as some of you know i use to have 2 tentacled snakes but one recently died so just one very healthy tentacle is left. this guy gobbles up feeders fast. i buy rosey reds once a week, ill get about 20 and in a few days almost all of them are gone. hes also eaten a few of my tropical fish i put in the tank to make it look better. the last 3-5 rosies left always die. im noticing at work, where i get my feeders, they have been looking really crappy, some even have fungus on them. i avoid geting the sick looking feeders but now i'm thinking about geting feeders at another pet store. would sick fish make my snake sick too?
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sick fish
mishy
Sep 30, 2005 11:14 PM
Replies (2)
rick gordon
Oct 04, 2005 03:03 PM
Sick fish can have parasites as well, which are a danger. For most snakes the fungus wouldn't be an issue, but for tentacleds I wouldn't chance it, better find another petstore. Did you ever get a chance to test for ammonia?
btma
Oct 04, 2005 08:19 PM
You may also want to see if there are any bait stores in your area that sell live freshwater bait. The bait stores around here sell minnows, shiners and comets. The comets would probably be too big, but they usually offer minnows and shiners in different sizes--and the prices are much better also. I pay $.75 for a dozen small minnows for my Chinese watersnakes, and $4.05 after tax for a dozen Large (15-45grams) comets for my Arafura.
Just like pet stores--bait stores don't all take care of their fish as well as each other. If You bring them up to temp correctly(a several hour project) and get a lot of die-off---you may want to find another store. However, shiners and minnows don't do very well at temps of 84f and above--some do, some don't--its hard to explain.
I have a holding tank that I keep extra minnows and comets in. Its temp is 84F. The Chinese watersnakes are kept at 83-84F and the arafura at 86F. The comets have no problem with the high temp(86F), but the shiners and minnows slowly die-off. If brought up to temp correctly--you will minimize your losses. Bait stores around here keep their fish at about 45F---it takes a while to get them up to 84F safely
