Fish Compatibility Section

I think a section dedicated to the different compatibilities within fish would be pretty cool. I know the automatic section to put questions into would be the tropical freshwater fish.... but for new comers (like myself) setting up tanks...deciding on fish is a pretty stressful process. If there was plenty of posts of different fish going well together and what not to put together it might make it easier..... ive seen so many people online discussing how there going to put their betta with guppies.... or get 3 or four red tail black sharks for one tank .....a section where these mistakes are expressed by the pro fish keepers on this forum would be greatly appreciated....

Just an idea regarding what i found difficult 2 months ago setting up a tank.....

any criticism will be respected and understood so go lightly

i think there was a request previously for a fish profile section also but as far as i remember the conclusion was that there was no need because there were enough related websites on the internet if people would only look.
i can see the same outcome here because for the sake of putting a thread up requesting compatibility of certain fish well if only people would use google i could imagine alot more have asked the same question before!! maybe if shops selling these fish had more interest to ask what will they be kept with well then there would also be no need.
just my 2cents lad

I 95% agree with you haha. Google does help alot. But then again their is a lot of conflicting information out there on the web. A section on this forum would be more worth while for us newbies as it would be more based on people we knows experiences of having different fish together and how they did it rather that looking on google ...and yahoo answers has someone saying " yea i put 20 guppies and 3 betta and a goldfish into a 5 gallon and they all got on fine, until i woke up the next day and everything died" haha. Some serious junk out there on the web....

As expressed before... only a little suggestion so thanks davey for the reply

Hi gilly,
i use www.aqadvisor.com i find it useful as a guide also it calculates juvenile fish also have a look see what you think!
jim

That looks like a very cool tool jim thanks for sharing it with me going to give it a blast now

haha, personaly i wouldn't bother reading the answers on yahoo answers (although i got reasonable advise on it when i started breeding poultry) and instead would just realy go to the fish sites for a better answer based on experience or opinions from the more experienced.
i understand where your coming from though...

As with any internet stuff, what you get are peoples opinions.

The internet is absolutely full of rubbish.....and finding a jewel in a tonne of garbage is no fun:
especially for someone starting out as they may not recognise crap from crap.

One advantage of having such a topic on a forum is that there is a potential to weed out things and for people posting replies to work out if someone is new to this or not.

There are fish mixes that will work very well in the hands of someone with experience but could be a disaster for someone with their very first tank.

On the other hand, if someone with experience wanted to venture further then many of the so-called internet calculators (even if half decent) fail.

Google is not always that great......popular cites are the ones most likely at the top of the list......but popular does not necessarily mean good.

I checked out the link and decided to put in a 6x2x2 foot tank the following...

1 Betta smaragdina
1 Golden Killifish,
1 Betta macrostoma, and
1 Polypterus delhezi (just for the craic).

It did not give any compatibility errors, and gave a totally incorrect water chemistry as well.

It was only when I added a malawi cichlid to this group that I got any compatibility errors.

Not wishing to knock these on-line calculators, but they tend to address the obvious and not look at mad-cap mixes that someone may actually go for.

But, I do agree with Gilly that maybe a section to query mixes would be good here to separate it from the rest of the threads.

All too often a common note from people is "that won't mix with that in your tank".

And....of course....always a good opportunity for some heated (not rude mind) debate.

ian

in fairness this is an internet site also which could also accumulate alot of what looks like rubbish and crap to some newbies also so i don't see a difference there. also there have been threads where (lets say for example) a very experienced fishkeeper (nobody particular in mind ) couldn't for the life of them have any success with rams yet a newbie could have great success by hitting pot luck with their water being perfect for them... now thats where opinions also come up on this site also with everyone having their own opinion, conflicting opinions at times, so to say looking up google is next to useless is quite inaccurate to me.... the way i see it is ye get all sorts of advise as much here as anywhere else and common sense would possibly help when deciding which is good or bad.

