Why Do People Feel The Need!

[puddle_inc]

yeah, good point. i google alot of names.

you could say fantail goldfish or as some call it, Carassius auratus.

 

[Gurglar]

LFS places do make up alot of names I just went into mine the other day and they have cardinal tetras in there but they have called them light and dark tetras for some reason.

 

[Darkmoon Bettas]

A lot of the rarer livebearers go by part of their scientific name as their common name, or have really strange common names that don't tell anyone anything useful.

Heterandria is a much more accurate name than this fish's common name--"least killifish"--because it IS a livebearer, and not a killifish at all. The "common" name is incredibly misleading.

As for limias, their common names all include "limia" in it--humpbacked limia, blue-bellied limia, etc. There's no form of common name that doesn't have limia in it to my knowledge.

Now, calling a common "red wag platy" a "crimsom-phase Xiphophorus maculatus with an ebony caudal" is totally unnessecary and so pretentious I annoyed MYSELF coming up with the phrase! But it's not automatically a sign of "showing off" in some cases.

 

[Lynden]

It's like a whole different language!

Indeed it is. As mentioned earlier, scientific names are meant to be universal.

After several incidences I have had long ago regarding the innaccuracy of common names, I now must say that I hate common names. They are plain old annoying in my opinion.

-Lynden

 

[George Farmer]

Common names are fine for common species, but even then it can be confusing. Full names are useful so there can be no confusion.

If you have to look it up then why is it such a problem? You've learnt something new - a good thing IMO.

 

[spudgun2k]

Now, calling a common "red wag platy" a "crimsom-phase Xiphophorus maculatus with an ebony caudal" is totally unnessecary and so pretentious I annoyed MYSELF coming up with the phrase! But it's not automatically a sign of "showing off" in some cases.
[/quote]


this is the type of thing i am trying to talk about. and most the time its showing off but i agree prob not all the time

anyway i have problem with one of my Botia macracanthus and i need some help......only joking

cheers spuddy

 

[dwarfgourami]

Why do people feel the need to call a fish by its technical name! It frustrates me when people have the need to show off with the correct name for a fish, cant they give the common name?

here is an example. i obviously won't name the person:

But after Xmas I am hoping to get some heterandrias, and maybe some limia species, so I may change my mind

Now i have to google this as i have not read the fish bible to work out the actual fish here.
it was on a livebearers section so is not one of many fish it could be, just give the common name. to me it looks like the person is trying to show off there "fish knowledge"

cheers spuddy

Excuse me- what could I have said? There is no other common name for limias than...surprise, surprise...limias! There is the black-bellied limia and the humpbacked limia and various other limias...if I wanted to refer to all of these together, using the term limias seemed the only possibility.

As for heterandrias, there is no recognised common name for most of them- the only one with a common name (heterandria formosa) has a number of different common names, none of which describe it properly (least killifish- its not a killifish, mosquitofish- which is also used of gambusias, dwarf livebearer- which could apply to a lot of species). And again, I wanted to refer to the whole group, so what could I have done?

There are hundreds of different species of livebearer, many of which are in the hobby, so I don't know why you should say there is not one of many fish it could be. If you thought livebearers were only guppies, mollies, platies and swordtails- well, that's hardly my fault. This is about as intelligent as complaining that somebody uses the term cichlids- why didn't they just say angelfish?

I really try to avoid being pretentious, but I don't see how I can speak about the fish I am interested in if I'm not allowed to mention them by name.

If you had read the whole of my post, spuddy, you would have seen that I did use common names in every single instance where there is a universally known common name (guppies, portholes). So I wouldn't call it a brilliant example of somebody using scientific names unnecessarily.

 

[SuperColey1]

I agree with both sides. I don't know the scientific names, but I also get confused when the differnet common names relate to the same fish.

Just an example from our friend tropicalfish4u (always supplies the goods for these arguments. lol)

http/www.tropicalfish4u.co.uk/acatalog/Common_Plec.html

This calls the fish Clown Sucker Plec when you'll notice the link states Common plec.lol He will use the invented name to glamourise the fish.

p.s. I had to open another tab to get the link. LOL took me at least 10 seconds

P@H call the common plec Plecostumous, so could be any of the species (and half the time its Gibbiceps in the tank anyway. lol

Does anyone else have a problem with the new IE. mine keeps deselecting the page i'm typing on then reselecting it making it very hard to type this message and I hate the layout. why do MS have to keep changing their programs for the sake of it.

If Firefox is any good I think I'll use it after trying it first

 

[minimadtrix]

Can't we agree to disagree on this subject? As a Newbie, maybe it would make more sense to check who is posing the question. If its a newbie talking about a bala, continue talking about a bala, if they're talking about silver shark, continue doing so

 

[dwarfgourami]

Can't we agree to disagree on this subject? As a Newbie, maybe it would make more sense to check who is posing the question. If its a newbie talking about a bala, continue talking about a bala, if they're talking about silver shark, continue doing so

Yes, but when there is no common name? The thread was actually about such a case, namely my own post in livebearers. Or to be more correct, I used the common names, but the OP brought this up as a silly pretentious use of Latin names, saying I was trying to show off my fishy knowledge, simply because he'd never heard of the species in question. Several posters explained the facts to him, and he totally ignored them. This is not analogous with using the Latin name for a bala shark or whatever. Sorry, but I am still sulking Insulted on behalf of my beloved livebearers- I have a strong feeling that nobody would have queried a scientific term used in the oddballs forum for some little known African Monster Fish on the assumption that there can't be more than 3 or 4 oddballs around. Just because you're a small livebearer nerd, people assume all your fish are going to be the same (stomps off in a huff ).

More seriously, Spudgkun- if you quote another poster in such a way that they can easily be identified and accuse them of showing off, and it is then pointed out to you that you have the facts wrong- then you do actually owe that poster an apology.

 

[minimadtrix]

Well I thought I was on both sides with my comments Just goes to show, Newbie getting involved when they shouldn't be!!

 

[morgan]

Scientific names aren't permanent though are they? All the Botias have recently been reclassified as have the Plecos. My Common was Liposarcus Pardalis (the only long words I was sure of!) now it has been reclassified to something I find unpronouncable! I think the scientific name plus the common name is helpful to the average person.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I think the scientific name plus the common name is helpful to the average person.

Well, then, there we are- limia, the perfect 2 in 1 . And it's even easy to pronounce.

 

[LisaLQ]

Scientific names aren't permanent though are they? All the Botias have recently been reclassified as have the Plecos. My Common was Liposarcus Pardalis (the only long words I was sure of!) now it has been reclassified to something I find unpronouncable! I think the scientific name plus the common name is helpful to the average person.

Erm. Liposarcus pardalis is still liposarcus pardalis, as far as I know (and Planet Catfish says). There are several different species called the common plec. Are you sure you didn't just get the species wrong, and it turns out you have a different one? The most common (pardon the pun) in the UK is liposarcus pardalis. Might just be you had a different "common"?

 

[demonmagus]

Does anyone else have a problem with the new IE. mine keeps deselecting the page i'm typing on then reselecting it making it very hard to type this message and I hate the layout. why do MS have to keep changing their programs for the sake of it.

If Firefox is any good I think I'll use it after trying it first

trust me, get firefox, it rules I've got this awesome add on called 'mouse gestures' basically you click the right key and drag it left (for example, there aer loads of patterns) to open a new page or whatever, it's great

firefox rules anyway