So I have entered a local aquarium or 5 on the weekend and have notice something that they all have in common.

1. Stocking of may varieties of fish in the same tanks ( 4 or 5 types of american cichlids say )?
2. Most , not all use the technical name of the fish in the tank??
3. How do I know from the little picture on the front of the tank ( thats always of an adult in full colour ) if I am being sold the right fish I have asked for???

#1 As I am new to the world of Cichlids in general this may seem strange to those of you far more learned than I. But for a newbie the trust you put in the shop assistant is 100%. I saw many small fish that didn't look all that much differant from others in the tank. So if the they are having an of day, we pay.Also this could encorage Hybridising?
#2 I struggle to get my head around alot of the tech. names of the fish. On this site I sometimes have to resort to googling said names so I can put a face to the name (so to speak). I understand that this is part of learning and we all have to do this.A we are a large community of like mind people, could we not set up a topic called fish I.D that has not only pictures of adult but of Juviniles aswell. Could be put under both tech and common name with some basic info about them. I understand that it takes time and effort to do these things but as a newbie this would be an asset
#3 Juviniles dont always resemble the adult . So if you work, know or own an aquarium retailer, just a thought would be to add a picture of the juvinile next to the adult picture. This may help with sales as it will give confidence to us with less knowlegable.

May be I am way of the mark with this. If I am so be it. This is not a shot at anyone inparticular it is my observation.

Cheers

Thanks for the tips, i'll pass em on.

hi messmaker, i had the same problem when i started out, still do some times, i also used google which is a good way of finding out, the best places i have found to buy fish from are smaller aqaurium shops, the staff in these shops are usually the owners, and have and/or breed what they sell at home and are therefore alot more helpful the bigger stores such as petbarn etc only have 1 or 2 people 2 work in the fish section if they are not available to help u get someone who doesnt know what they are talking about, an even better source is breeders from the forum, who better to ask and prices are cheaper by alot, i was sold few fish from stores that where not what i thought it is costly and frustrating. moral of this rant stick to small shops and forum members.
just my 12 cents
ant

I bought fish from shops for years......... I never really made the effort to look online because I always wanted to see something, buy it and be done with it.
Now that I frequent this forum, I want to kick myself for the amount of money I could have saved by joining earlier.
Most people seem more trustworthy than LFS's and I believe that this forum is where the best deals are at!

I have found both small and large aquarium stores have the same problem. When I have gone into a small LFS there are usually only one or two sales people there. When they get customers that are asking a lot of questions when the shop has a two or three customers it can be hard to get service.
I simply wait as I know buying fish is not like buying fast food.
As for larger LFS they may have one or two people working in the aquarium section as well and if you need to get someone from another section of the store to help you then you must be in a real hurry, buying fish at your LFS is not like buying fast food.

#2 great idea, unfortunately even most good aquarium fish books don’t show a lot of juvenile with adult photos. It would be great to have a section like that here.