Do people not think outside the box anymore when stocking?

[apr28]

I know people love the "what should I stock?" questions but a lot people tend to suggest a random assortment of Petco/Petsmart fish, guppies, mollies, gouramis, cories(they are cute though) and some over-bred tetra maybe with the occasional pleco thrown in.

Visit your more specialized LFS and you would be surprised what's easy to care for while having something a bit different.

[SaraB]

I think people suggest those because not everyone has access to a LFS or doesn't want to make an expensive online fish order from a website.
Also some a lot of LFS take in/trade fish with local hobbyists so even they end up with platys, mollies, guppies, tetras etc.

[earhtmother]

I think lot of the *popular* fish are suggested because most of the people asking seem to be new fish keepers and so a *basic* fish lets them *get hooked* on the hobby with a minimum of problems. What may seem to *you* to be easy and *over used* may be just challenging enough for them - at least at first. And yes a lot of people don't live where anything other than basic fish are available. I have to go 1.5 hrs to get to more that a basic fish store (Big Als) and 3 hrs if I want somewhere that carries anything more than they do.