I have to disagree with you there davey. There is no such thing as common sense for newbie fishkeepers...common sense as far as fish keeping, goes as far as knowing "you must change the water every once in a while", common sense doesnt tell an amateur in this hobbie that you cannot put a guppie with a betta in most cases... or guppies and barbs dont go well together. Most newbies havent got a clue about different species and their requirments in terms of tank mates. thats why i feel a section dedicated to the discussion.... not facts....discussion of how people on this forum have mixed species peacefully

As I said, it is all about opinions being expressed.....and there is no grading as to the validity of the opinions.
And, no grading could ever be given to such opinions either.

Where a forum, such as this, does come in handy is that things can be teased out.....as opposed to, say, trying to tease out the validity of opinions in, say, PFK where there is no real feedback function.

There is a good reason why I would much prefer, personally, to be a member of forums such as this instead of simply going off and building a website with no real interaction.
If I post something, then I welcome it to be challenged and questioned and teased out further.......if I didn't want challenge, then I wouldn't bother posting anything in the first place.

What I have always said about experience is that experience counts for nothing much unless skills are developed. Some people pick up the skills very quickly, and some do not.

The point that I have always asked of a "beginner" is when you stop becoming a "beginner"?

@Davey_C.....I think that common-sense is a funny thing, and is often absent in all walks of life and levels of skill and experience.
What some of us see as common sense, others are oblivious....and that doesn't just mean newbies to fish-keeping.

ian

Gilly wrote:

I have to disagree with you there davey. There is no such thing as common sense for newbie fishkeepers...common sense as far as fish keeping, goes as far as knowing "you must change the water every once in a while", common sense doesnt tell an amateur in this hobbie that you cannot put a guppie with a betta in most cases... or guppies and barbs dont go well together. Most newbies havent got a clue about different species and their requirments in terms of tank mates. thats why i feel a section dedicated to the discussion.... not facts....discussion of how people on this forum have mixed species peacefully

i didn't mean newbies to a hobby should have the common sense to start with, what i ment was with info aquired from the net through some investigation into compatibility of their chosen fish that a good conclusion can be came to!
its either yes their compatable, no their not compatable, i found the info conflicting and couldn't decide but there may be problems so i'll risk it or not... maybe with the last 1 ye might ask then based on finding but all these are based on common sense... well to me anyways and i'd say to lots others too.

don't get me wrong, i'm not doggin' the idea because it would certainly be handy for a number of reasons to have dedicated section but as they say "there is more than 1 way toskin a cat"

ps i googled the compatibility of guppies and bettas and got a respectable outcome so i supose its up to the person asking the question as to the level of answers the wish to achieve.

would be interesting to hear a lot more views on the subject from more members

I see where your coming from, but out of a matter of convenience one could spend hours searching conflicting information online.... or you could post a question into this section... and read informative information gathered by people we somewhat know from their experience on such questions potentially posted....


its just a matter of convenience having answers come to you rather than being searched for... and the information coming from our fellow members rather than some 14 year old in the middle of america on youtube telling me how to make a goldfish live in 2 gallons haha

I use a smashing app on my Galaxy S3 called Tropical Fish Guide, pocket edition by M.Stevens and it is the business as far as I am concerned, vast amount of information about individual fish, their requirements including common illnesses etc, compatibility issues, tank requirements, minimum number recommended and so on, it deals equally with plants, further notes are available and a link to articles on internet provided.
The app seems to be updated regularly
At the moment it does not cover marine stuff

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co...de.android.fishguide

I have an s3... but not 2.50 on my credit card haha deffo an investment on pay day though

from your 2 suggestions it seems you have been looking in all the wrong places anyways so i'm not surprised you have asked for such a section ... i'll quit while i'm ahead though because to me i seem to be getting mostly narrow minded replies!
i couldn't be the only one who believes there are people worldwide who are just as knowledgeable or experienced as some members here to imply that their knowledge or experiences are unnecessary is a bit narrow minded to say the least considering the very same info will just be repeated in the requested section... won't it??...
convenient doesn't mean you will be handed the best advise, cut out all the conflicting crap or the 14y/o that think their master fishkeepers, does it??.... seriously though it only made sense to me when you used the 14y/o goldfish keeper as an example

maybe a poll for fun could be put on this if only a few of us will voice out thought with a bit of friendly banter also?... just think it would be interesting to get more involved and that way it would be anonymous lol

True.....convenience does not mean a cut-n-shut case of a complete answer.

