Let me take a guess Doom, a blue gourami? Those guys can be mean mean! They don't tell you that at the store, and in books they say they are peaceful. The same with Molly's. I have found them to be mean little buggers! What gets me is you are in the store and see a person getting a bag of Tiger Barbs, you ask them if they know they are horrible fin nippers and they say "the store clerk said its fine, so its fine". I just shake my head and walk away. I know they will put them in the tank and the tigers will get all their other fish.

What I don't like is when you actually KNOW what you are talking about and a know it all refuses to sell you a fish! As I was cycling my African Mbuna tank, I read, read, read and read some more! I made lists of fish I wanted, I crossed 98% off that list after reading up on them and their compatibility with what I wanted. So, I have my first 2 choices picked out, Electric Yellows and Acei, 1 male, 2-3 females each and excitedly go off to the store! The woman at the store wouldn't sell them to me until I corrected her on some cichlids she had mislabeled! She says, "they take spacial care" I say "yes I know, the tank is set up just FOR them" she says "bla bla bla" I say "um, this is wrong, that is not an electric blue hap, that is a Melanochromis johannii" she walks off and checks her book, comes back, changes the name and says "which ones do you want?" LMAO! I am so glad I caught that! I was getting pissed! Now when ever I go in she asks ME questions!

I make it a priority to leave the fish I want in the store, go home and read up on it. If its a fit I will then go back and get it. It is very hard to do! When I was ready to add my 3rd Mbuna group, I asked a zillion questions to a guy on this forum LOL. I have the perfect fit now! A small group of red Zebra's. No sick fish, no fighting, and everyone is happy.

I learned my lesson the hard way, I did give into that impulse and took home 4 cute little Red Minor Serpae Tetra, thinking all tetras were busy but nice, which was my past experience. NOPE! These buggers took off after my Rams, my guppies, my angels and even my poor little otto cats!! All within an hour! Back they went! So I made a list of what NOT to buy and if a fish wasn't on it it would be OK. I now have a school of neons and rummy noses in my community tank.

One thing that makes deciding what you want a little easier is pick your main fish and built around that. I choose my Bolivian rams, and if a fish I liked wont work with them I don't get them. I knew I wanted Electric Yellows, so I took it from there. That way you have a focus to help you out.

Wow did I just ramble on!