Hi All

[jamesmacc]

i have had a look on the trimar site and there are a few names i reconise, the problem is that with pets at home etc i can look at the fish i like were as if i buy them online i just see names and im abit worried i will buy the wrong type of fish that wont mix well. i will start a new topic with advise on what fish go well together and then ill search up on them to see how they look.
thanks, james

 

[KittyKat]

You should be making sure you're an expert on all the fish you want to buy before you buy them, which includes IDing by common and scientific names, and IDing by how they look when they are not labelled. Expect to spend at least a few hours researching each species you want to consider. Do not ever trust a single source and do become accustomed to which ones are more reliable. I do 99% of my research online as I can't quite afford the species reference books I mentioned earlier (not top of my list to get, at the moment).

If you email Trimar with the common name they have listed, they will be able to tell you the scientific names and these will be enough for you to research the fish.. or get a list of scientific names for the species you want and send those to Trimar asking which common names they use or directly for prices. Do talk to your potential suppiers, good ones will take their time to talk and will be helpful. Don't trust everything someone who will get your money says.

Do not impulse buy fish you don't know about.. this is the most common reason for stocking problems.

 

[jamesmacc]

thanks so much for the advise. once i see the fish i would like then i will research them before buying anything. i take it i should look at things like,what to feed them, water temp and ph, water hardness, if they are shy or friendly with others, if they like plants etc to hide away in?

 

[KittyKat]

Yes, look at diet, water preferences (many fish are flexible enough that these are not strict requirements), aggression levels, whether they will shred plants (I don't know of a single species which would not benefit from plants in the aquarium), how many one should keep together and of what sexes (it matters for some), whether they need a bio-tope environment.. etc. The exact points of interest to depend on the species, your job is to find out as much as possible.

In general, rainbows, loaches and gouramis should be fine together. It's not a good idea to mix different species of gourami due to aggression and as long as you have 10+ per species of rainbow and loach, they won't bother other fish. You have now given me the idea of writing up useful generalisations about groups of species

 

[jamesmacc]

ok thats what i will do, i have started searchin and found some lovely community fish that have been recomended, platy's look lovely and also melanotaenia boesemani rainbow fish, Neon Blue Dwarf Gourami (Colisa lalia). hopefully this weekend i will get some proper time to research the best fish for me.
thanks, james