How much research do you do?

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Paperlantern4

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 6, 2014
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How much research do you do before acquiring a new fish? I'm pretty obsessive when it comes to research, not just with fish but with any pet. When I decided to get a parrot I did about two years worth of research before deciding a parrot was right for me, and then I did an additional six months of research into the species I was interested in. I don't regret it though, because otherwise I would have been unprepared for such a demanding and intelligent animal. When it comes to fish I'm the same way, there's a small handful of species I'm interested in and I CAN'T stop researching and asking questions. Anyone else do this? Or are you more care-free when purchasing fish?

I think part of my obsessive research stems from the fact that I'm afraid to get a fish and accidentally kill it. I know they are "only fish" but I'd feel bad nonetheless.
 
Good idea to research as some fish do have certain demands to be healthy. A few that come to mind are Discus and Tropheus and even though both are cichlids you could not keep them in the same tank. We have a lot of cichlids and luckily most cichlids are easy keepers. Still it never hurts to look them up and see what they require for care and food. My wife is now also getting into Guppies and other tropical we try to stay with easy keepers it lowers your stress levels. It is nice though once in a while to raise a hard to care for fish to boost your confidence.
 
I am a after the fact kind of guy? probably best explanation for having 5 tanks. :ROFL:
 
Wild Bill, I didn't know discus couldn't be kept with Tropheus. I learn something new every day!

Since I'm getting into Mormyrids, I feel like it's essential I do research since not much is known about them and they tend to be fragile.

Pops, wow, five tanks! I wish I had that many, I don't even have one yet. :P hahaha
 
It depends. If I see it at the lfs, I'll do a quick google search. Sometimes I don't research at all before I get it. That's been the case with most of my fish and have been pretty successful so far. With the case of my goonches, I researched for about a week beforehand. There's pretty much nothing on them so I just looked at threads on here. Then got them after


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I do research but not as extensively as you but it's not because I'm one of those guys who thinks "they're just fish". It's because I started the hobby young way before knowing any better and have learned a lot through trial and error as well as research and experience since. Once you have the basics of fish husbandry down there's less involved in researching in my opinion. Much like after owning a dog you have the basics down and only need research the breed your interested in owning next time, so you can make arrangements for any special needs they might have. Such as Whippets and their susceptibility to the cold, the general personality of the breed, etc.

Another reason for my lack of research time is because most of the fish I am interested in the information on is scarce, so when I do research I find I run out of info. available quite quickly. Even on fish that are well known the information can be lacking or contradictory so it always has to be taken with a grain of salt. Interestingly one of the most important aspects of fishkeeping in my opinion is often ignored in fish profiles, namely what strata of the water the fish are likely to inhabit. This plays a big role when considering aggression, predation, interaction between fish and even tank size; and can vary greatly even within the same family or even genus. Still I do the best I can and often ask others who've had personal experience on here, which is often times better then some of the profiles which just re-hash the same info. over and over again. After that I actually do take the time to list the fish I'm interested in the filtration system and what ornaments I should add and weigh the pros and cons of each before making a decision as well as asking myself what I really want. Do I want something that is just rare/unusual, do I want something I can breed, do I want something aggressive or a community, if a community do I want it to be a colorful display or one of predators. Sometimes it's tedious but I've found I enjoy the hobby more and stick with my stock choices better doing it this way.
 
well ya, started with a small oscar and a bulls eye cat in a 10 gallon, came home read about them and said s^^&*t, going to need a bigger boat. that moved to a 30g about 2 weeks later, sold the 10g, that got moved 2 months later to a 90g. then the wife wanted a tank, so the 75g, alphabet soup tank, then i got a line and got the 180g, well the 90 was empty so got a wild cought female Jag for it, then i got 2 jd to help fill out the 180, well they where a mated pair and took to pinning oscar, so another 75g for the JD pair and the 30g is now a brood tank with fry that I exchange at the local LFS for fish food. who needs to research? buy first and have a great excuse for another tank.:headbang2
 
For me, I like to see what others have done and how they got it done while others failed. Sometimes it seems like constant or at least steady and full feeding, water changes (daily or drip), and stress coat is the solution regardless. lol.

My wife likes discus. We may be trying that. We are rebuilding 125 setup to include a decent sump at about 45g. We're hoping to overcome a lot of issues we've had in the past when we start again and have a really nice looking tank with nice looking fish to match. Just like yourself, we're also looking into momyrids like the elephant dolphin. We're thinking our baby will like to see that but from what I understand, the discus would stress pretty bad. Is this maybe what you have found, too?
 
why stress coat? unless you mean something like prime for water conditioning.
 
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