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Platies
My fish have been getting sick and dying for several weeks and we found out it was because of cross breeding, overstocking, etc. (beginner's mistakes since we did raise 150 fish from 5 starters)
Now we've got them all healthy, we've been trying to give them away to try and get down to a 2 female to 1 male ratio but its not happening fast enough. Besides many of our friends are using the platies as starter fish, and each time I choose which ones to give them, it feels like I'm choosing which ones do I want flushed down a toilet.
I was just wondering if we should just restock the tanks entirely or try giving away those fish to private fish stores? I'm unsure whether or not the fish stores will take the platies if they find out they all come from 5 parents and I don't want to get "rid" of them.
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Want to answer more questions in the Domesticity category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Pets?
For a big fish-nut like myself, the matter of "5 parents" being a problem is funny. Inbreeding is normal in the fish world, in fact, it's how many of the guppy, platy, and swordtail varieties came to be.
On giving fish to a pet store, you may be able to negotiate a small amount of store credit for providing healthy specimens, but don't expect too much and once you pass on the fish, it's up to the store to care for the fish on its own terms (whether for good or bad).
If you're concerned about toilet flushing when friends ask for their own fish, then tell them the price is to read a paper on properly caring for their fish. Your friends might try to laugh or complain their way out of it, but make a point that just because fish are fish doesn't mean they should be treated worse than our furry friends (cats and dogs).
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As the person under me said, don't give them to a pet store such as PetCo. They wouldn't care if all of the fish came from only 5 parents because they get all of their animals (from dogs and cats to ferrets and chinchilla's) from backyard breeders and puppy mills. To give an example of how badly they take care of their animals: The last time I went into PetCo to look at their fish I saw at least 5 dead fish in half of the tanks. One tank had dead fish that had clearly been decomposing for weeks. I told a worker that there were dead fish all through their tanks and the only reply I got was "yeah, it's probably about time to do a dead fish run" I understand that fish die, but they could at least get rid of the dead ones on a daily basis to make things look nicer and to keep the alive fish healthier.
Anyway, don't bring them to a Pet store unless your sure that their animals are taken care of. But, if you do know of a good pet store, or if you can find one, then it would probably be advisable to see if they want to take the fish.
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You don't have to tell the fish stores that they came from 5 parents. If they look healthy then they will probably take them. Ya, I wouldn't trust giving away my fish as "starters" because like you mentioned, there's a good change that they won't be taken care of and will die. Your best bet is taking them to a tropical fish store (NOT a pet store like Petco, etc, they don't take very good care of their fish).
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