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You're joking surely?????


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

My petstore experiences... Some good, some bad.

When I was first started into the hobby, I was all excited and had a one gallon "show" tank. I bought a betta, two panda cories, and a dwarf hairgrass plant. Neither of the two employees asked me a single question!

Suffice to say, the two panda cories died, but the betta lived on, even after the crappy tank filter sucked him up. *shudder* Those were bad times.

The next time around, when I was stocking a five gallon though, I was asked how big my tank was, what I intended to stock it with after my cycle, etc.

I guess it all depends on your salesperson!

The LFSs in my area are pretty decent as longas you ask questions!!! They will sell you anything and as much as you want of it... but give them a little credit, they don't know what your doing with it. At the same time once you tell them your story they will give you their opinion and tell you what you can do and what you shouldn't. When I first started my tank I loaded it with 3 corys, 3 rasboras and 3 neons, but I also did not tell them what I was doing with em... MY fault. The rasboras and the corys made it through, but I don't know how many neons I went through. And the only reason the corys and the rasboras made it was because I was doing water changes about every other day ( and that was a pain ) Eversince (now that I know a bit more about being an aquarist) I ask questions everytime, and I still learn new things.

I was in an LFS in Brisbane recently and I heard the saleskid say to the customer............ "bring in sample of your water, then I will advise you on what fish to stock with" I nearly fell over backwards.
I spoke to the guy afterwards and found out that he was studying Marine Biology at uni and this was his part time job.
The sad thing about it is that most people are impulse buyers ( especially when new to the hobby........ me included) and that the customer probably went down the road and spent $200 at the "Pet Hypermart"

When I first started out keeping fish I had a 29g aquarium. I went to the LFS and saw an angelfish that I wanted. So I walked over a few tanks and asked about the neon tetras that had "3 for $5" written on it. He (guy who owned the store) asked me how big my tank was, so I told him. He kind of hesitated for a minute, and then mumbled something about how since it was "such a big tank" that it wouldn't matter anyway and put three in a bag for me.

Needless to say, my angelfish ate my neon tetras for lunch and then it died of ick two weeks later. ] I'll never step foot in that store again. I admit that it was my fault for not doing some searching before making such a stupid decision, but he knew! Oh well. He lost a lifetime customer for a $20 sale.

Once apon a time i wanted a fish tank so I asked santa for a 5 gal 4 xmas & I got 1, a guy at an lfs said that I could put about 4 redcaps (goldfish) & 4 guppies, lukily I stumbled apon FP before I bought the fish so now I have a 5 gal with 2 male guppies in it.
(I hated the fact that my lfs didnt tell me about stocking limitations & the nitrogen cycle]:|)

ps. I really regret getting a tiny 5 gal but oh, well.

The End

My very first time buying fish i was smart enuff to do a lil research and desided to start with 3 zebra danio's to cycle a 10g tank.. anyway i go to LFS and buy them.. between 3 fish i have 4 eyes... one with two eyes and two with 1 eye(squirt, one-eyed willy, and left eye) ofcourse now i check the bag every time.. but this was my first time so i didnt.. anyway.. one-eyed willy died about 2 days after from what i later found out to be dropsy.. as soon as i heard the discription pinecone i knew thats what he died of. squirt a few days after.. left eye i still have almost a year later..
anyway i went back only one time a couple of months ago just out of morbid curriosity.. their must have been about 3-4 dead fish in each tank, and ich in 1 out of 5 tanks or so..
My question is, how the hell do these places stay in buisness???.. i will never ever go their again.. and anyone who posts on this site could take one step in that store and know to avoid any fish in there.. Do they stay in biz soley from duping first timers into buying dropsy ridden zebra danio's?!?!..
Good topic everyones got a tale or two of shady LFS's
-CJ

ive been to a few of the less reputable LFS in sydney but ive been to other good ones, one asked
1)how long has the tank been set up
2)what kind of filter am i using
3)what the temperature was
4) and all my params.

lmao... .. just started working at an lfs that i have been buying my fish and product from since i started the hobby..
we have alot of customers that have the attitude that "there just fish" and dont take our advice into account.. like:
adding slowly!!.. that fish will out grow your 2 ft tank!!.. u cant put nemo(clown fish) into a little cold water bowl!!!]:| and many others.. its not always the lfs to blame.. i know i am there to give customers a better idea of the hobby and what they will need to do to insure they have a successfull tank!! but i can understand that there are many out there that just want a buyer..

r0b3y

SO yesterday i'm browsing around my local LFS, looking for some new decorations for my 10 gal (I found a real nice BTW) and there is this lady with her fiance, who 10 minutes prior had bought a 20 long, and then she proceeded to buy $200 worth of fish!!! Did the worker attempt to tell them about cycling, or adding too many fish at once....NO she jsut kept adding to the pile. So, being a good citizen I meander over and ask if she was planning on putting those fish in the new tank, and she says yes. So i kindly explain about cycling and all the good things I have learned from these wonderful FP ppl and she tells me i dont know what im talking about and to go away ]:|
Now, i have never been happy with this LFS but seriously, this is ridiculous......At least tell the poor lady that she cant put that many fish in a well established 20 long, nevermind a new tanks.
To list a few of this fish she bought: 2 Upside down catfish, a common pleco, a CAE, 12 corys (not sure which ones), AN OSCAR!! and multiple others. People really frustrate me, and the sad part is, it isnt the lady's fault.....its the LFS's fault.

