Just out for the day with the family and popped into one of the LFS that I kind of trust, I say kind of as I have seen issues in there over the years and heard mixed things but generally good for a local store but not to the standards I'd expect of my usual haunts like Wharf which is a bit further away but the store I regard as my local 
.
Anyway, saw they had some Red Lizard Whiptails in and decided I was going to go for it, been on my list for the tank for a while and meet my current requirements and future requirements (when I switch to RO) and I'm a bit bored now of having no fish and they looked decent quality and the fish room looked really good so thought I'd go for it. For what its worth I have no reservations about adding fish, the tank has been set up for months its a nutrient rich environment there is tons of life in there I've got Amano Shrimp in there but also got populations of fresh water limpets, few pest snails, water fleas and some detritus worms which is an interesting aside but shows its a fertile mature tank. I can also see a rise in nitrates week on week - not loads, less than 5ppm over my tap but thats also with plants growing in there using some of it, crediting this with the fact that not all my plants are 100% successful I also have some new crypts in there that are melting (as expected). But it shows that I have bacteria colonies to supplement the plant growth in processing any ammonia produced. I'd obviously be testing water daily too and responsing imediately if I had to with large water changes.
Anyway, the long and short of it was that as soon as I said they were the first fish in the tank, they switched off and wouldnt sell me the catfish. Which I sort of respect but, then said I should start with a school of Tetras. Which is kind of my problem here, wouldnt listen to who I was as a keeper, not interested in anything I say but happy to sink me into (based on what they knew) a fish in cycle with a school of Tetras in a hard water area... So the respect I gained for them in terms of a welfare concern, they lost by suggesting an IMO greater welfare concern.
Which led me to feel like this...
Wills
.Anyway, saw they had some Red Lizard Whiptails in and decided I was going to go for it, been on my list for the tank for a while and meet my current requirements and future requirements (when I switch to RO) and I'm a bit bored now of having no fish and they looked decent quality and the fish room looked really good so thought I'd go for it. For what its worth I have no reservations about adding fish, the tank has been set up for months its a nutrient rich environment there is tons of life in there I've got Amano Shrimp in there but also got populations of fresh water limpets, few pest snails, water fleas and some detritus worms which is an interesting aside but shows its a fertile mature tank. I can also see a rise in nitrates week on week - not loads, less than 5ppm over my tap but thats also with plants growing in there using some of it, crediting this with the fact that not all my plants are 100% successful I also have some new crypts in there that are melting (as expected). But it shows that I have bacteria colonies to supplement the plant growth in processing any ammonia produced. I'd obviously be testing water daily too and responsing imediately if I had to with large water changes.
Anyway, the long and short of it was that as soon as I said they were the first fish in the tank, they switched off and wouldnt sell me the catfish. Which I sort of respect but, then said I should start with a school of Tetras. Which is kind of my problem here, wouldnt listen to who I was as a keeper, not interested in anything I say but happy to sink me into (based on what they knew) a fish in cycle with a school of Tetras in a hard water area... So the respect I gained for them in terms of a welfare concern, they lost by suggesting an IMO greater welfare concern.
Which led me to feel like this...
Wills