Similarly, no one compatibility chart can be qualified wrt validity.
How much is guesswork? How much is copy-n-pasted from ancient out-of-date knowledge without updating as things progress?

(ditto any information on forums like this).

What is needed is a complete collation of data from as many sources as possible.
Noise analysis will soon show what is most probable and what is just random noise.

If the hobby becomes dogmatic, then there will be little room for advancement.

What is a "rule" now may not be a rule in 20 years time.......so how do we progress stagnant "rules"?
That includes the compatibility of fish species (albeit in only a limited number of cases).

Similarly, questions on "what is good starter fish?" have answers that also need progressing.

It is interesting when reading the various threads that I do see posters reply with "you can't keep that with that" or "get some danios" etc etc.
Is there an indication that such posts are not the realms of a forum, and should only be answered by random finding a expert-system website (and expert systems are only as good as the people who use them, the programmers behind them, and the suppliers of expert data)?

I can still see Gilly's point. It means that he has made some observations of what are quite common posts.

ian

The examples i used were quite cleary made up as i do not or have never owned coldwater fish not including flipper the comet i had when i was four..... I wouldnt go as far as to say " while im ahead" davey, one cannot consider their opinion ahead considering only 5 people have responded to this topic, one being ian who has also agreed there is a place on this forum for fish compatibility queries. All i said is compatibility questions could do well in their own forum out of a matter of convenience....and the buzz of getting information you can reply to and ask further questions to is a perk too. Articles no matter who wrote them only have said amount of information. Topics on this forum give you the ability to ask further questions rather then beginning a whole new search for your next query... and maybe im on my own but id like to get my information from people i know will respond to any further queries i have in a matter of hours.

You have basically made out that there is no place for such a thread and to suggest one is out of pure laziness of not wanting to search the web. Yet in saying that you are also saying the same about many of the sections on the website including beginners haven which im sure you have posted in at the beginning of your membership, but am i right to say no one replied to you saying " get off your a*se and search elsewhere".In response to your statement "i couldn't be the only one who believes there are people worldwide who are just as knowledgeable or experienced as some members here " i am not suggesting that at all. all i suggested for was certain questions in relation to compatibility could be answered a little close to home... Heck ... All the questions posted in section on this website could easily be answered by articles and videos by "knowledgable and experienced fishkeepers, worldwide" including plant queries, water and health queries but is everyone who posts questions on this forum regarding these aspect to fishkeeping just lazy davey? I dont think so, they just have preferences as to where they want to gather up to date information from people with experience they can relate to.

And thats why this forum exists......informative , convenient, allows exchange of ideas and info and is just good fun interaction.

Where as online searching for answers only has an informative aspect. Convenience .... no..... allows exchange of ideas...... not unless you want to wait 3 months for a reply off someone who wrote an article...... and interaction doesnt take place.

So Davey we can only agree to disagree.... and not suggest that one of us "are ahead"

that was an expression lad, same as your fabricated suggestions
i never said it was out of laziness and never implied that you haven't attempted to research to expand your knowledge, just that you were searching the wrong places because there was a lack of positivity within those fabricated suggestions.... now to some a request for a certain topic for convenience reasons might sound a bit lazy you have to admit but is that in any of my posts??... no... all i was saying was that i would hate for a newbie to treat any 1 forum as their sole source of information because its convenient for them!!
true, i have asked questions in posts but i also reseach the net as well as previous threads but what i learned 5 years previous to joining forums (i hadn't got internet when i started fishkeeping) i learned from good advise in my lfs!! whats wrong with asking in lfs would such a fish mix with my fish and i keep blah blah blah.... exactly... you might get an educated answer or a load of someones opinion. now my point is you get the same here as anywhere else but as you said and i also agree to disagree

Some great opinions on this thread,

I don't have much time to be on the forum tonight as heading away for a few days and have to get ready to head the air port.

