed normal chasing to me) or I am just having bad luck with fish from them. I am also shocked that the cap broke in half as well but I'm not too worry about that. I glued both halves in the tank and hopefully they both grow. I am having a hard time remembering if I purchased any fish/corals from Trop when I had my 54 and if I did if I had any issues with them.

Just wounder what everything think?

 

[Trio91]

I don't know about the lfs....and I'm by no means bashing your practices, but by not dripping your fish, it could be the sudden shock thats picking them off. I always assume the worse that the lfs's parameters are off hence the need to acclimate.

I myself do not qt fish but I feel the drip is must.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I acclimate my fish the same way as James. I find it is much safer because with drip acclimating you run the risk of temp fluctuations and ammonia building up. It is safer to temp acclimate and release, in my experience. I even converted a freshwater molly this way. I tried one that was dripped acclimated and one that was temp acclimated. The drip acclimated one passed away within 24 hours.

As far as the fish loss, I have to wonder how long the fish were in the store and the collection practices used to get them there. Chromis can be somewhat finicky depending on the wholesaler. The bangaiis could have been wild caught which can make it harder to transition to a tank.


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[mnat]

I have shopped at Trop for years and have not had the problem you are. I am pretty sure Trop runs their fish systems at a lower salinity than we all do in our tanks which is why we drip acclimate. I am pretty sure Trop even states in their fish guarantee that you have too. We can argue QT until the cows come home but drip acclimation is pretty much a standard in the hobby.

Even with that, the fish you are adding from Trop are more peaceful fish and having an established clown and coral beauty is not going to help with acclimation if they are more aggressive. Chromis are also tough, most people end up with only one or two because it is tough to get them to truly school in a smaller tank. You may have a little bit of fish which are weakened and stressed given the no acclimation followed by other aggressive fish and that is why you are finding dead fish in your tank so quickly.

 

[diana a]

Yes clown fish will become bullies. If the clown(s) are established, the chromis will end up in trouble. But I have never had luck with keeping multiple chromis in my tank though. I bought 4 one time and they destroyed each other with 1 surviving. I haven't had any problems with fish or coral from Tropiquarium

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

I don't know about the lfs....and I'm by no means bashing your practices, but by not dripping your fish, it could be the sudden shock thats picking them off. I always assume the worse that the lfs's parameters are off hence the need to acclimate.

I myself do not qt fish but I feel the drip is must.

I would point right to that and still think that way but seeing how I have ton all my fish this way and on this batch been like that it might just be lucky that the other LFS keep their salt level same/near mine.

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

I have shopped at Trop for years and have not had the problem you are. I am pretty sure Trop runs their fish systems at a lower salinity than we all do in our tanks which is why we drip acclimate. I am pretty sure Trop even states in their fish guarantee that you have too. We can argue QT until the cows come home but drip acclimation is pretty much a standard in the hobby.

Even with that, the fish you are adding from Trop are more peaceful fish and having an established clown and coral beauty is not going to help with acclimation if they are more aggressive. Chromis are also tough, most people end up with only one or two because it is tough to get them to truly school in a smaller tank. You may have a little bit of fish which are weakened and stressed given the no acclimation followed by other aggressive fish and that is why you are finding dead fish in your tank so quickly.

I am thinking it could be the shock from their low salinity compare to mine. I might just be lucky that other LFS keep their around my level and trop is much lower causing more stress. I am debating on pulling the clown and beauty out and go for more smaller/schooling fish in this tank

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

Yes clown fish will become bullies. If the clown(s) are established, the chromis will end up in trouble. But I have never had luck with keeping multiple chromis in my tank though. I bought 4 one time and they destroyed each other with 1 surviving. I haven't had any problems with fish or coral from Tropiquarium

In my 54 I went from 4 chromies to 3. I found the 4th after I broke down my tank which was on the floor under my stand. I figure I might lose one but I didn't think it would had been in the 24hr window

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

Trop even states in their fish guarantee

Note I'm not bashing Trop nor am I going to return the dead fish looking for a refund (not wroth the 1.5 hr drive and I'm sure it was something I was doing just wanted to hear others feed back

 

[greybolt03]

Cromies are know to be aggressive to each other in small tanks I put 8 in my 120g and ended up with only 2 when I switched over to the 225 I put 10 in and now have 6 so I think your main issue with them is tank size.

 

[MadReefer]

I bought from Trop in the past and never had issues with fish dying quickly like you have. I don't QT but do a temp adjust, remove some water from the bag and add some tank water. I do this for 30 to 60 mins maybe 3x. Then scoop the fish out and release it in tank.

 

[Martin Riggs]

I think your issue is similar to mine. Your order of adding aggressive to peaceful is stressing them out. My tang is picking on my goby which is bigger than it.

 

[horseplay]

For fish from local store I always drip for about 2 hours to acclimate for salinity. For mail order fish that has been in the bag for a long time I will prepare a tank with matching salinity. I think this is important to avoid any shock to the fish.

 

[Mark...]

Trop is my favorite store, no issues on fish for me, I Qt and adjust like Madreefer.

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

ok guys thanks for the feed back. As I figured its on my end. I just wanted to make sure. I didn't want to write that store off cause they do have some nice selection.

 

[mikem]

All stores keep their salt levels real low, thus the reason you must drip them.
Brent from Trop is very careful about the health of his fish and corals. He treats them when they come in and watches them carefully. Is something isn't perfect with the fish, he puts them in the back and nurses them back to health and will never sell a sick fish.

 

[jkapit]

I have shopped at Trop for years and have not had the problem you are. I am pretty sure Trop runs their fish systems at a lower salinity than we all do in our tanks which is why we drip acclimate. I am pretty sure Trop even states in their fish guarantee that you have too. We can argue QT until the cows come home but drip acclimation is pretty much a standard in the hobby.

Even with that, the fish you are adding from Trop are more peaceful fish and having an established clown and coral beauty is not going to help with acclimation if they are more aggressive. Chromis are also tough, most people end up with only one or two because it is tough to get them to truly school in a smaller tank. You may have a little bit of fish which are weakened and stressed given the no acclimation followed by other aggressive fish and that is why you are finding dead fish in your tank so quickly.

I have had the same good experience with Tropiquarium over many years. Fish have been for the most part disease free and they are happy to demonstrate their fish will eat. My clowns, royal gramma, and fire fish, and fire shrimp all came from Tropiquarium and they have done well.

I still have lost a couple in the QT, but it does happen.

 

[JRWOHLER]

Let me say I have bashed Trop for some things over the years. But not quality of livestock. I think they run their salinity at 1.023 if I remember correctly they state that the they use the water you can buy. So yeah not my favorite store but usually quality livestock, but you pay. That said don't buy bangaii cardinal fish from them as they do import them not aqua cultured They are one fish we should really try to buy captive bred ones. My two cents for conservation.

 

[saltkreep88]

I would point right to that and still think that way but seeing how I have ton all my fish this way and on this batch been like that it might just be lucky that the other LFS keep their salt level same/near mine.

Trop could just have loser salinity to start and is a bigger shock. The stores around me keep their tank at 1.021 so going to 1.026 is a huge jump and will without a doubt kill a fish. Do some research and you will find fish can handle salinity drops easy to struggle when it raises. I also do not think ammonia build up when dripping would be an issue if in the bag for less than an hour. I could see the ammonia issue for sure if they are shipped to the house.

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[J.R.]

Purchased our christmas wrasse from Tropiquarium, super healthy. That is the only thing we have gotten from them though. Did a temp and drip acclimation.