Has anyone bought one of these

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MultipleTankSyndrome said:
Expanding on my previous idea, it would be nice if these mystery box sellers allowed you to choose a number of species that you were interested in and could house, that would constrain the range of what could be in the box.

For example, let's suppose a buyer couldn't decide whether they wanted weather loaches, bucktooth tetras, pink tailed chalceus, or pictus catfish. They could select those species as the species the box could contain, and be pleasantly surprised with whatever 1 species is in the box when it arrives instead of having something unwanted and unsuitable.
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So, instead of it being a "full blown mystery box" where the buyer hasn't got a scooby doo what's in it, and they could be getting any one of 1000's of species, you want to turn it into a "unmysterious mystery box", where you've narrowed it down from 1000's, to just a handful?

Granted, it's a more sensible approach to this stupid idea but it sort of takes the huge surprise element out if it. I prefer the scenario where the guy with the 10g tank is hoping his mystery box contains a couple of snails, but receives a baby arapaima, lol.
 
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It's still a surprise if you don't know what you're getting out of a range of fish, even if you picked that range. And the wider the range the better, although it can be subjective as to how surprising any fish is.

I think the scenario you described is hilarious, but I'll always take sensibility over surprise.
 
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As long as we are talking about hilarious,
I find it amusing that when the term "predator" is brought up, many people immediately think of cichlids.
When in truth, the vast percent of cichlids aren't strict predators , but are opportunistic omnivores.
Only a moderate percent are strict predators.
When the stomach contents of most wild cichlid omnivores is analyzed, at least 50% is algae and detritus, and the rest insect larvae, or other invertebrates.

Even when an actual predator like an adult wild Parachromis dovii (often considered a piscivore) has its stomach contents analyzed, a large percent are insects.
 
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duanes said:
As long as we are talking about hilarious,
I find it amusing that when the term "predator" is brought up, many people immediately think of cichlids.
When in truth, the vast percent of cichlids aren't strict predators , but are opportunistic omnivores.
Only a moderate percent are strict predators.
When the stomach contents of most wild cichlid omnivores is analyzed, at least 50% is algae and detritus, and the rest insect larvae, or other invertebrates.

Even when an actual predator like an adult wild Parachromis dovii (often considered a piscivore) has its stomach contents analyzed, a large percent are insects.
Click to expand...

And to carry this train of thought a bit further...people look at a big arowana or catfish and think "predator", which of course is accurate since those fish eat living creatures smaller than themselves.

But then a tank of tetras is looked upon as though it is a peaceful happy community of vegan monks...when in actuality almost all of those tetras are bloodthirsty hunters and killers...if you happen to be a copepod or mosquito larva. Their prey items are necessarily smaller, but those tetras are definitely predators.

And to take it a step further...a tank full of neon tetras would be quickly decimated by the introduction of something like a pictus cat...regardless of how cute some may consider it...because the pictus is not only a predator but is the perfect size to eat neons, and can pursue them into many of the smaller nooks and crannies where they might seek refuge. But you could, if you had sufficient space, house those neons with a much bigger predator like a large arowana and find that they live together without incident simply because the neons are too small to attract the attention of the big guy...but the pictus would not do as well since the aro would see him as a nice mouthful well worth pursuing.

Many people are so obsessed with the technology that runs their aquarium, or with the science that attempts to explain the processes taking place...that they completely lose sight of the art of thinking.

As my favourite bumper sticker proclaims: "Common Sense - so rare it's practically a superpower!"
 
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I think jjohnwm is more or less spot on, especially the second part. Keeping a school of neons with something like an arowana or red tail catfish is the underwater equivalent of a competitive eater with a plate of crumbs - they could eat them, but they usually don't bother because those crumbs are tiny, a pain to catch/get ahold of, and not filling.

I actually think it would look pretty cool to go to a public aquarium with that sort of thing on display.
 
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Just to go on ad nausium a little.
38D6D5AB-B1F3-417B-BBCA-91E7B1FE96C0_1_201_a.jpeg
The tetras above are predators, the cichlid directly below, is not, note the vampire like teeth.
The Lepidolamprologus below is a predator
The Cincelichthys bocourti below, are mostly vegetarian
Other cichlids like Vieja, severums, mbuna are not predators, they are at best omnivores with vegetarian tendencies.
Compare the specialized mouth and teeth with that of a real predator, like Parachromis below..
Or even an omnivore like Andinoacara
CF75DCDD-D043-4C51-8C9A-2E34D18C09BB_1_201_a.jpeg
 
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The Masked Shadow said:
It may be something cool if you bought a mystery box from a member on here for fish that will be in a certain tank, or a generalization of what you want.
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its one thing to get a mystery box from a fellow hobbiest who has stock you like, etc, and who isn’t going to screw you buy sending something unreasonable. While other thing to get a mystery no. From a random retailer with whatever crap they couldn’t offload any other way.
 
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duanes said:
Just to go on ad nausium a little.
View attachment 1480586
The tetras above are predators, the cichlid directly below, is not, note the vampire like teeth.
The Lepidolamprologus below is a predator
The Cincelichthys bocourti below, are mostly vegetarian
Other cichlids like Vieja, severums, mbuna are not predators, they are at best omnivores with vegetarian tendencies.
Compare the specialized mouth and teeth with that of a real predator, like Parachromis below..
Or even an omnivore like Andinoacara
View attachment 1480587
Click to expand...

Great example. There's really no overstating this stuff.

To add another, as you point out, highly aggressive mbuna are herbivorous or at best omnivorous while heavily leaning towards vegetarian.
However, kuhli loaches are purely carnivorous with there being no reports of them harming tank mates according to Seriously Fish.
 
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