Re: [Killietalk] Common names vs. scientific names

[scott douglass <scottdouglass2000 at yahoo_com.au>]

"Why not establish a name now before some breeder in 
Asia labels them something we don't like."

That is the fundamental problem with common names,
since every country/region tends to do the same. Red
empress and yellow lab for example I have never heard
of. 
I still see plenty of Corydoras sp. around and they
always sell, I have even heard people pointing to the
tank and saying I will have that one.. 
The Cichlids common names are also wide and varied,
even something like Angelfish have had their share of
names, Scalares and so on. Discus was Pompador, so a
lot of these common names have changed over the years,
and that is just within English speaking countries.
My question is really how come the catfish and all the
cichlid keepers can handle the scientific names - and
still be so popular? The stores would not take them if
they did not sell. It is not hard to see that there
are a lot of people keeping Rift lake Cichlids, I have
never seen or heard of a store specializing in Killis.
Yet some of the Cichlids are getting very specialized
in their requirements and still popular. Same for all
the Cats to a degree.
Apistogrammas always look very dull in a typical store
for sale, are small, and are normally very expensive -
and sell very very fast on the whole. And they can
have some real toungue twister names also. So what is
going on? I don't really think it is a name problem.
Other fish keepers seem to be able to handle
scientific names, so I would think Killi people can
too.

And as far as I know Florida is still one of the
world's biggest producers/dealers in ornamental fish,
so it is not all SE Asia. (Although I admit they have
made some monsters). The average LFS is a business so
why should they care what it is called, so long as it
sells before it dies. The only LFS's that I have
noticed that are interested in such things as proper
naming are where the owner is a fish keeper themselves
- and they are few and far between, or if there is a
financial reason to take an interest.

But it still avoids the question of why some ( a lot
of) Cichlids can come from Mozambique say, through
handlers and dealers there, then a
transhipper/importer into California or Florida, then
probably a distributor all to the local store, with
its name intact and still sell. (worst case example).
I am sure Corydoras hastatus, pygmaeus, melanotaenia
(dont quote me on the names - its a long time since i
played with them) or similar sp coming from Peru or
wherever they come from or a local or international
breeder/farm will be snapped up very fast, and most of
them are still expensive so i doubt they are just
thrown in the living room tank in all cases.

Scott. 
Currently SE Asia... ;)
PS. Cardinals are gorgeous whatever they are called.






		
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