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To help fishkeepers avoid the fast-talking local fish store employee, here’s a brief guide to assist people in getting what they really need.

Most of us have had it happen before: The helpful, friendly fish store employee tells you all these wonderful things about something you had expressed interest in. You end up buying the thing, confident in the employee’s reassurances that it was the thing for you. You get home however, and find out some bad news, one way or another. Maybe the part won’t fit onto your tank or other equipment. Maybe it doesn’t work as it is supposed to, or not at all. Maybe you plain just don’t need it. Maybe it isn’t compatible with your other fish, and starts killing them. Maybe it eats them outright, or hides all the time. Maybe your purchase was really delicate, and dies with in a few hours. Perhaps the store worker neglected to mention that it was a really good jumper, and you don’t discover this until you see a dried-up fish on your floor, right near the tank. Who knows, you may have gotten lucky and found out from the good folks at FP that whatever you bought wasn’t really what you needed. Whatever the case may be, you got served! You were suckered into buying something that you could have gone without.

Why does this happen? Why aren’t all fish store employees knowledgeable and honest? Well, there are several reasons. First, they aren’t all knowledgeable because working at a fish store seems like an easy job. “Oh, I’ll just feed the fish every day, and get people to buy neons and angelfish all the time. They’re sooooo pretty!” It is not an easy job though, not least because there are so many kinds of fish in this hobby, with new ones being imported all the time. The people who work at pet stores because they think that it would be “easy” or “cool” don’t take into consideration that it is a job that requires a lot of knowledge to be good at. On the flip side, there are smart LFS workers who are too lazy to be helpful or choose to deliberately deceive their customers, though these are less prevalent than the unknowledgeable folks. They will either let you assume that want you want is the right choice, or will tell you so just to sell you the item. Sometimes, these folks will just tell you what you want to hear, in order to speed up the purchase and get you to leave. Finally, there are commissions. At some stores, employees work on commission (rare), or get a small amount of money every time a customer buys X dollars of stuff. The more the customer buys, the greater the chance that they employee will get a bonus for it. Some people would be only too happy for you to buy things that you don’t need, like extra filters, carbon, water treatments and medicines, salt, etc. They really don’t care if you will never use or need such things, but they do care about their extra money.
In short, there are plenty of non-ideal employees out there, and you need to watch out for them.

“Okay, now I know that there are people out there that I want to avoid. How do I do so, and what course of action do I take if I can’t help talking to an undesirable?” Well, there are several tricks to figuring out who you don’t want to sell you things, and how to steer clear from these folks. When you’re going into a pet/fish store that you have never been into, there are a couple of things that you can do figure out how much they know. First, you can peruse their tanks, seeing if everything is correctly labeled, and whether fish are in tanks that they shouldn’t be in (i.e., a betta with tiger barbs or guppies, rummynose tetras in an African cichlid tank). If you see too many mistakes when browsing, don’t be surprised if you find that the workers don’t know much. Next, try talking to anyone who is not busy. Ask them questions that you know the answers to, so that you can determine if they have a clue as to what they’re doing. Talk to the people about potential tank stocking options, and offer them some bad setups. If they don’t warn you about the risk of putting such fish together in a tank, you know that you probably don’t want to ask for their input when buying livestock. Keep in mind though, sometimes good LFS workers don’t have much knowledge of or experience with certain types of fish. Don’t always be quick to condemn those who don’t know enough to help you, especially if they’ll admit it. After all, honesty is just as important as knowledge when it comes to fish store workers. I’d hate to be talked into purchasing something by someone that pretends to know everything about it, only to find that they didn’t have a clue. However, I don’t mind someone who isn’t able to help me personally, but will refer me to an employee who can.

If you’re satisfied with the store, you should now feel free to buy from them. Still, exercising caution is a smart thing to do. When you don’t know enough about an item that you plan to purchase, do some research at home first. Look up your potential purchase on the Internet and/or in library books, and try to have at least a basic understanding of your subject. After all, this will not only help you determine whether you really need the item, but will also prove beneficial down the road, if you actually do buy it. Once you feel that you know enough about the item, head to your LFS. Quiz an employee about basic facts, and see if that matches with what you already know. If so, try to get him/her to share more in-depth information, if they know any. After you’ve exhausted all of their knowledge on the subject, thank the person, and tell them that you’ll definitely consider buying the product. Then try to locate another employee that isn’t busy. Ask them the same questions as with the first, and glean all of the info from them that you can. Try not to let the first worker see you do this, because that would hurt their feelings.

If the two employees’ stories match up with what you know and with what the other said, they probably both know what they’re doing. Give yourself kudos for taking the time to do research on your item, and revel in the knowledge that you have at least a somewhat knowledgeable fish store to go to. You are probably safe in buying the item/s that you wanted (providing that it/they are really what you need), and going home with them.
If you got differing stories from at least one of the workers, hold off on a purchase. Do extra research at home before going any further, unless you really trust one of the employees. After all, it is important to know what you’re bringing home.

