Those are all popular entry level fish, and as such tend to be fairly hearty. That's not to say that they're long lived, just reasonably adaptable.
If a fish dies within minutes of transferring to a new tank, it was shock due to very differing water conditions. Temperature is the primary culprit. I believe 1 degree per hour is about what fish can handle safely. They go from 74 straight to a 77 degree tank and it's probably lights out for a few of them.
And maintaining good water conditions is really about as complicated as changing 25-33% of the water each month. Spend $30 of that dough on a python and it's less than a five minute undertaking.
Not familiar with the Glofish until now. Interesting idea. They used to just catch fish and paint them, but due to the fact that it was kind of a shitty thing to do, most fish stores refused to sell them. Looks like these people have found a better way to get the same effect. Anyhoo, they're essentially just minnows, and as such they're only good for a couple of years. Small fish just don't live all that long.
As for the black light, that's not going to give them any usable light at all. They'll be able to see, but that's about it. Now, since you're only looking at 2 or 3 years for them anyway, it's probably not a big deal. Hell, I've impaled a thousand of their ancestors on steel hooks in a pointless endeavor to catch other fish that I don't even like to eat, so they're doing pretty well, regardless.
If you ever want to get cool/interesting fish, then you'll want to maintain a better environment. If you just want to throw some neat to look at guys in there, then that's cool too. The way I look at it, they were lucky to survive the trip to the LFS, and a helluva lot of them will be killed in 2 days by 11 year olds with no clue, so if they get a couple of years in a crummy tank, they're probably still better off.
Topic: Home aquariums. (Read 35406 times)
