We get this question a lot from our aquarium maintenance clients. “How do I know if a fish is healthy when I buy it at a store?” And really, there isnt any full proof way to spot a 100% healthy specimen at your LFS. There are however some good guidelines we would like to share with everyone to avoid problems with your fish purchases.

 

First, lets recognize that the fish at your LFS, whether captive bred or wild caught, have most likely been exposed  to what could have been high-stress inducing situations that are both unknown to you and your LFS. And unfortunately these poor collecting and shipping practices generally lead to “surprise” deaths or infections of what seemed to have been perfectly “healthy” specimens.

 

This brings us to our first tip; NEVER, EVER, purchase livestock which had just arrived at your LFS. Always give specimens one to two weeks to be properly acclimated into your LFS’ systems. For one thing, you never know how long the specimen had been in transit from the wholesaler to the LFS, how long its been at the wholesale distributor/importer or how long it was in transit from the collector to the wholesaler. We’ve seen boxes of livestock be stuck in customs awaiting  inspection overnight causing their transit times to more than double. This leads to enormous stress on the fish which will ALWAYS manifest itself, sometimes weeks after its been acclimated into a new holding system.  So if you visit your LFS regularly, take this one to two week period to observe the specimen you are interested in.

 

Which leads to the second tip, always have your LFS feed the specimen in-front of you. Make sure its eating, and has a healthy appetite. Now plenty of species to not adapt to prepared foods this quickly, so see if your LFS has live food preparation that you can use to feed the fish. If the specimen isnt taking in any given foods, thats a big red flag to stay away, at least until its taking either frozen of dried foods. Poor eating habits will lead to a compromised immune system which in turn will eventually lead to infection and/or directly to death of the fish.

 

Our third  guideline tip is to observe the behavior and appearance of your potential purchase. How is it interacting with the other livestock in the holding tank. Is it overly aggressive or overly shy? Are there any signs of infection anywhere on the body? Are there physical signs of aggression? All these signs are minor warnings to what can be potential problems after the fish is introduced into your aquarium? If the fish has an infection or the warning signs of what is the start of an infection, check with your LFS and find out if they can either separate and medicate the fish, or if they run some type of medication in the stores main system(s). If there seem to be aggression issues, ask if any employees at your LFS noticed major behavior problems to see how intense or benign the aggression is. Also check if the fish can be put in a system without tank mates for a while if it looks like its the one being bullied. If that change in environment doesn’t help, take caution with the specimen, as it could be a stress induced problem attributed to its collecting and shipping experience.

 

Our final tip for picking out quality livestock is to keep an open dialogue with your LFS about where they source their livestock. Request fish that are captive bred over wild caught. If its a species that is not currently being bred in captivity, request specimens that are hand and net harvested by reputable collectors and distributors. These specimens might be a bit more expensive, but trust us, its well worth it if it helps you avoid serious problems and livestock dieing.