little ones are growing up... last attempt to buy failed...

[Magnum Man]

so, I have been wanting to add some Nematobrycon lacortei to my South American Tetra tank, my last, ( 2nd ) attemp I ordered a dozen of them, only to wait and have them mature, to find out, that of 12, none of them were lacortei... they aren't often listed, but recently I saw them listed again from the same seller, who I have used multiple times to buy wild caught fish, but, after 2 strikes I decided to wait until another seller lists them... any of you guys had a hard time actually getting the advertised fish from suppliers??? lacortei has proven difficult... on the plus side I now have a really nice shoal of palmeri, as I had a handful of them already, and the bulk of this last order turned out to be palmeri...and a few that appear to be Hyphessobrycon melanostichos

I have not ordered any from Dan's, who is currently also out of stock, but this note was in his listing...

"We are glad to finally have the real Rainbow Tetra. The last several times we've ordered these, we've been sent Nematobrycon palmeri. This time, they sent the correct species, N. lacortei. And, best of all, they are doing great!"

so appearently my experience is not unusual with the lacortei...

 

[GaryE]

There are a lot of similar species, and a few exporters who play fast and loose with identifications. If you go with trade names, then they're all emperors. That'll do for the fish triage guys.
I have "Corydoras" Hoplisome granti I just got in the place of "Cory" Brochis arcuata. The two species are similar but for the head structure, and the seller didn't notice. They, along with a few other species are sold as skunk corys.
That royally messes up my plans to breed arcuata, but hey, granti isn't as nice but remains a good cory.
When I worked with a seller of rare fish, he would key out everything that arrived, often using the original species descriptions and biogeography data. When you go to make an order and they're offering to sell you something that occurs at1500 km from their area in a bordering country, then you have to be skeptical and expect something else to be in that bag.
I wish someone would send me melanostichos instead of palmeri. That was a score for you - the other side of poor identification by the seller. Sometimes you can get something rare in the place of a well known species. Exporter mistakes can be a problem, but they are often the only source of some really special finds.
More than one species unknown to science has been found in a mislabelled group of fish.

 

[Essjay]

I once ordered some fish from an actual shop rather than on-line. They phoned me to tell they'd arrived so I went to collect them a few days later.
They'd ordered Microdevario kubotai (neon green rasboras) for me but when I looked at them they were obviously one of the Boraras species, they hadn't coloured up yet so it was hard to tell which one. When I pointed this out the man at the shop had a good look and agreed with me. He checked the invoice from the wholesaler and that stated M. kubotai rather than a substitute.
There was no excuse for this as M. kubotai look nothing like any of the Boraras.

The shop reordered the kubotai and this time they were kubotai.

 

[Innesfan]

As @anewbie said in a related thread, it's not just 'trade names' that are the problem; fish are misdentified by their purported scientific names all the time. I ask for photos of the actual fish in question and most suppliers will oblige especially if you explain why you are asking.

On this forum, we recently had a report of Laetacara dorsigera sold as L. curviceps, though the buyer was happy to be on the receiving end of that error. This mix-up is so widespread it is more the rule than the exception. Mix-ups in Nannostomus are routine and not only with suppliers. Websites, books and magazines commonly get them wrong. There are at least three species passed off as Brevibora dorsiocellata, Emerald Eye Rasboras. One does not remain tiny and never develops the emerald eye. And my recent shipment of Puntigrus partipentazona, Dwarf Tiger Barbs, included several P. anchisporus. And these examples are just for starters.

 

[anewbie]

Don't even get me started on g. surinamensis even if they are trivial to identify these days it is still hard to get people to believe they are selling the wrong species.

 

[Innesfan]

I've written to Dan three times about this one but he has yet to fix it. This is NOT Nannostomus trifasciatus. It is N. marilynae.

THIS is N. trifasciatus:

 

[Magnum Man]

So interestingly Jack Wattley lists a lot of the lacortei, I contacted them, & they will guarantee the correct species... for what ever that is worth... as they are the seller, that sent me the larger earth eaters, for cupids, so I may ask for pictures, before they ship...

 

[anewbie]

So interestingly Jack Wattley lists a lot of the lacortei, I contacted them, & they will guarantee the correct species... for what ever that is worth... as they are the seller, that sent me the larger earth eaters, for cupids, so I may ask for pictures, before they ship...

Isn't jack wattley the horrible person to use for discus or was that another discus site - i forget which one is a scam.

 

[Innesfan]

Jack Wattley himself is long gone. His business is now owned and run by Gabe Posada and, yes, many discus people are not enthused about his practices.

 

[anewbie]

Jack Wattley himself is long gone. His business is now owned and run by Gabe Posada and, yes, many discus people are not enthused about his practices.

What became of jack - ouch he died at 95 in 2018. Man people have gotta stop aging; it does crap to their health.

Hum pity this gabe person didn't learn from Jack's talent given that they worked together for 15 or so years before he passed.

Jack Wattley, Discus King, Passes Away at 95 - AMAZONAS Magazine

The Discus community has lost one of its true pioneers with the passing of Jack Wattley in early October, 2018.

www.amazonasmagazine.com

 

[Magnum Man]

been two days, since the supplier reassured me they had the lacortei, and was going to double check to guarantee, and since, no reply... guessing the 686 lacortei, turned into palmeri, and likely a much lower number, as that seems like an awful lot of them, even for a big name supplier...
patience sucks...