How can I add a species that's not a catfish?

[characinfan]

If I want to show that my catfish are in with another species that's not a catfish, is there a way to add the other species to my aquarium? I haven't figured out how to do it.

(This might be useful for showing others which fish are compatible with other fish).

Thanks!

[Melander]

I dont know if you can do this but it sounds like a really good idea to me. You often see people looking for suggestions regarding dither fish etc..

Andreas

[MatsP]

Currently, adding species that aren't part of the Planet Catfish database isn't supported. At some point in the future, it will be supported.

Agreed with the "this is compatible with" aspect.

--
Mats

[characinfan]

Thanks for your comments, Andreas and Mats.

I suppose a controlled vocabulary could be built off fishbase if its terms of use allow for that kind of thing. (I'm not sure why they would not be).

[MatsP]

It is not so much that we don't have a database of the other fish (and we actually have the beginnings of a database of fish outside of catfish - have a look at www.aquaticrepublic.com). It is to do with how we link the different databases together - because Planet Catfish is for catfish only, the "non-catfish" aren't available on Planet Catfish.

Also be aware that Jools and me are the only developers that write code for Planet Catfish. We do so on a voluntary basis, in our spare time. There is only so much time that we can spend in any given week, month or year. Priority goes on things that bring the most immediate benefit in some way or another [first priority is things that are distinctly broken, then making new features that are of good benefit to everyone]. Add to that, maintaining the data in the database. I recently spent quite a lot of time adding more details to the mapping system - I probably entered about 750 coordinates for rivers, lakes, etc - some of these took half an hour or longer to find the correct river in the first place - of course, some are trivial and only take a minute or so to find with google, but others are much harder - and some I couldn't find at all. And about 800 catfish entries were updated in the same time [typically literature reference, size and distribution, but if I spotted something else missing, it was also updated].

--
Mats

[characinfan]

Whoa! It's just an idea. You guys do a great job with the site.

[Jools]

Whoa! It's just an idea. You guys do a great job with the site.

It's a good idea and one that's on the "todo" list. I think Mats was just attempting to explain that good ideas can make days of work. But we do do it because it's mostly fun and it's what we do!

Anyway, back to adding non-cats. This would be rather complicated to get it to work as we'd want it. That's to say, I have in my head the ability to sync all "my fish" species across AR and Planet. If you add a new cat, it displays here and AR, if you add a new Pencilfish, it shows up in both places too. I am not sure yet if you'd need to add it on AR or if a quick add on Planet might work.

Anyway, once a fair bit of progress has been made on the labelling project and Mats and I meet later on this month (something we only do twice or three times a year roughly) then I think this will be the next thing to work on.

What I would say is that it's great that you mention it, I've long thought it a good idea and plan to implement something.

Jools

[Deb]

In the meantime, until this great feature is developed and added, why not add your other aquarium fish to the "Furniture" box in My Aquaria? Be concise and you can fit a lot in that box.

For example, my small 10 gallon with Hara jerdoni reads:
"
Black sand, hard roots, Cryptocoryne wendtii (green), Microsorum pteropus. Indian almond leaf water conditioner and privacy screen (not shown). Neocaridina species shrimp. Danio margaritatus (celestial pearl danios), Poecilia wingei (snakeskin Endler's livebearers.) "

I often click on people's aquaria to read about how they set it up and what else they are keeping.

[Jools]

Deb

It is remarkable you posted to this thread when you did. Mats and I were reviewing in depth where we were on this very feature last night.

I'd hold off on changing the furniture field, soon you will be able to combine fish you are keeping at Planet with populations from the AquaticRepublic.com site.

Shrimp and plants are however still "furniture".

More soon.

Jools

[TwoTankAmin]

What is Aquatic Republic? I took a look at the link in Mats post and found what looked to be a new site with almost nothing there?

[Jools]

What is Aquatic Republic? I took a look at the link in Mats post and found what looked to be a new site with almost nothing there?

There is actually quite a lot there, but I know there is work to do to "surface" it. Some history from 2010.

Try clicking on the "all fishes" link or using the quick find feature.

Jools

[Deb]

That IS a coincidence. You and Mats must be working hard. I'm looking forward to this amazing new feature.

[MatsP]

What is Aquatic Republic? I took a look at the link in Mats post and found what looked to be a new site with almost nothing there?

There isn't much there, aside from the 1928 species of fish that aren't catfish (and all the catfish are there too, of course).

It is not a "lots of articles, and active forum" type of site (and I don't think the plans are that it will ever be - instead, the idea is to create little specialist areas for people who specialise in Barbs, Eartheaters or whatever, where the articles and forums will go).

It is, however, a central "place" for all the data-sheets about all kinds of fish. We still have a fair few fish yet to add, but we're at least getting there on most of the more common species.

--
Mats

[Mol_PMB]

Today I have bought some Coffee bean tetras for my Rio Oiapoque tank. One of the few online sources of data on Hyphessobrycon takasei is on Aquatic Republic, where I am a member with the same user-name as here (and I think the sites recognise that I am the same person). So while I was on the page I thought I would add them to 'my fish'.
I was half expecting 'my fish' to include 'my cats' from PC, but it doesn't. Having now read this thread, I appreciate there's some more work to do before this can become integrated, but it would be rather good to create a 'virtual' tank which contains my new

Hyphessobrycon takasei

with my

Corydoras oiapoquensis

and

Corydoras condiscipulus

, to match the 'real' tank. The clog tag seems to work already!

Cheers,
Paul

[bekateen]

Hi Paul,

A similar discussion like this also exists here: Storing Non-Catfish Aquarium Inhabitants. The answer is still the same (work-in-progress), but definitely it's something worth waiting for.

Cheers, Eric

[Mol_PMB]

Thanks Eric - I missed that one in my search. I'll have a look now

[Megamas]

Hi Paul,

A similar discussion like this also exists here: Storing Non-Catfish Aquarium Inhabitants. The answer is still the same (work-in-progress), but definitely it's something worth waiting for.

Cheers, Eric

Very interesting, thanks for sharing!