I swore I’d never buy this species… now I have 3! 🤪

[Karen B.]

Did it ever happen to you to look at a fish and think it was boring or not interesting… and ended up actually falling in love with the species?

It happened to me with honey gourami. Back when I was looking to stock my first tank, I looked at sooooo many fish species. When I saw a honey gourami for the first time, I discarded it immediately into the « will never buy » category. I tought it was too bland, uninteresting… until because of my tank stocking choices, and the fact that I was a beginner, honey gourami became one of the few fish choices I had left for a centerpiece. And the fact that my lfs had sunset ones, that were absolutely stunning. So I ended up with the most beautiful honey gourami (not biaised at all), and completely fell in love with his personality.

He was a bit more outgoing when I had guppies with him (they would eat or scavenge the substrate together 🥰) and since they passed, sadly he is a bit more shy and doesn’t care about the Chili Rasbora. But I have a surprise for him! 2 little females will join him soon. Fingers crossed it goes well. One female is already much more territorial in the 10 gallons quarantine tank.

PS: The funniest thing honey gourami do is when they go above another fish and « taptap » them over the head with their fins/antenna like. Crack me up each time!

And you? Any fish you swore you’d never get but ended falling in love with?

Pikachu

 

Dahlia

 

Tiffany

PS: Dahlia’s picture was taken the first day. Now she has colored up just like Tiffany 

[Taco Playz]

Guppies, and now I have 200+. 😂

[Karen B.]

On 11/28/2021 at 1:01 PM, Taco Playz said:

Guppies, and now I have 200+. 😂

Oh boy! Opposite here…! Always wanted guppies, they are so beautiful, but can’t find a good breeder here so mine kept dying or being sick (parasite, camallanus worms, prolapse, flukes…ugh!)… and with 6 aquariums, I was stressed to carry a disease from one to another.

And mine kept fighting… a nightmare!

[JettsPapa]

On 11/28/2021 at 12:01 PM, Taco Playz said:

Guppies, and now I have 200+. 😂

 

I understand.  When I was just starting out for some reason I kinda looked down on live-bearers.  Now seven of my nine tanks are dedicated to guppies and shrimp.

[Taco Playz]

On 11/28/2021 at 1:24 PM, JettsPapa said:

 

I understand.  When I was just starting out for some reason I kinda looked down on live-bearers.  Now seven of my nine tanks are dedicated to guppies and shrimp.

I used to have 6 tanks dedicated to guppies. Now I have narrowed it down to 4 and most of the pretty males are going to the lfs. I really like guppies it’s just they take so much room with all the fry, that it can make it a hassle. 

[Odd Duck]

I used to think I didn’t really like the look of bristlenose Plecos. But I think I remember a different, much larger species from back in the day. They were at least 8” long and rather boring brown along with a huge amount of bristles on the nose.  They were somewhat interesting but not really something I wanted.

Then I started seeing blue-eyed lemons and hearing and reading that they don’t get nearly as big as whatever species that was I saw way back when.  I’ve since learned there are several species of bristlenose and most of the color morphs are a smaller species plus they’re some of the best algae eaters for a tank. Well, I have 3 now and looking to get a couple more lemons. 😃 

[Guppysnail]

On 11/28/2021 at 3:32 PM, Odd Duck said:

I used to think I didn’t really like the look of bristlenose Plecos. But I think I remember a different, much larger species from back in the day. They were at least 8” long and rather boring brown along with a huge amount of bristles on the nose.  They were somewhat interesting but not really something I wanted.

Then I started seeing blue-eyed lemons and hearing and reading that they don’t get nearly as big as whatever species that was I saw way back when.  I’ve since learned there are several species of bristlenose and most of the color morphs are a smaller species plus they’re some of the best algae eaters for a tank. Well, I have 3 now and looking to get a couple more lemons. 😃 

How many do you want 50-100? Just kidding. Yes I love my lemons the are water puppies. They do stay smaller than varieties from back in the day and have a lot less bristles. I never have to clean my glass is a huge plus. 😁

[Guppysnail]

Ok I had to think about this. The only fish I never wanted that I ended up getting was a goldfish. About 20 years ago I was traveling for work more and more so took down my tanks. I had two cats at the time one which spent hours staring at the fish. He became inconsolable and would sit and cry at where “his” tank used to be. So I bought him a tiny feeder goldfish and a 10 gallon tank. Mind you I did not have high hopes of longevity since it was a feeder. It got upgraded several times and after a few years I gave it to my neighbor to add to his koi pond. It lived there another 5 years until he gave his koi and the goldfish to a friend and got rid of his pond. 