If you aren’t sure about an item and someone tries to fast-talk you or says something about it that contradicts what you know, don’t give in. Just because someone works at a fish store, they can’t override your all of your knowledge with just a few words. Do not get taken in, and ask them if they’re absolutely sure of what they are saying. If possible, get them to cite examples, or ask another worker about it. If the one worker’s statements don’t seem true but they insist that they are, don’t rely on what they say in the future. They might just be mistaken, or they may be trying to draw you into a purchase. Either way, they are not helping you to get the information that you need. You might want to avoid asking that person’s advice in the future, at the risk of getting more wrong answers. When you are asking someone for help, you do want to be able to rely on their advice. As for the fast-talkers, you can try to counter their bad advice. Give them examples of what you’ve experienced/looked up, and explain how that contradicts what they (the employee) are saying. Or, to simply avoid buying what they are trying to sell, tell them that you want to do more research, to feel safer about what you are considering. After all, research is never a bad thing.

So, now you hopefully know how to hold your own when trying to buy something in a fish store. You can apply this knowledge in any location, and with any item. This will help you to prevent getting what you just don’t need, or what will harm your tank rather than help it. Just try not to get into arguments or hurt anyone’s feelings in the process, no matter how unhelpful they are being. Also remember that people will learn more over time, and someone who didn’t know what a tetra was a year ago might be breeding cardinal tets today. I know that I’ve progressed a lot in my eight or so months of keeping fish, and I get more knowledgeable every time I go to work or log on at FP.

Take care, folks.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

another reason y so many lfs employees dont know much bout what there selling is because pretty girls sell more stuff then knowledgeble ppl.


Last edited by Fallout at 06-Mar-2005 06:16

I wouldn't consider myself *ugly*, so are you implying that good-looking girls automatically don't know what they are talking about when it comes to fish?

And we also have a lot of male employees as well, including one guy who sold five snakes in one day.

Last edited by Fallout at 06-Mar-2005 06:17

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Ehh, I dunno about that, Brybenn. I'd buy a fish from someone who seemed to know what they're talking about, rather than some big-breasted femme fatale who went "uhhh, weellll, arent they pretty?! Tee-hee, uhh, sure, tetras and cichlids? Like, I do it like, all the time! *twirls hair*"

You must be reallllly lead by your hormones if you find that misleading No offense, of course.

I diseagree about the pretty girl thing as at my lfs, the daughter of the owner does not know that much and tends to overfeed a lot, but the other young girl is extremely knowledgable with diseases and did a scraping on my fihs. Tehre is also another girl there who is the most knowledgable person about fish I have ever met. To be honest, there is only 1 guy there who works part time and barely knows anything. The rest are all girls. But at another lfs which I don't go there any more is exactly what you said. There is one young girl who always wears sparkle on her cheek and a few otehr knowledgable guys. (Once the girl was catching some fish for me and she got the net out and forgot to put the wter in the pot before she caught the fish!!!!!!!!!)

i didnt mean it is that way in all cases but i have noticed it in many stores that i frequent.
smaller family owned stores i have not i must say, n i no its adequate to not know everything bout every fish sold in the store but i havent been to too many stores were i was impressed by the level of knowlegde n or experience by the employees with the exception of small family owned stores n Animilia in peterborough



Last edited by Fallout at 06-Mar-2005 06:18

Cory, I been there! And they said that you were the catfish expert

Really depends on if the LFS is in the business for the good of the hobby or for $$$$

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And they said that you were the catfish expert

I hope you met the manager, Nate. He's really knowledgeable about freshwater fish, and is the resident cichlid and killi expert. But the saltwater and reptile people... Their answers to freshwater questions are laughable.[/font]

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Brybenn: Maybe it sells with *you*, but I'm pretty sure most people here who are buying fish don't really care what the person looks like... I sure don't.

I've found in most cases, LFSes are knowledgable of the basics. Cichlids eat little fish, tetras need schools, one male betta per tank. But don't ask them "How big does this goldfish get?" or "Do pseudotropheus and haplochromis go together?". Of course, this is only my experience with chain stores. It's very different for little LFSes.

Last edited by smantzer at 05-Mar-2005 18:53

I would tend to think that the particular store mentioned that would hire ex strippers and not a male..has less to do with selling fish, and more to do with the employers hormones.
That said..can't contribute much to the "study" on lfs employees..cuz here there are only 2 store ..and it's a pretty small town. One is great.. owned by husband/wife and they have one male employee ( good friend of mine )
Pretty knowledgeable, very nice.
The other store..sells a variety of animals, including puppy mill dogs ..and give out a TON of misinformation. I ONLY go there for live food for my African Butterfly Fish..and try not to look around (lest I should pay 3x the amount for a Chinchilla to save it).

I'd rather buy my fish from an ex-stripper than some little smart ass kid.
I research my fish first, I don't need the stores information. Maybe you people should try it instead of relying on crappy employees.



Last edited by Fallout at 06-Mar-2005 06:19

Last edited by Dave. at 06-Mar-2005 14:05

Last edited by Dave. at 07-Mar-2005 03:25

Yes, that's pretty much the point that I was trying to get across. Researching a potential purchase is the best way to ensure that you are getting your money&#8217;s worth, instead of just relying on an employee for help.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Bravo, my fellow Berkely Breather. Nice article indeed.