common names

[jason longboard]

Thank you guys for not bashing me for using com names still,Im workin on learning all the real names,just got alot goin on,kinda miss the days when i could sit around and study this stuff more,ill always try to look up the proper names if im asking something that i think you might not get.Used to be on a foreign tarantula site and some ppl were way over board,I love learning the scientific names,but if i couldnt find it these ppl would get so caddy or honestly just pissy. you guys seem to overlook my lack of knowlage and focus on the care of the fish.Anyway i do see the importance of scientific names and hold great interest in them but thanks to all for keepin this a somewhat safe site,seen some agresion on a few threads,kind of enjoyed it,after all we do like cichlids,not realy the most peacefull fish alive.Dang i must have been bored.sorry.:lipsseale

[Horiyoshi III]

Don't apolgise......well spoken....we like aggressive fish so we tend to get aggressive ourselves.

[Gr8KarmaSF]

MFK is for fish keepers of all levels. Threads get heated sometimes but most of the times they are respectful discussions and debates, one of the reasons I like this site so much!

Glad you found a home here with us!

[X24]

i don't really know scientific names besides all the bichir because there is no common name for most of them...lol i'm right with ya

[Fish_are_fishfood]

I have to use enough scientific names at school, so I love sticking to the commons here at MFK. I think the commons are better at times, especially when people use the wrong scientific name, then it gets confusing.

[fishyz]

I only know a small hand full of scientific names but I'm learning them. Besides, all of us started with common names.:)

[Wolf3101]

At times... using the proper names for aquarium fish is necessary and appreciated but at others it just gets in the way. Looking down your nose at someone for using a common name is silly and counterproductive.

[X24]

i.e. :

somebody: i have an amphilophus labiatus!
me: you have an ampibious dog?

Somebody: i have a red devil!
me: cool, i love red devils!

[Bderick67]

If you use sceintific names, 90% of MFK will be on google to find out what the fish are.

[Mystix212]

If you use sceintific names, 90% of MFK will be on google to find out what the fish are.

I do that. But Im quite good with scientific names. So long as you know the first part, you know what species it is. Sort of.

[sNAkeDoG :: CLMT]

i like it simple
and IRIE!!!!

[ShadowBass]

If you use sceintific names, 90% of MFK will be on google to find out what the fish are.

Yeah, including me, lol.

I mostly use scientific names when the common name could refer to several species, or there is a lack of a common name whatsoever.

Some of my fish I have no choice but to use the scientific name because they're so uncommon they don't even have a common name. (Anostomus ternetzi, rarely sold by itself, usually mixed in with Anostomus anostmus (striped headstanders) and mislabeled as such).

Leporinus desmotes, usually sold as Leporinus fasciatus (black banded Leporinus). Or several other Leporinus species usually sold as Leporinus fasciatus, or black banded leporinus.

Sometimes there is no getting around scientific names if you want to identify a fish, but I'm not going to fault someone for using the common name if it USUALLY refers to one species of fish, or if they can't find the scientific name. Like with my Abramites hypselonotus - I usually refer to him as a marbled headstander because that's the ONLY fish that name commonly refers to. In fact I don't know anyone that commonly refers to their marbled headstander by the scientific name.

No one can memorize all the scientific names (ok well maybe someone can lol), and I usually only memorize the ones that apply to fish I actually own, have owned, are planning on owning, or I come into contact with on a constant basis. It's especially useful when I want to buy a fish, because sometimes asking for a fish by common name will result in the wrong one being ordered.

[ShadowBass]

I do that. But Im quite good with scientific names. So long as you know the first part, you know what species it is. Sort of.

Hmmm...see my last post...;)

If you know the first part you only know the genus, not the species, and a genus could have a hundred or more species in it.

Like if I say I have a Polypterus. Which species am I talking about?

[jason longboard]

The worst is when your in a store and your explaining something to the pro and you miss pronounce just slightly the name of the fish and they correct you in the middle of your sentence.Let me at least finish,you knew dang well what i was talking about,and then you can give me the english lesson.Shop in new hall ca suprised me,little off topic but thought youd all get a kick,he wouldnt answer questions for nothin,told him what i was setting up and asked for fish recomendations and as far as medium cichs he said oh their is thousands but refused to talk about anything he didnt carry,said he wont order anything for me,i asked how big his scats got,he said those wont be here when your tanks ready so dont even bother lookin at those.I tried to go all scientific on him so hed know i knew something but he wouldent even help me decide on sump filtration or canisters for my 125,i bought my last 2 oscars from this guy,he realy treated me like a shmuck,so i killed with kindness.that was the freakin owner.Ppl in hermosa beach treated me king.Killer selection.sorry off toppic but wasnt sure wher to post this,dont know if he was fish snob,just a dick or just havin a bad day,thank you guys for all your loyalty to the hobby.

[Mystix212]

Like if I say I have a Polypterus. Which species am I talking about?

I'd know your talking about Birchirs.
If someone else said I just brought a Pterophyllum I'd know what fish they brought, at least what kind of fish they brought. You get me?

[CTU2fan]

Hmm that's funny actually, I was in the LFS looking at fish and they had the nicest little poly, pretty sure it was a palmas, anyway about 4" or so. No tag/price. So I asked the guy, how much is that lil' polypterus you've got? He says "the what?" I said "ya know, the bichir". He's just lookin at me...so at this point I'm like "the little eely thing over there" and damned if I didn't mime the poly's lobe fins with my hands. He goes "OH the prehistoric palmas eel". I said yeah, that's it. He goes $28 which I'd have paid but I think my O would have eaten him :(

Anyway I usually go common names but for some fish I don't, mostly because I've never used the common name for it or I knew it first by it's scientific name. For example I always call jags managuense, when I worked @ the LFS years ago we started getting them in and that's what we called them. When I popped on here and folks were on about Jags I wondered what it was, then saw somebody's pic...OH a managuense.

Yep & I'm with ShadowBass on the anostomus...I have an A. gracilis that I actually bought as A. trimaculatus. At least when I thought it was trimaculatus I could call it a trimac :)

[captainawesome]

what bothers me is the whole green terror issue....no one calls them the right thing, rivulatus, silver saum, gold saum...they almost always have them confused

[ShadowBass]

I'd know your talking about Birchirs.
If someone else said I just brought a Pterophyllum I'd know what fish they brought, at least what kind of fish they brought. You get me?


I get what you're saying. All I'm saying is the genus alone doesn't always give enough information if you're looking for certain details, like proper tank size and such.

[Greenaveli]

Im with Mystix in agreeing that at least when u know the genus at least you are more familiar even though requirements and size differ from species to species.

Welcome Mr. Longboard. I have friends in Bakersfield.