[Brandon p]

I never wanted guppies again. I Was gifted a pair and now they breed like crazy. It wasn’t that long ago but now there are about 50 in my inside pond. They only have about 3 fry each time but I move them to the pond and I like them. 

[Atitagain]

For me I never wanted anything under say 4”. I was such a fan of Oscar’s, other big cichlids, catfish, knife fish and a few more big boys. I thought all smaller fish were for children or for absolute beginners. Only for smaller tanks, I think the smallest tank I had for my first 28 years of fish keeping was a 46G bow front. 
Now I’m kinda obsessed with rummynose tetra. But I also have cardinals, platys, glowlight, corys, lamp eyes, pea puffers, otos, guppies, dwarf gourami, snails, and shrimp.

[GameCzar]

Guppies were the same for me.  When we got back into the hobby, all I remembered about Guppies from my youth was that they were super common and super cheap.  I knew nothing about breeds or anything.   Once we got back into it and I started learning about them I was blown away at the breeding possibilities.    Now I'm smitten by Guppies!

[Patrick_G]

@Karen B. I can see why you love the little guy, he’s a looker! My male isn’t nearly as colorful. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Agree with @Odd DuckI had bristlenose with some Mbuna 2 decade ago and I thought why do I have them? They just make more poop. Then I was watching the Coop YT channel and Cory went to see Greg Sage and showed his longfin green dragons and man I was shocked. Then the super reds, calicos and on and on. Now I’ve got a breeding colony of 2 males and 5 females, 100 + fry and dedicated growouts. What a crazy hobby this is?!

[drewzero1]

I never thought I'd want danios, but a friend gave me some Pearls when he moved away this spring. (His tank was full of fish I swore I'd never own, and I ended up giving them all away except for the danios.) They were so hyperactive and plain-looking that I didn't like them at all at first, but then I watched them for a while and started to notice the purple shimmering scales on their backs and their bold pinkish/reddish fins. I ended up getting a few more to fill out the school when I upgraded to a bigger tank.

[Aquatic Coder]

For me it was Goldfish. I never had an interest in them and pretty much just skipped by the section in stores. My girlfriend loved the look of Oranda's with their giant head. One day we got lucky and found a large one for a great price right after upgrading a tank (still had the old one set up). I fell in love with the chunky face and silly personality. Now looking at the Fancy Goldfish section is one of the parts I most look forward to at stores and see myself keeping Fancies for the long term.

[PineSong]

I don't have any of them yet, but I can see corydoras in my future, after starting out wondering why people were such fans...they have grown on me.

A bad (and brief) experience with balloon-belly mollies years ago made me sure I'd never have another molly. Then I bought some for this tank on a weird whim, and now I honestly adore them. They are active without being hyper, playful but not aggressive, and the lyretails make them very pretty, too. I am planning on adding more to my tanks when I can find the colors I want.

[Minanora]

I told myself I'd never buy swordtails, platies or mollies. All because of my experience with Mollies.

My friend gave me a few mollies when we were in high school because hers had babies... I took them because I was a good friend and had room in my guppy tank (I've always had guppies). I hated those darn mollies. They bullied my guppies and made me buy a whole other fish tank so I could separate them. After that I swore that I would never get a fish like mollies ever again.

Now: when my husband wanted to pick out fish, he wanted a male swordtail. We got him, I knew he needed a friend, so got him a mate. Fast forward 4 months later: I bought my own swordtail pair for the 75G and have babies. I love them, and they get along just fine with my guppies.

 

On 11/28/2021 at 11:54 AM, Taco Playz said:

they take so much room with all the fry, that it can make it a hassle

This is my first world problem right now.... I have 133 babies right now. Guppy babies.... So. Many. Babies.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Minanora
fixing the story

[JettsPapa]

On 11/29/2021 at 8:07 PM, PineSong said:

I don't have any of them yet, but I can see corydoras in my future, after starting out wondering why people were such fans...they have grown on me.

A bad (and brief) experience with balloon-belly mollies years ago made me sure I'd never have another molly. Then I bought some for this tank on a weird whim, and now I honestly adore them. They are active without being hyper, playful but not aggressive, and the lyretails make them very pretty, too. I am planning on adding more to my tanks when I can find the colors I want.

