New Stock at Petsmart - I have questions

[pwrflpills]

I don't know if anyone has been to Petsmart recently, but I stopped by there today during lunch and was very pleasantly surprised to see that they have completely new labels for the fish in each tank with much more accurate information, more interesting species than before and also more plants to choose from than ever before.

Here are my questions from what I found:
1. They had Bolivian Rams listed soley as cichlids, but with no mention that they are "safe" for community tanks as I had previously believed. Am I right or are they just as aggressive as any "regular" cichlid and not safe with other docile community fish? I'm considering either a couple of those or 2 GBR's in place of my poop machines, I mean, mollies.

2. They had Bumble Bee Catfish. Is it true that these guys will get pretty big (6-7") and eat tankmates that will fit in their mouth? They were swimming very actively and were just babies. Regardless, I was intrigued and would love to get 1 or 2 for my tank below, minus the mollies, if it were possible.

3. They had what they called a "Marble Shrimp." It looked a lot like a Bamboo shrimp, was about 2"+ long and was a filter feeder (had 4 arms with filter thingees on the end that it used to stir up bottom debris towards its mouth). Is there such a thing or was this a Bamboo Shrimp?

4. They had small fern-like plants called a "Borneo Fern". I found this on plantgeek.com, which called it Aqua Fern and that it is not an aquatic plant. Darn. It looks so cool!!

That's it. Please comment on any of the above if you have any experience or knowledge. Thanks!

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

1: Bolivian rams are pretty safe, similar to German blue rams for their temperment.

3: Typically available filter feeders are Vampire (Big and Blue) and Bamboo. If it was brown with a white stripe it was a bamboo. (picture of both available Here , The vampire in that picture is a baby, they get to 6") google "fan shrimp" and you'll find pictures of most readily available breeds.

I don't know about #2

 

[DepotFish]

The bumble bee cats are supposed to get to 8 inches I think. They eat anything they can fit in their mouth.
Marble shrimp are here as well as a few dozen other species. http://www.saltcorner.com/sections/zoo/inverts/crustaceans/shrimp/Smarmoratus.htm

A word of advice, if you noticed the shipments just got in, wait a bit before buying fish. The very stressed fish usually die within a few days of shipping.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

That one you linked to is saltwater ("Range: Entire Indo-Pacific Ocean, from Hawaii to the Red Sea") Just FYI. the range of fan shrimp is much narrower.

 

[bosk1]

1. They had Bolivian Rams listed soley as cichlids, but with no mention that they are "safe" for community tanks as I had previously believed. Am I right or are they just as aggressive as any "regular" cichlid and not safe with other docile community fish? I'm considering either a couple of those or 2 GBR's in place of my poop machines, I mean, mollies.

Not aggressive

 

[petunia100]

There are two types of bumblebee catfish one is the asian bumblebee catfish. It is larger and more agressive and will eat other fish more readily. The other is a south american bumblebee catfish and stays smaller and is more docile. I have two south americans in my 90 gallon community tank, with no problems at all. They tend to hid a lot though. They are fun to see when they are out and about though. Here is the link to the

Asian http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/bagridae/pseudomy/708_F.PHP

South Americanhttp://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/pseudopi/microgla/303_F.PHP

The Asian was originally more common in the pet trade, but over the years it has become more dificult to find and the south american is typically found in the pet trade now. We got ours from petsmart and they were simply labeled as "bumblebee catfish". You can always get them to look up the scientific name (that's what I did), although the two look fairly different, differ in coloration and number of barbels etc, and you should be able to distinguish between them fairly easily.

 

[GouramiFanatic]

Here are my questions from what I found:
1. They had Bolivian Rams listed soley as cichlids, but with no mention that they are "safe" for community tanks as I had previously believed. Am I right or are they just as aggressive as any "regular" cichlid and not safe with other docile community fish? I'm considering either a couple of those or 2 GBR's in place of my poop machines, I mean, mollies.

I can't answer your other questions, but I'm going week #2 with my first pair of Bolivian Rams. So far, all has been well. They're not aggressisve in the least with any of the other fish. Once in a while I'll catch one of them chasing the other way, but so far the Dwarf Gouramis that I have show much more aggressive behavior! Good luck if you get the Rams. They are really beautiful fish and a lot of fun to watch!

 

[YuccaPatrol]

I saw the new labels last week, and although I thought they were an improvement, they still were misleading and sometimes incorrect.

Sadly, they are still selling Pacus and the new label says they are appropriate for a 30 gallon aquarium.

 

[pwrflpills]

I saw the new labels last week, and although I thought they were an improvement, they still were misleading and sometimes incorrect.

Sadly, they are still selling Pacus and the new label says they are appropriate for a 30 gallon aquarium.

Yeah, I saw the Pacus too. Kinda hoped they'd stop selling them but there was a tank full of 3" ones. At least the label said they get up to 28" or whatever!!

Once in a while I'll catch one of them chasing the other way, but so far the Dwarf Gouramis that I have show much more aggressive behavior! Good luck if you get the Rams. They are really beautiful fish and a lot of fun to watch!

Thanks! I agree about the Gouramis. Mine were the meanest fish I've had.

There are two types of bumblebee catfish one is the asian bumblebee catfish.

They were definitely the South American. Thanks!! I might consider them although I've already got 4 panda cories in a 20gal, so I might be pushing it. Anyone have any thoughts on that?