This has been my experience too. I suspect two things:
1) They're not getting the proper diet and amount of food.
2) In the wild they're a social species, usually occurring in shoals or
small schools. Many aquarium species are solitary. I wonder if keeping a
large group of them -- 10 or more -- will help with longevity.
> I wonder if a bed of 'live sand' in a very large tank would be the ticket?
I've wondered the exact same thing. I've had a 70 gallon (with trickle
filter and chiller, a former reef tank) sitting empty in the basement for a
few years now. My plan has been to collect "live" river sand and see if it
works.
Chris Scharpf
Baltimore
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