I also like corys, but I no longer keep mollies because I got tired of them following the corys around, waiting for one to find a morsel of food, then chasing it away and eating it themselves.  The mollies had to go.  Also see the post above from @Minanora.

[PineSong]

On 11/30/2021 at 9:14 AM, JettsPapa said:

I also like corys, but I no longer keep mollies because I got tired of them following the corys around, waiting for one to find a morsel of food, then chasing it away and eating it themselves.  The mollies had to go.  Also see the post above from @Minanora.

Super interesting. I have not seen my mollies (all male) bully or pester any other fish, but they are very pesky among themselves--there are three of them and they are often in a circle about the size of a golf ball, chasing each other and tumbling around. But nobody ever has any nips out of them and they do not harass the other fish--in fact the male endlers harass the mollies non-stop, as if the mollies are female endlers.

Now, I have seen the mollies be pigs and one of them nearly choked on a huge chunk of Hikari spirulina brine shrimp food because he gobbled it before it broke down. But I've seen nothing unpleasant happening to the other fish--could it be that the female mollies are the aggressive ones? Happened in my family 😉

 

[Minanora]

@PineSong I wonder if my issues were just with the fact that my tank had never seen mollies before. It had been a Guppy, dwarf frog and Kuhli Loach haven until that time. That was 3+ years of only that type of occupant. The mollies came in and took over the hood. They ate all the food, chased my guppies, ate the fry, scared my kuhli loaches and pooped more than any fish I'd ever had poop before. There were 4 of them, and they all pooped, all the time. So after a few weeks of that, I convinced my dad to let me have a 55G in the dining room. The mollies got moved out asap. They seasoned the 55G for the future occupants and lived in there for 4 more years.

[DebD]

I've been eyeing honeys myself  You have me considering adding a few to one of my tanks 🤔 😍

[JStrutt]

When I first started fish-keeping, I didn't really like guppies. I thought they were too common, behaved erratically, and the prospect of them breeding like rabbits scared me. Then I was asked to teach a class on Environmental Science at school and thought that having some fish that bred easily would be a cool demonstration for my class. So I bought my first trio and sure enough they soon had babies. Aaaaand I was all aboard the guppy train. It is now 11 months later and I have 3rd generation guppies, plus a few new purchases. Luckily my LFS is always open to take the surplus off my hands for store credit.  Now, its hard for me to imagine my life without guppies. And I can't wait to branch out into other livebearers as well.  

[PineSong]

On 11/30/2021 at 2:33 PM, Minanora said:

 The mollies came in and took over the hood. They ate all the food, chased my guppies, ate the fry, scared my kuhli loaches and pooped more than any fish I'd ever had poop before. There were 4 of them, and they all pooped, all the time. So after a few weeks of that, I convinced my dad to let me have a 55G in the dining room. The mollies got moved out asap. They seasoned the 55G for the future occupants and lived in there for 4 more years.

Even stranger--I have literally NEVER seen my mollies poop. My platies, daily! Some guppies, some times. But never my mollies. I was even thinking of them as a replacement for my family member who no longer keeps goldfish, that they would provide the same color but without the growth problems and without the poop!

[Minanora]

On 11/30/2021 at 1:21 PM, PineSong said:

Even stranger--I have literally NEVER seen my mollies poop. My platies, daily! Some guppies, some times. But never my mollies. I was even thinking of them as a replacement for my family member who no longer keeps goldfish, that they would provide the same color but without the growth problems and without the poop!

🤔Are you trying to convince me to give mollies a second chance? I feel like the next thing I'll be doing is posting on this thread about how I fell in love with mollies! hahaha. Wouldn't that just be the hair of the dog. 🤣

[PineSong]

On 11/30/2021 at 5:31 PM, Minanora said:

🤔Are you trying to convince me to give mollies a second chance? I feel like the next thing I'll be doing is posting on this thread about how I fell in love with mollies! hahaha. Wouldn't that just be the hair of the dog. 🤣

Literally I was wondering "Are my fish actually mollies? Am I mixing them up with something else?" But they are: creamsicle lyretail mollies! I think they may be the reason there are no snails in the tank except my mystery snail and one large ramshorn. I have seen juvenile bladder snails in the tank on occasion, but never have they multiplied and it's been a while since I have seen one. ALL of my non-molly tanks are chock full of snails. Even my betta has more snails than this tank.