They say they are really sensitive from being overbred. I lost about 1/3 of the school the first week I bought them even though they were carefully acclimated, but haven't lost any since, knock on wood. I think it has been about a year. I wanted different species than what is in my tanks, but I have to use reverse osmosis water because our well has so much iron. The water has low pH and I keep it soft so that I don't have to add a lot of additive to remineralize. I keep a small amount of oyster shell in a stocking to buffer it and prevent pH swings. The fish I chose are found in the same water parameters in the wild. There are some nice charts out there that helped me select fish that would work.It was a good guess anyway. LOL I cant keep neons. Guess they dont like my water.
Oops, i lied haha. I lost a cory a couple of weeks ago. She almost died when I first acclimated her, lived about a year. She looked a little worn the whole time I had her.
We have a lot of iron too in our water. We run through a few filters and a softener. I have troubles keeping live bearers alive long term, but others like angels, and tetra, as well as goldfish do well.
trial and error or the hard way. I got lucky w/ the guppys liking my water. I had no idea. I just liked the guppys. I hope I can do as well w/ the angels.
