Wow Mik, you actually have room to house 1000 feeders?!? Where?!? Lucky!!!
The reason so many "feeder fish" are often dead or dying on arrival to the store is not that they are any more susceptible to illness than other fish, but the conditions they're kept in. It drives me nuts hearing this over and over again, and I'm disappointed to hear you saying that they're sick *because* of what they are, with no regard to how they're kept.
Look at the tanks the stores keep these fish in: 10-20 gallon tanks holding HUNDREDS of fish at a time. Just think of the water quality... oi! The stress of traveling has very little to do with it, I'm sure, unless by stress you were referring to oxygen depravation and poisoning? It's bad enough in a tank, but how well do you think these fish fare in plastic bags that have more fish than water in them? It's not surprising that most suffocate or die from ammonia poisoning before they reach the store! There's nothing special about feeder fish. They're usually the excess/unwanted spawns of livebearers, and young comet goldfish- nowhere near as popular as the fancy varieties, and far harder to sell except as "feeders." They're not arriving dead at your store because they're feeders, but because no one cares enough to give them a chance. They're just going to be eaten anyway, right?
Yes, disease is more likely to spread among feeders than other fish, but only because they're overcrowded and stressed to start- ideal conditions for disease to set in. Some stores will even feed you the BS that feeder fish only have a natural lifespan of a few weeks, to explain the high mortality rates. "Feeder" goldfish SHOULD live for 20+ years if properly cared for. Guppies, platies, mollies, and whatever else you may be feeding also live for a number of years. Mollies in particular are misunderstood- these are actually a brackish water species, and while they do survive and will even reproduce in freshwater, are WAY hardier and longer-lived if kept in light brackish conditions.
If fish stores would actually give these animals the appropriate living conditions needed to keep them healthy and happy it would eliminate the need to quarantine new livestock at home and weed out any possible illnesses. But they won't, so we quarantine. You know this is why we quarantine new animals. Fish, axolotls, frogs... everything. This is a great site and I love that people here actively promote quarantine practices, but I will not stand back and let you tell people that Feeder fish have a natural tendency towards sickness and that THIS is why they should be quarantined. That's a load of <font color="ff0000">•</font><font color="ff0000">•</font><font color="ff0000">•</font><font color="ff0000">•</font> and breeds ignorance. There are enough people already going around with the notion that a fish is "just a fish." Stop giving people a reason to use the excuse that "it was just a feeder fish" whenever one of these dies, as they run out to buy another dozen. These are sensitive living beings that deserve better, and people should have higher expectations as well- Like you did, or anyone else who's taken the time to set up a breeding tank. You obviously knew that these fish are not born sickly, thought you could do better, and thus have a healthier, sustainable food source for your axolotls- Why bother breeding them otherwise? The purpose of sites like this one should be to educate people, not to regurgitate the same misinformation that's already out there.
