If I Said Royal Ram...would You Know What I Meant?

[Curiosity101]

I've been talking to my lfs's supplier by e-mail, asking them when they next get a shipment of Bolivian Rams (Mikrogeophagus altispinosus). They told me they'd finally sourced some, so excitedly I phoned the lfs today (the day after their delivery comes from the supplier). And they tell me 'No we don't have any bolivian rams', I completely ignored them and went down.

Low and behold...they have them in stock! I wasn't surprised, so I asked them 'what are these fish called', and he says 'They're Royal rams'...I stood there a bit bemused looking at a tank of bolivians thinking ???

Also I'd had a very good look, and there wasn't a single one with ANY tail extensions or any other male defining feature. And I ask (knowing he can't say there are for certain), "Are there any males in there?", to which he replies "Erm....yep, yep that one definitely is".

So anyways, either I'm going a little bit crazy...or the lfs is just very mis informed. Would it be really bad of me to take a couple of print outs with the correct names on. I'm not trying to be arrogant, I'm literally just thinking about all the people who are being mis informed...if you google Royal Ram, you get not care information etc etc.

 

[mixmaster jay]

ive got a royal ram. i think you could say something just be abit tackfull in doing so you dont want them to take it the wrong way lol

 

[Davo86]

Red Rams and Royal Rams are lesser known common names for Bolivian Rams, you will find Dobbies stores for example use the common name Red Ram, whilst all P@h stores use the common name Royal Ram.

Although any half decent LFS employee should know this

Easiest way to show them is to grab the nearest book and point out the page for Bolivian Rams

 

[mixmaster jay]

true they should be clued up on all fish they should do there research

 

[meguro]

All my lfs's call them bolivian butterfly. I guess they use papiliochromis instead of microgeophagus.

 

[markandhisfish]

my lfs sells them as red rams . thought id found a new ram til i came home and did some research lol

 

[Truck]

use scientific names, all i ever do to make sure im getting what i actually want!

 

[markandhisfish]

wouldnt really work in most cases truck altho i see your point. imagine going up to most lfs employees and asking if they had an aequedens pulcher. they wouldnt have a clue lol .

 

[Curiosity101]

Lol. I thought about using the scientific name. There were only two problems, I couldn't pronounce or spell it... lol. And yes, I knew of the other names red ram and butterfly ram. But after googling royal ram....I wasn't convinced it was a popular enough 'common'. Plus they specifically said 'We've had bolivian rams on order for ages and they can't get hold of any' I was like....I'm looking at bolivian rams right now. At the very least they should know the common names of the fish right? Maybe next time I go in, I'll take a copy of the bolivians latin name. And then ask them to show me the 'Royal rams' latin name. So I can 'compare' and then I'll subtly edge in that these fish are more commonly know as bolivian rams, not royal.