I totally agree with RTR and we are definitely not trying to be mean or inconsiderate, we want you to succeed with this venture so that you will find as much enjoyment and many hours of relaxation in this hobby as we do, not the frustration and headaches that come with stressed fish that are always getting sick or dying. I always try to stress this very important information whenever I am in a lfs and I see a family with great hopes for their new aquarium, picking out all kinds of fish willy-nilly(eye candy if you will
) without previously researching their newest pets. It dismays me too at how some lfs, employees will not even care to ask if they are going to be putting them all into the same aquarium together, unless they themselves don't really know what are suitable tankmates for some species. I think much of our or at least my concern comes from the fact that I made many of these same mistakes when I started and that it was by my hand that a lot of fish went to the great fish bowl in the sky, down the toilet actually. I have been keeping fish 18 years now, I will actually say that unfortunately it has only been the last 2 to 3 years that have fully started to become a conscious aquarist, trying to fully understand what is happening to my fish and what is best for their well being. I was the classic OTS (Old Tank Syndrome) fish keeper and I didn't know that I was doing anything wrong till I read an excellent article by RTR himself, which changed my whole outlook on this hobby, thanks RTR. I think the main reason I am a member of this and other fish related forums is not so much because I have a lot of knowledge to share, but in fact to learn more about the wrong things that I am doing, and it seems the more I read about the more things I find myself doing wrong, or perhaps not the best way I could. I was just thinking about my first aquarium, 37 gal, the first fish I put together were 3 tiger barbs, 4 neons, 3 angel fish, 2 sword fish, 2 kissing gouramis, 2 tinfoil barb and a bala shark. Needless to say, the neons were the first to "dissapear" and it progressively got worse from there. If that wasn't bad enough, I brought home 3 oscars as replacements for the fish I lost,
if only someone would have given me some heads up advice. Enough about me, time to get off my soap box now! You may now know why so many of us have more than one aquarium, to house all the fish from different social groups that just don't all work well together. Please read some more about all of the different fish in your tank and then you will probably see which fish you will need to rehome and what new tankmates will work best for you and your fish. Heck, just go get another tank and you can have a barb stank and a tetra tank, lol. I am so very sorry for such a long post and I do wish you the best of luck. Please keep us informed. Thanks.
Chad