eclipse catfish?

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tarpon

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Jul 1, 2011
Messages
2,314
Location
Dallas, Texas
Any thoughts on an eclipse catfish for a 30 gal? It says minimum tank size is 20 at petsmart
 
never ever listen to petsmart,they said rainbow shark was ok in a 20-.-
 
Petsmart was right... what they didn't tell you was "...at this age/size, with no decoration no any other tankmates... this fish can live in your tank for a couple more weeks..."--"yes it can live in that tank"

All LFS grossly overstock their display tanks... except for Aqua Forest in SF from what I seen... designed by Amano (ADA) himself--his store.
 
never ever listen to petsmart,they said rainbow shark was ok in a 20-.-

I'm so sick of hearing this generalization of the quality of Petsmart or other chain stores, just like any other business or industry there are good and bad employees. You've never had a bad experience at a restaurant or other local conmpany, how often are your posting about the quality of the food industry.
 
I'm so sick of hearing this generalization of the quality of Petsmart or other chain stores, just like any other business or industry there are good and bad employees. You've never had a bad experience at a restaurant or other local conmpany.
ok,maybe there not all that bad,and i have so had a bad experience at a restaraunt
 
My question doesn't have to do with the emoyees. Its on the insert they put by the fish name. Which isn't controlled by the employee. And if there was a non-knowledgeable emoyee it would be petsmarts fault for assigning them to the fish department
 
Yes you have good and bad employees... but petsmart is a pet store, not a fish store... so even the best employees t petsmart/petco won't be good for help... considering stores like those don't care for hiring fish specialist. In my experience... most workers at chains stores have 0 clue or idea about fish... half the time I could get away with bagging fancy tetras and telling the register to charge me for feeder fish... to sound professional the might ask "do you have a tank already setup at home?" But if you reply saying your temp, ph, gh, and nitrate levels are al good... they will have no clue what you mean.

Edit - why go to McDonald's and ask about the health benefits of their salad?--you just wanna eat. Petsmart isn't there to help with animals, they just stock the store and ring up the register. I will generalise, those people know nothing about fish...
 
Most places use a rule-of-thumb of 1gal per 1inch of fish... which is pretty for overstocked displays which are constantly maintained and dead fish replaced. This can work or some smaller and non-tempermental fish but...

My rule-of-thumb is any fish which gets 6" or more requires a 55gal if you have any hopes of not stunting its growth... based on the dimensional spaces provided by plants, decor, driftwood, rocks and the sort... you may be able to house multiple fish when line-of-sight is reduced (especially for more aggressive or territorial fish)
 
When setting up (decoration) your tank, offset from the center a vertical piece of dritwood... this serves two purposes...one for natural aesthetics when a tank is not symetrical... another because this provides one larger area of open water (instead of two smallers ones divided by decor) for when the feel like being displayful and still provides another domain of hiding other than just the plants and rocks below which are typically claimed by the botom dwellers.

Similar benefits for bottom dwellers with an offcenter decor, they have an open floor area to explore and tucked away in one side they have shelter.
 
sfbetta said:
Petsmart isn't there to help with animals, they just stock the store and ring up the register. I will generalise, those people know nothing about fish...

Now, I really have to disagree there, at my local pet store, there are some really knowledgable people in the fish department. In fact, when I call, I hang up every time unless I'm talking to him. He has gotten everything right for me, and most of what he says matches up with the advice from this forum.
 
Puffymcstuff said:
Now, I really have to disagree there, at my local pet store, there are some really knowledgable people in the fish department. In fact, when I call, I hang up every time unless I'm talking to him. He has gotten everything right for me, and most of what he says matches up with the advice from this forum.
You are right... there are a few. Today on thi forum I ran into a thread started by a knowledgable petco worker concerned about sump tanks to wanting to apply outofbox concepts... I was impressed
 
I saw that one too! And when I went to petsmart the other day the employee who helped me was knowledgeable about BB and other things.
 
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