# Fishbowl: "Class cannot be a child of itself"

> A class is being configured as its own parent, which creates an invalid hierarchy loop.

## What it means

You've tried to set a class as its own parent. Fishbowl hierarchies don't allow this because it creates a logical impossibility — nothing can contain itself.

This typically appears during QuickBooks or Xero integration when you're organizing or mapping item classes, customer classes, or account hierarchies.

## What to check

- Look at the class you were just working with. Is its parent set to itself?
- Review your hierarchy mapping to find any circular references (A's parent is B, and B's parent is A).
- Confirm the parent field is pointing to a different class, not the same one.
- If unsure which field caused the error, review the mapping dialog you were using.

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*From Israel Lopez Consulting (ILC). Custom Fishbowl Inventory integrations and software, and Fishbowl experts since 2015. Written by Israel Lopez. Questions about this topic, or want to reach the people who wrote it? Visit https://israellopezconsulting.com/contact*