But i really am liking this idea and can not see anything wrong with having a "Fish Compatibility Section"

So when i get back on Sunday night i will look into it and do some work on it to get it up and running and this way we can see how it goes for a while and if all good it will stay,

Idea's like this make our forum as good as it is and also to get better.

Thanks

Sean

No problem Blueram, thank you for the positive feedback. Be cool to see it get a trial run anyway... so people can discuss the mixing of all different ranges of fish both common and uncommon.

Gilly wrote:

No problem Blueram, thank you for the positive feedback. Be cool to see it get a trial run anyway... so people can discuss the mixing of all different ranges of fish both common and uncommon.

No worries mate,

Anytime any other ideas?

Talk Soon

Sean

+1

I think it's a great idea...


why not ?





Des

des wrote:

+1

I think it's a great idea...


why not ?





Des

Few day's Des few days

Sean

Considering in my local fish shop i deal with des from maxi zoo i would always go with his opinion as he is an expert in my opinion, but even he has told me of the perks of asking questions on the forum and has praised the interaction you get between members.... and thats why i prefer forums to external sources of information such as videos and articles.

But enough waffling on anyway... we have agreed to disagree and judging by seans post regarding the topic it looks like we have got ourselves an answer on whether it has potential or not.

WoW gilly you have some clout lol.
From what i have learned stocking compatibility is done on guide lines only as with all animals fish have individual personalities and each species have traits in common but not all fish comply to these species traits and gilly is right when new there has to be some reliable guidelines on compatibility maybe some of the "big dogs" out there forget what its like not to have a bank of knowledge stored in their minds and as we are here to learn and maybe help others and trust most of the advice we see it would be great to get stocking advice that comes from a source that you can question why, how, and what if and get a reply which is current and based on your individual circumstances.
jim

@Davey_C....... I've always found that you are a great contributor to forums, and always give a good reply.

And, yep, you are right that no one forum is going to give answers to all topics.

We know, for example, that some forums may be "freshwater" heavy and some may be "Marine" heavy.
Different people with different expertise may gravitate to one forum in preference to another forum.....not necessarily because one is better than the other, but it may be that 80% of people on one forum may happen to be into a particular theme.

ian

you have a good source of info there gilly, i know des since my school days so know what he's like and would have no hesitation recommending the man to anyone

we are all here to help each other after all

I love this Site
plain and simple
I suggest this Site to People on a daily basis...

a Forum is about discussing Your opinions
Fish Compatibility Section, I'm sold
just once a big massive list of some sort isn't expected and that Users contribute without mania...


It's not a thing of which source has the best info. etc. etc.
just discussions on what fish users think might get along...

maybe there should be a Users Compatibility Section



Des

+1 des
Where is the fish list for today des are you sure you have time for jokes lol
jim

and thats exactly why i prefer to get my information here because the likes of yourself , ian, des and everyone else are happy to help and will respond to my questions. Whether the information given to me on this forum is of a better standard than what i could find online... who knows! but i like how its personal on this forum i really do,it makes you feel special and that your queries are important and answered... haha (

In relation to the potential section, itll be good cause as an example i could easily find out online that a RTBS should be kept on its own.... but someone on this forum might of kept four of them successfully and id like to be able to ask further questions of how he did it.... online articles tell you what you can and cant do.... its hard to find info on how people defyed the laws set down for species...and itll be even better because species i might not have ever heard about will be named etc ... and itll widen my knowledge of fish species......and tbh i need that knowledge ask des.... it was only last week he had to give me a pronunciation lesson on how to say cichlids ..... " No gilly your saying it wrong its not kick lids..... its cichlids"


I really enjoyed the auwl debate anyway, my first one on this forum so thanks for that davey