getting this fellow probably tops it.
(Sorry for the photo quality...it is less than 0.5in)
Here is the story: the store here got a large shipment of them, about 4 weeks ago. The fish was very small and very skinny, not the kind one should be exporting.
Most of them quickly perished.
This time I managed to convince the store to give them a couple of drugs and feed them... well, in fact I went there every couple of days to make sure they are fed something appropriate.
So the dying stopped, the survivors seemed stable for a couple of weeks.
But the problem remained: it was obvious that no one will ever buy them, and their survival chances at the store were very slim. Given all the time and effort already spent on them, not much choice.
I ended up cycling a tank for them and taking them all... that is 7 out of 40 shipped. All are very small, still very skinny, all appear to be females (or too young for the male rosy color to show up).
We'll see what happens... One bad feeling I have is that the tank will uncycle, the bioload is next to nothing.... maybe I should get them a white cloud or two...
The price tag, incidentally, was $5 for all.. these are the cheapest loaches I ever bought... The cost of transportation to keep them fed was considerably higher.
