I forgot to add that you really need to look up your potential purchases before you buy them from now on.
I can't believe someone gave you such a generous gift without even giving you a basic book to at aleast try and get you going. The older books may not be great by todays standards but they still give you a decent starting point.
I suggest getting online for a few hours of study, particularly in the filtration section and here in the C/SA section. Also, it may be worth taking a look at Aquaria Central as they have a section dedicated to profiles. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=108
Also scout around the net, I like to use:
http://fishprofiles.com/profiles/list.php?category=5,
http://www.aquahobby.com/e_freshwater_tropical_aquarium_fish.php,
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/kb.php,
http://www.planetcatfish.com/ and
http://www.loaches.com/
That covers most of the species that you will probably see in your lfs without special order and a lot of oddballs too. They aren't 100% accurate (what is?) but they are IMO some of the better ones availible.
I can't believe someone gave you such a generous gift without even giving you a basic book to at aleast try and get you going. The older books may not be great by todays standards but they still give you a decent starting point.
I suggest getting online for a few hours of study, particularly in the filtration section and here in the C/SA section. Also, it may be worth taking a look at Aquaria Central as they have a section dedicated to profiles. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=108
Also scout around the net, I like to use:
http://fishprofiles.com/profiles/list.php?category=5,
http://www.aquahobby.com/e_freshwater_tropical_aquarium_fish.php,
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/kb.php,
http://www.planetcatfish.com/ and
http://www.loaches.com/
That covers most of the species that you will probably see in your lfs without special order and a lot of oddballs too. They aren't 100% accurate (what is?) but they are IMO some of the better ones availible.
