Swapped Fish at Fish Swap

I don't think I'd actually call him out unless it was a known problem occurring. I'll just likely avoid the table at future swaps. I was just surprised to have two different male species of cichlid. I can also see how slip ups can occur when putting fry together, but two different species would be quite the compounded slip up.

But I do appreciate the vendors that sell quality fish. I purchased a yellow benga and ngara from a vendor last year, both still doing great. They brought me 3 inch dominant, colorful males, and changed $15/fish. I've paid 15 for fish and been delivered nondominant fish. With this vender, though, I was ecstatic. I only had 20's, but since the fish looked so good I told him to keep the $40 (a $20 for each fish) versus giving me back 10 in change. I expected to pay $30/fish for the size and color I received, so I still felt I got a great deal. Then I was shocked when 2 out of 8 of the fry I bought came out to be males AND they were species other than the one I was advertised. Thanks for the assurance that this is not something that happens at swaps and that it's likely a fluke. I would have been more worried if the board blew up with similar stories to mine.

Chalk it up on experience. If you know the guy, maybe if you point it out to him, he will make good on it.

Mistakes happen. Unfortunately in this hobby, there are a lot of unsavory folks who think they are running a business. There are some real winners out there.

Good luck

I have been a vendor at every swap for the past 15 years. I consider myself a hobbyist and typically only bag a couple boxes of fish per swap meet. A lot of the vendors you see at the swap spend in excess of five hours bagging fish the night before or even that morning. Many others then have to drive a few hours to get to the meet. I mention all this because I would guess there is a high possibility that the bag was mislabeled or the wrong fish were combined in the wrong bags.

Often times breeders house growing fry of two species together in the same tank if the body shape looks different enough. While blue neon undu reef is just a common name and lake location I'm assuming that this refers to an aulonocara species. With the zebroides being a cynotilapia type I can see how these fish, with noticeably different body shapes, might be housed together.

Just some things to consider.

- You might also want to check out the classified ads as you should be able to identify the seller according to the fish he is selling. You may want to contact them and tell them the situation before you take that big next step.

I attended a fish swap last year in March (I believe) and purchased 8 fry labeled as blue neon undu reef. It turns out these fish were definitely not blue neons. I believe the vendor was just trying to get rid of extra fry. 6 turned out to be females, so they may actually be blue neons, but one is definitely a Zebroides Chimate while the other looks simply blue right now with a white stripe going along the top of the dorsal fin... no orange body. It's only about 2.5 inches long so maybe the orange starts to appear around 3 inches in length? Is this a common practice? The Zebroides chased the females to death (literally), so I had a coworker take him. Do I report the guy if I know who he is? I don't actually no the vendor off the top of my head, but I could easily identify them at the next swap based on the booth. They were a frequent vendor a year ago.