Bad Fish

[dwarfgourami]

The truth is that many lfs employees know little of fish, unless they develop a special interest. They see them as juveniles for a few days at a time, this does not give them any idea of the problems that can develop over time in a home aquarium. Personally, I think there are fish that should only be sold rarely, and to specialists. Like killifish, which you can usually only get through specialist associations, which means they are likely to end up with people who've done their homework. I would include CAE's in the list of fish I would want to see less of in the lfs. Also irridescent sharks, maybe even bala sharks, not because they're not nice fish, just because of the space they need.

Don't forget to explain to your little one that the fish couldn't help it, it wasn't being mean on purpose, it's like a lion needing to eat meat.

 

[juliehainsworth]

About the CAE's mine were on offer and I even stated that I wanted an algae eater for my small community aquarium and they just said that these would be fine they had approx 30 in one tank! I'm glad I know now what they are so they can be returned.

It seems today that quite a few people are having the same problem with this fish. Its a shame there is nothing that can be done about retailers selling fish willy nilly to everyone and not ensuring that they are suitable for the tanks.......

I once nearly bought some tiger oscars, until the LFS person asked what else I had in my aquarium I was so glad he told me about them not being suitable.... As they looked sooo cute they werent very big at the time

 

[naefearjustbeer]

The truth is that many lfs employees know little of fish, unless they develop a special interest. They see them as juveniles for a few days at a time, this does not give them any idea of the problems that can develop over time in a home aquarium. Personally, I think there are fish that should only be sold rarely, and to specialists. Like killifish, which you can usually only get through specialist associations, which means they are likely to end up with people who've done their homework. I would include CAE's in the list of fish I would want to see less of in the lfs. Also irridescent sharks, maybe even bala sharks, not because they're not nice fish, just because of the space they need.

Don't forget to explain to your little one that the fish couldn't help it, it wasn't being mean on purpose, it's like a lion needing to eat meat.

Dont worry shes got a realistic view of things, the other day when I was watching the blue planet and the orcas were eating sea lions she got a bit upset so I sat her down and now she knows all about the food chain and that Dad is on top of it.

As for the experts fish I tend to agree after looking at this Algea eater it doesnt look like a suitible for beginners type of fish. Our LFS has laods of them in quite a lot of different tanks with many other different species of fish giving the impression that they are suitible for community tanks.

 

[juliehainsworth]

That was the same as my LFS absolutely loads of them crammed in tanks with other community fish!