Does Everyone Name Their Fish?

[theotheragentm]

I have had my fish for about three months and have not named a single one of them yet. My friends keep asking me if I've named them. Do you all name your fish, and if so how do you decide on names? I've played with names that would get fish beat up on the playground if they were human kids, but never seriously applied names.

Anna Molly
Patty Platy
Gary Gourami
Amanda Panda Cory
Cory Panda Cory

Man, my kids in real life are going to be so picked on if this is how I would name my fish.

[richiestang_78]

Ill name the larger ones, Like my Betta "Big Red" and my Gourami "Twitch" but dont bother with my Danios or Rummy Noses. Basically if the fish will take food from my hand and show some sort of smarts they get a name.

[Sicklid]

When I do they die...

[cinnastix911]

I have named a few fish but have forgotten them all. Except for Yallow my paroon shark. My avvie is a picture of him.

[Badger]

I have a great friend in Alaska, I just email her when I get new fish, and she names them. Coolness. I have to look at the list of names to remember them though...they're all very creative...

[An t-iasg]

Moved to the Lounge.

I named my very first two bettas after my husband's first and middle names!
(He loves when I tell that story )

I have named all my fish since then. It's fun picking a name to go with their personality. My current bettas are named Peyton and Eli - but no, they don't play football!

Anna Molly is cute - and the title of a song by Incubus out now!

[Mosaic]

Mine either have to be very big (oscar="Omar") or very personable (bettas="Vercingetorix", "Banquo's Ghost," "Bling!", "Red Smoke Cameo," and "Escher") to get names. Even fish that are very special to me, like my Ctenopoma, don't usually get names.

One thing that seems universal is that everyone names their bettas. I dare you to step forward if you haven't!

[fish 'n' fries]

I've never actually named a fish (even the betta I had when I was younger... sorry Mosaic). Now my partner on the other hand...since we've been together I've had named fish! (Although never any of the schooling ones, just the more unique ones, thankfully--I'd never keep them straight!)

[Stephen]

I don't. I'd probably end up spending a lot of time if I were to try naming my fish. Some of the bigger ones are given names by my family though. My Vieja argentea is called "The Burglar Fish" by my sisters because of the black mask. My Altolamprologus compressiceps, on the other hand, is called "Crabby Fish" because of the frowning face.

[hsherman1986]

I'll admit it, we name our fish. Only the ones we can tell them apart and/or come up and eat out of our fingers get names.

We call all our GBR's "Blue", just something that stuck for some reason.

Bronze, Platinum and Gold are our dojo loaches. Zero, Uno, Dosie, Tre, Quattro, Sanka, Lou, Greg, and Bobby are the clown loaches. Fireball/Big Boy is the firemouth cichlid. Steve is the betta. Oh, and can't forget Gigantor...the Water Lily (gotta love it!)

We don't reuse names when the fish dies either...and we have used a lot of names (mostly in bettas...)

[zenkatydid]

our fish all get names. even the school/groups get a name, but not individually. i have neb the peppermint bristlenose (for nebula), pinky the albino bristlenose, cheng and eng the siamese algae eaters (after the world's first siamese twins), balthazar, melchior and jasper the yoyo loaches (3 wise men), elric the golden algae eater (albino actor), and the guppies are called the harveys or alternatively HAY GUISE! said very loudly

[Mosaic]

I love it zenkatydid! Very creative!

[DepotFish]

I'm now the proud owner of Depot, Skip, Suerte, Kalooki, Caddis, Aphid, Ryu, Cho, Zipper, Thirteen, Horace, Walden, Asher, Little Red, Angel, Mr. Twinbar, Hellraiser, Milly, Bob Dole, and numerous unnamed fish. I can tell them all apart except the loaches.

[squeekness]

I have a clown loach that I had to name Krusty after the Simpsons, my red tailed shark is named Shadow, and my pleco is named Boris. I haven't named all my fish, just the ones with the most personality. I have an albino irridescent shark I named Typhoid Casper jokingly because he brought a terrible case of ick into my tank right when I bought him. He survived but the moniker kinda stuck.

[Sicklid]

Okay, because of this thread I have now named my Betta "Shim-Wah-Do-Haa"... the only people who might get that are fans of the Jerky Boys.

[drummerj]

well, My friends, brother and I have named all my cichlids, and our oscar.
The oscar goes by oskie (or destructor).
the cichlids are as follows;

1Aulonocara guentheri (mucho grande)

2Labeotropheus fuelleborni (Maisoni Reef)
(turtle face)

3Labeotropheus fuelleborni (Mbenji) (the flood)

4Labidochromis caeruleus (Kakusa) (hitler)

5Labidochromis caeruleus (Lion's Cove II)
(Lemon)

6Labidochromis caeruleus (Lion's Cove I)
(banana rama)

7Melanochromis auratus (zebra valentino)

8Melanochromis interruptus (jewel)

9Metriaclima callainos (coby)

10Pseudotropheus socolofi (Albino) (staggy)

11Metriaclima estherae (Red) (migs)

12Metriaclima greshakei (Albino) (whitey)

13Metriaclima lombardoi (mango)

14Metriaclima carbo (hornet)

15Nimbochromis venustus (jurassic park)

16Metriaclima callainos (small blue)

17 blood parrot (captain blood, or cappy for short)

18 Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei" (Msuli) (las vegas)

19 hemichromis bimaculatus (sparkles)

there is a peackock cichlid and one other that i cannot recall that need names.

my percula clown is named fabio, my watchman goby is named obi wan. noones named my bi-colored blenny or neon blenny yet.

[STARFYRE]

I name almost all of my fish.

We don't reuse names when the fish dies

Me neither. I actually used to keep a log of all the fish I had, so I wouldn't re-use names.
People are amazed that I name all of them. At one point I had about 50 fish and every one of them had a name. Some of the pics in my gallery have the names of my fish.
Here's my list:
Gold betta- Petunia
Blue betta- Treu Bleu Fu, The kung fu master
Blue prawn- Anwar Johnson

In the 29 community tank:
4 emporer tetras- Bandit, Rabbit, Amarillo, and shortstop
yo-yo loach- Melvin Merlin Gremlin (Yes, some have full names)
Khuli loach- Coolio
upside-down catfish- Tipsy
Red-finned lepordinus pleco- Mr. Mango
Guppy- Mama Chavez
3 neons- zip, and zuppy not a guppy (haven't named the 3rd one)
And a couple unnamed- 4 baby guppies, 1 Austallian Rainbow

In the 29 planted:
2 Discus- Roxy and Diva
black khuli loach- Thunder
Gold nugget pleco- Kwame
Pristella tetra- Stank

In the 55:
Brown african knife fish- Dark Invader
upside-down catfish- Ledbelly
eclipse sun cat- Frankie
spotted pictus- Ezequiel
angelfish- Drama
African butterflyfish- Rocky
Mystery loach- creek
kribensis- Spooky
3 gold severums- Toby, Lucas, and Mellow Yellow
All I have in my SW tank is a bunch of snails, 1 anemone shrimp, and 2 corals. They do not have names.
I think that's everybody

[DepotFish]

Learned my lesson the other day, don't ask friends and family for name suggestions, you'll get names like Bob, George, and Matt. Sorry if you use those names, but to me they are reserved for spiders right before you kill them and just don't cut it for fish.

[evercl92]

my black ghost knife is named Grimm - as in Grimm Reaper