They say not to do it so as usual I did.

[atoll]

Don't add 2 unless you have a definite pair they say.
Don't mix different species they say.
You can't do that they say.
Just to mention a few you can'ts we are told.

well, I have and so far so good.

earlier in the week I bought 2 siamese blennies from the same LFS but in different tanks and no idea what sex they are. Yesterday I added 2 canary blennies out of 3 that were in the same tank in a different LFS again no idea of the sexes. Now according to some that was a stupid thing to do and all hell should have broken out between them. Well, guess what? so far so good and although the larger siamese blennies checked out the small canaries no signs of aggression what so ever and all appear to be getting along just fine, fingers crossed they will stay that way.I will try and get a few pic's taken in the next few days.

 

[Paul B]

Thats why you and me don't listen to what "they" say and our tanks are ancient.

 

[ChrisOFL]

This sounds like voodoo witchcraft from what I can tell

 

[Paul B]

It is, thats how our tanks work. I am going out now for chicken bones.

 

[atoll]

Thats why you and me don't listen to what "they" say and our tanks are ancient.

Well, my current tank is just shy of 2 years old Paul so l can't claim that even if a lot of the inhabitants are from previous tanks and have had them some years.

 

[ludnix]

It's worth questioning any advice given in this hobby and doing your own research. That said, I wouldn't tell customers to try this because when it doesn't work it comes back to the person who said it would. There are so many almost guaranteed compatible fish I wouldn't steer anyone down a difficult path unless they were fully prepared for the possible consequences. I love seeing groups of similar fish and their behavior though, a lot of the rules in this hobby are just for the new guys who might not be able to patiently watch the fish interact and remove them if things go awry.

 

[atoll]

It's worth questioning any advice given in this hobby and doing your own research. That said, I wouldn't tell customers to try this because when it doesn't work it comes back to the person who said it would. There are so many almost guaranteed compatible fish I wouldn't steer anyone down a difficult path unless they were fully prepared for the possible consequences. I love seeing groups of similar fish and their behavior though, a lot of the rules in this hobby are just for the new guys who might not be able to patiently watch the fish interact and remove them if things go awry.

I always observe fish esp if I am thinking of buying more than one of them and of course experience of keeping similar species also helps. IME most of the pairs and groups I keep are not just compatible together but also with their other tank mates. I mostly keep small fish with a couple of exceptions. I have a fox face and a Regal Angel. I only put the fox face in as I had a problem with a small low growing Caulerpa that was getting in and amongst my SPS, the fox face dealt with that.