but I'm not very good at diagnosing Characin species.
<Pedant hat on>
I think the word you were looking for was cyprinid Mats. Characids (i.e. Characidae) are the South American tetras and piranhas (if you follow Catalog of Fishes). Characins are technically the Characinae subfamily of the Characidae, although the name characin is commonly used among aquarists for various Characiformes.
But anyway, yes, the fish in question is certainly
Garra flavatra. I found them to be an attractive, hardy, peaceful, active fish, that is very good at eating algae. They can be also be kept in groups.
You will need to make sure the fish has enough vegetable food. It also prefers cooler water (low 20s) and good oxygen/circulation. Round river stones make ideal decorations.
This link gives some excellent and very detailed information on them:
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.ph ... tra&id=963
Here are some photos of the ones I had:
thank u so much for the quick responses...i shall inform the lfs of their false info
There is no right or wrong when it comes to what common names should be. The LFS can call them what they like, and different people call different things by different names anyway.
Personally I think the LFS should have a legal responsibility to supply the correct scientific name* with each fish purchased, say on a small card. This way, when a living creature is taken home as a pet, the owner stands a much better chance of being able to care for it correctly if they know what it is.
How can someone look after something properly if they don't even know what it is? The internet is very powerful and a simple Google search yields a lot of information.
* within reason, and to the best of their knowledge, so this may mean in many cases just to genus level.