GRRR, sorry just had to vent for awhile!

How about this one....walk up to an employee in lfs and say there are a couple of dead fish in that tank, you should remove them. Their response?!?!?!?! "It's okay, they're 25% off."]:|:%) What the **** is that about? Do they think someone is going to buy a dead fish because it's a really good deal????

My local fish store is kind of link that every so often someone at XXXXXXX usally a kid goes to take a look at the fish they usally want one and the parent gives in and they buy that 2gallon tank that that one brand sells. Anyhow they usally buy a goldfish the same day and some water conditioner some food and a plastic plant. The employees do not tell them anything about the nitro cycle or anything like that just let them buy the fish and go home happy till the goldfsh dies a few days later.



PLEASE REFRAIN FROM NAMING LFS IF YOUR IMPLICATION IS NEGATIVE. THANK YOU.

==fish1

Last edited by ACIDRAIN at 05-Mar-2005 15:48

Iwas talking to the owner of a LFS when a hobbyist entered the store. He looked absolutely distraught and was holding the plastic hinge to the glass top for an aquarium. Both the owner and I knew the man and we said hello. The owner asked him what was wrong.

The hobbyist explained that he had purchased a puffer at another LFS in town for his marine tank. His question to the store employees was, "Is this fish reef safe?" The store employee said yes and the hobbyist purchased the fish and placed it in his 40G reef tank.

Within two days, the fish had killed every vertebrate and invertebrate in the tank. The hobbyist couldn't remove it as the fish hunkered down inside the rock. The glass tank top broke when he placed it on the floor and gingerly attempted to remove rock.

All in all the hobbyist had lost over $1,500 in animals due to the stupidity of the store employee. As I listened, I restrained myself from saying that he was also to blame for not researching his selections.

We need to take personal responsibility within our hobby for our decisions. Patronize good LFS at the expense of the big boxes and mail order.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

when I first started I had a similar experience. I was buying all new stuff and bought $70 worth of fish and found them all dead the next day. The guyx excuse was "I didnt know that you are putting them into a brand new aquarium". This was a poor excuse as I had said aquarium on the same receipt. I never went there again.

Yeah, there's a lot of bad LFS's out there. On the other hand, you just have to shop around until you find a good store. My fav LFS usually gives out excellent advice and will suggest NOT getting fish if your water tests don't show up clean. They also extend the 24 hour fish guarantee to a week if the water tests come out good.

I've gone to LCS's that give horrible advice, etc. One chain store employee told me that basically any broad leafed plant would do okay in low light. Yep. Uh huh... simple as that. Oh, same store told me common plecos only get to be a few inches long. Mmmhmm.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

My LFS is at the opposite end of the spectrum.

He'll tell everyone setting up a new tank that they need to go easy, build stocks up slowly, and be prepared to perform various maintenance tasks in order to keep the aquarium running. And he'll also dispense decent advice about fish compatibility and eventual sizes.

Because he's of the opinion that by guiding the customer properly, he'll actually make more money in the long run. Because they'll become permanent fishkeepers, and keep coming back for food etc. And, if they enjoy success as a result of his advice, they'll pass the word on and once more, newcomers will turn up at his door rather than someone else's.

But then he's unusual in the business world. He has the capacity to see into the long term. Unfortunately, the business world these days is riddled with self-proclaimed yuppie supermen in red braces who think that because they have an MBA, that makes them some kind of major deity. And whose idea of 'long term planning' is calculating the bottom line for the end of the week on a spreadsheet. The kind who pepper their speech with assorted linguistic excrescences such as 'downsizing' and 'business process re-engineering'. Box-tickers, basically. Most of whom have fashionable management theories multiplying inside their heads like bacteria in a warm tuna salad, but whose comprehension of essential realities is on a par with the average politician's association with honesty.

One good way of picking an LFS is this: has he/she kept fish prior to going into business? Enjoyed success in the hobby? Especially with respect to maintenance or breeding of challenging species? If your LFS is a former aquarist with a rack of show wins and Discus breeding to his/her credit, you're on to a winner. If your LFS is all sharp suits, a BMW and business school management theory speak, and hires staff on the basis that they're cheap rather than knowledgeable, then walk out.






Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

lol!

that it sad.
i like to for into a LFS and ask silly qustions to the staff like can i put them in straight away? and how many fish can i get for my 35gal. and i make sure other people are around to hear the answers.

they answer wrong, i dont buy.