Do you name your fish?

[Evil Slimy]

Some fishkeepers seem to name their fish. I tried it and it's too odd for me. For some reason I have no problem coming up with a lot of nicknames for other pets and people in my life, but it just doesn't happen with fish. Maybe because I don't need to call them... :P
I was wondering how many people name their fish :)

[luvfins]

Only one of my fish has a name, he is a hi-fin tuxedo platy named Bart after Bart Simpson. I used to have a male Molly named Claus. I only name them if they are special or a favorite, or if a name really suits them...like Bart :c2:

[Dave66]

Have several thousand fish, and so many look alike (tetras) it'd be impossible to name them.

Dave

[NickFish]

Have several thousand fish, and so many look alike (tetras) it'd be impossible to name them.

Dave

LOL, same here sort of. I don't have thousands, but I have a lot, and I can't tell a lot of them apart.

I do name some of my fish however.

[angelcakes]

i name a few of my fish.........theres charlie the oscar,fatman the pleco and big boy my biggest clown loach:hmm3grin2orange:

[Kuli_Loach]

I only name a few every now and then that actually stick out to me. My clown is named Squirt and I have an emerald crab named Arnold.

[MCHRKiller]

I name my favorite fish :)

Mated Pair of Oscars-Bonnie and Clyde
Black shark-Blackie(how creative i know)
TSN-Gator
Butterfly Betta-Speedo
Red Betta-Mr Pissy
Severum-Fat b*stard
Bichir-Worm
Parrot Cichlid-C*nt Face

[KingFisher]

Only two of my fish have what would be considered "real names." They are a pair of German Blue Rams named Orinoco and Macika. Other than that, a few have very unoriginal nicknames, like "Hilly" the hilstream loach and "Plecky" the pleco.

[jbeining75]

I name my big cichlids but like Dave not the smaller tetra. It would be impossible. I have 40 neons in my 55 gallon. I wouldn't know if Jim was George or Paul was Phil.

[Suzyq330]

i only naimed my blood parrots, Marty and Keemo. I got them during hockey play offs and they are orange and black (flyers colors) and i convinced my boyfriend to buy them for me cause i was going to name them after the flyer's players. tho i spell keemo wrong, i think it looks cuter like that ;0)

maybe my others will get names if they come to me.... but like everyone said, most are look alikes. if i look close i can tell the difference but just staring at the tank the blood parrots and convicts are the only ones that are distinctive.

[smoochxoxo]

well you can probably see in the sig line my fish are named. They were named by my 5 yr old. She was very proud of herself!
lol

[kaybee]

My fish are assigned codes comprised of 1-4 letters followed by a serial number. I have too many fish to come up with names. (For example, the fish in my avatar is "ZC2")

I use these codes in a log book where I record the dates which they were either purchased or born on, and track how long I've had them, how old they, etc).

[smoochxoxo]

I use these codes in a log book where I record the dates which they were either purchased or born on, and track how long I've had them, how old they, etc).

that is pretty intersting actually!!! But if you have more than one that looks like ZC2 how do you distinguish between them to know for sure?
Like only one of my 4 white clouds I can tell apart being that she is female, so seemingly I could name her, but the 3 males are identical, so we call them the fab 4 lmao.

[MeganL3985]

Wow Kaybee, thats a good system you've got going there! I wish I would've done that.


As for the naming.....I do some of my fish. The two betta's my husband and I named. The 2 dwarf Gourami and 4 peppered cories my daughter named.
The neons and green fire tetra's don't have names though. Too many of them. Though my green fire tetra that I think has a problem that stunted her growth, I call her baby...b/c she's always been teeny tiny.

[kaybee]

But if you have more than one that looks like ZC2 how do you distinguish between them to know for sure?

Sometimes there can be pattern or even physical variations, for example, from the side, ZC1 and ZC2 are practically identical but the stripe above their eyes are different (ZC1's stripe is 'broken' while ZC2's stripe is solid):

"ZC1"
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

"ZC2"
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

Some codes I use can also symbolize an entire group of fish (usually a brood of fry or immature fish born obviously on the same day, and are, for all practical purposes, identical. So "YEL4" in my log book equates to a unit of six fish.

Some fish I just can't distinquish no matter how hard I try (I have 7 clown loaches which all look the same to me). They're arbitrarily coded as CL1 thru CL7, even though I can't tell CL5 from CL2. Other fish may be completely identical but reside in different tanks.

[Ryuu]

I have a few named, but then I forget and its hard to keep track of especially with the danios

[Lady Hobbs]

I laughed at Daves post as I can see 40 fish swimming back and forth and just see him saying......hi Sally, Pete, Fred, Agnus, Betty, Fred when they all look the same. LOL It's more like......1, 2, 3, 6, 12 to see if they are all still there.

I named my blood parrots Buttons and Bows but it no longer applies. It's like naming a cat. They don't come when you call them anyway.

[MeganL3985]

Lol That they do not...and just like a cat they only come when theres food involved.

[Fishalicious]

I name them pretty much all except the shaols of tetra's :11:

[houie925]

I'll probably name my cat after I have him a while. My daughter names all of the fish, lots of Erics and Ariels and one betta named blueberry

[Lady Hobbs]

I name a fish Betty and it ends up being a Burt.

[cocoa_pleco]

ive got so many and when i was a kid i had so many named fish die within a few days that i dont name them anymore

[RichBowyer]

My 13" pleco has a name, Petey. Other then that, no. Seems I've only named the big ones. Paco the pacu and also R-LA the koi.