Fish that should come with WARNING stickers

[dapellegrini]

I was just in the LFS the other day and watched as a young kid bought a small common pleco. He wanted the smallest one (as though that would matter) to eat the algae in his 10-gallon tank.

I remember being there and doing that... and it got me thinking... there seem to be a lot of fish that you should either not buy or should come with BIG warning stickers... Will get HUGE, will KILL ALL YOUR OTHER FISH, or WILL BREED AND DESTROY YOUR TANK, etc.

Thought perhaps we could put a list together, summarize it and put it in a sticky... Or maybe just go through the exercise

A few that I have experienced and will never do again, to get things started:

- Common Pleco - Will GET HUGE. Not appropriate in tanks under 55 gallons
- Convicts - If you get a pair, they will decimate all other fish in your tank (even the more aggressive ones) and make thousands of babies that your fish store will not take back
- Arawana - Never had one, but unless you are planning on raising it in your swimming pool, do not buy this fish
- Snakehead - See the pics in the Oddball post - gets way too big
- Lungfish - See the pics in the oddball post - gets way too big

Seems to me that you should have to have a license (kinda like getting certified for scuba diving) to buy one of these...

Others?

 

[MyCatsDrool]

red belly pacu is another one.

 

[hsherman1986]

Clown loaches. Most people have no idea how large these guys really get...defintly a warning sticker needed here.

Also, all goldfish, oscars, and most plecos...

 

[dapellegrini]

What's the deal with Red Belly Pacus?

 

[evercl92]

What's the deal with Red Belly Pacus?

They get massive at a very fast rate. I saw some that were 3 1/2 feet at the Aquarium in Kentucky. They also get uglier the bigger they get.

 

[kansei]

The LFS I bought my Black Ghost Knife at asked my how big was my tank , how long it was set up, do i test the water when I asked for the BGK. Some others would just say hear ya go - good luck . This store also has a few Bala Sharks(6 in) , blue Gourami(5 in) and a Violet Goby( over a foot ) that were bought from people that saw nice little fish in the store.

 

[Burks]

Clown/Black Ghost Knifes - Too big

Wolf Cichlids - All other fish = snacks

Red Tail Catfish - Way too big. These have become VERY popular at many stores in my area recently, no clue why.

 

[QTOFFER]

Oscar - needs minimum 55 gal; preferably 75 gal.

 

[evercl92]

Red Tail Catfish - Way too big. These have become VERY popular at many stores in my area recently, no clue why.

I've noticed that too, we sell one about every 1-2 weeks.

Also:

Alligator Gars
leporinus
iridescent sharks
most FW rays

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Lake Malawi Cichlids- 55 gal MINIMUM. They are not suitable for small tanks even if you follow the 1" per gal guideline.

 

[zenkatydid]

black sharks, and iridescent sharks. gorgeous fish. i have seen them both for sale at the lfs, and i highgly doubt anyone around here is a monster fish keeper. makes me sad.

 

[jbarr]

SA Cichlids like Oscars, Managuense, etc. should have at least a size warning. I'm surprised it's uncommon (infact I've never seen) to see a warning sign or at least an information card of types.

 

[coldmachineUK]

Lake Malawi Cichlids- 55 gal MINIMUM. They are not suitable for small tanks even if you follow the 1" per gal guideline.

Really this isn't true. With fish like oscars, knifefish, pacus, etc. there's no way it can be denied that these fish are too large for smaller tanks, but to say that all Lake Malawi species, of which there are hundreds, are unsuitable for anything smaller than a 55G is really a blanket statement and untrue.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com has many experts there and provides articles and 'cookie cutters' for smaller tank sizes down to 20G or so. We're not talking 10G acceptability for most Malawi cichlids, and it'd be great if everyone kept fish in large spacious tanks but to say '55G minimum' will misdirect and misguide people who may be looking at keeping them.

Here is a great link to a tank-of-the-month which is 30G and holds 16 Pseudotropheus Saulosi: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/tanks/displaytank.php?style=1&tank=2205
I myself have successfully kept this fish in a group size of 7 with 1 syno multipunctatus, 2 syno petricola and 1 BN gold marble plec in a 36G, and I am not alone in this experience. There are other fish, such as yellow labs - a great fish for people starting out keeping Malawi mbuna - which also do not need a '55G minimum'.

Here are species profiles for Lake Malawi:

Mbuna
Haps
Peacocks

 

[Mosaic]

SA Cichlids like Oscars, Managuense, etc. should have at least a size warning. I'm surprised it's uncommon (infact I've never seen) to see a warning sign or at least an information card of types.

Interestingly, a chain called PetSupermarket (not a megastore) has warning codes for different species. "Aggressive", "Will eventually need a bigger tank," etc. I rolled my eyes at a few of them, but it's a good thing to have posted nearby before people fall in love with a certain fish.

CAEs should come with a warning that they really won't EA.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I honestly do not believe much in the cookie cutter tank recs on cichlid-forum. Many times they are over stocked. I put more trust in the experts of malawimayhem.com than cichlid-forum. Africans are far too active to be in a 30 gal tank no matter what that site says. 16 fish do not belong in 30 gal unless it's guppies.

 

[Regen311]

A friend of my sisters had 2 tiny oscars in a 30 gallon tank. I told him he was nuts and that it would be a disaster very quickly. He told me I didn't know what I was talking about, the guy at the pet store told him it was fine and that fish grow to the size of their aquarium. I wanted to scream in frustration. I even gave him websites, which I'm sure he never went to. It's just so frustrating to me, those poor fish.... I can only imagine what's become of them...

 

[hamburgler]

I honestly do not believe much in the cookie cutter tank recs on cichlid-forum. Many times they are over stocked. I put more trust in the experts of malawimayhem.com than cichlid-forum. Africans are far too active to be in a 30 gal tank no matter what that site says. 16 fish do not belong in 30 gal unless it's guppies.

Just a FYI...if you looks through the forum there are various posts about stocking a 30, 40g, etc. What they do is reccommend species for the tanks, not rant on about how they should have a bigger tank because that would be a waste of effort.

Back onto the topic...after working at a fish shop for a while now my list would include (from what has not already been said):

silver dollars
'silvertip sharks' (some sort of catfish that reaches the 12" mark)
tinfoil barbs
all cichlids...all shops should just put a huge sign in front of them.

Won't go into saltwater detail since this is in the fresh section but groupers, squirrelfish, eels, triggers, or even dumping in 6 damsels.

 

[dapellegrini]

Why silver dollars?

 

[hamburgler]

Why silver dollars?

They don't belong in a 10g community tank...not only size but they will eat small fish.

My opinion is also based on working at a petco...where i get the extremes of newbies and ignorance.

 

[physicsdude]

You can throw in the red-tail catfish too on the should-be-banned list. Plus, maybe all gars and Columbian Catfish