really unimpressed with first aquarium store experience

seecrabrun

seecrabrun

Active Member
I've been to ***** a few times, I don't count them...

Wednesday I had to go out of town for an appointment and so I thought I'd visit a real aquarium store for the first time.

They sell nothing but saltwater related items. Fish, coral, inverts, etc.

The stock was nice looking and the prices seemed good. But when I started asking questions I felt the employee, who turns out is the only person other than the owner, he was less than impressive.

He proceeded to tell me that you should not listen to the people on the Internet, they are wrong and jerks. He said you don't need hardly any live rock in your system, definitely not as much as the jerks recommend.
He then showed me what he recommends for starting up your tank. A bottle of marine rubble and a bottle of bacteria. Put it in your filter instead of the media and let it go.

He also told me mushrooms live dirty water and don't need to be fed.

There were a few other things. He was pretty unhelpful with the specific questions I had. I'm really surprised.

I'm hoping I can find a better one that is within decent driving range or I'll just have to stick to all online shopping. One good thing is their prices on supplies seemed really good, so I stocked up on a few items.
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
That's why, like Flower always says, "Always go into your LFS knowing what you want or need and never ask them for advice."

Eyes wide open I always say.... Well, sometimes I say it.... Ok, I should say it but I don't. There, you got me. Happy now?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
seecrabrun said:
I've been to ***** a few times, I don't count them...

Wednesday I had to go out of town for an appointment and so I thought I'd visit a real aquarium store for the first time.

They sell nothing but saltwater related items. Fish, coral, inverts, etc.

The stock was nice looking and the prices seemed good. But when I started asking questions I felt the employee, who turns out is the only person other than the owner, he was less than impressive.

He proceeded to tell me that you should not listen to the people on the Internet, they are wrong and jerks. He said you don't need hardly any live rock in your system, definitely not as much as the jerks recommend.
He then showed me what he recommends for starting up your tank. A bottle of marine rubble and a bottle of bacteria. Put it in your filter instead of the media and let it go.

He also told me mushrooms live dirty water and don't need to be fed.

There were a few other things. He was pretty unhelpful with the specific questions I had. I'm really surprised.

I'm hoping I can find a better one that is within decent driving range or I'll just have to stick to all online shopping. One good thing is their prices on supplies seemed really good, so I stocked up on a few items.
Click to expand...
Hi,

The fellow advice wasn't off actually. No you don't need all that amount of live rock. I personally use part live rock and part décor. You certainly can start a tank with marine rubble and a bottle of bacteria.... That's his method, but it isn't the ONLY method. Mushrooms are filter feeders and they do like (I assume the "live" was a typo) dirty water and they I have never fed them, I have had mushroom corals for many, many years. People keep very clean tank water, and if you do...then you will have to supplement with some food in the water for all your filter feeders.

I disagree that we are jerks and idiots, I doubt he was talking about SWfish.com...LOL...maybe he was at one of those other sites. As you get more into the hobby, the more you will be able to develop what works best for you. There are many successful ways to set up a SW tank. I recommend beginners to not ask LFS for advice because they don't know good advice from bad. Here on this site, you get the benefit of many heads and opinions, which creates a safety net if somebody is giving off advice.

I support the local fish stores, we need them to stay in business, and it sounds to me like you found a pretty good one. Also, because of your hanging out with us, you already knew a few things...I'm proud of you!
 
seecrabrun

seecrabrun

Active Member
Yeah I know his advice was not wrong technically, but I was really unimpressed with his attitude and knowing the advice he was giving to people who don't look to the internet for their research. I expected such a store to be more passionate, meaning they would know more, meaning they would have better advice for newbies.

One of the customers who came in when I was there has kept a reef tank for 10+ years. He used to belong to one of those bigger forums, he said. When the employee was helping another customer he and I spoke and he gave the advice I expected of the employee.

Now luckily, thanks to you guys and research. I already knew the answers to everything I asked, but I wanted to talk to someone face to face about the hobby. I was disappointed.

All that said. The store was very clean, the livestock all healthy looking, the prices very reasonable, and they are breeding and fragging the common items themselves.

I will definitely go back, but I will try to do so when the owner is there. This is actually a relatively young family business. Father owned, son employee. I assume I will get the experience from the owner I was expecting from the son.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
seecrabrun said:
Yeah I know his advice was not wrong technically, but I was really unimpressed with his attitude and knowing the advice he was giving to people who don't look to the internet for their research. I expected such a store to be more passionate, meaning they would know more, meaning they would have better advice for newbies.
Click to expand...
The guy's advise was not bad advise or wrong info, as Flower said. And his method is certainly not the only method. As to what is the "best" method, that is subjective and the individual aquarist makes that assessment based on what is best for his/her aquaria. Some people love a lot of live rock, but if your plan is for a reef tank, eventually the new aquarist will learn that what you want to show off is the corals not the live rock; and to that, you need room for the corals placement and growth. Saying that, nothing beats live rock and live sand as natural filters especially when just setting up (and I'll take the LR and LS over bottled bacteria any day of the year).

As for the delivery method of the advise, you will get the same negative attitude concerning LFS from forum members! Including from me. LOL
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
I love checking out new fish stores. I recently found a new one last wk.. but the internet is your best friend when shopping. There are a ton of fish, so iam always seeing new fish. Quick online search tells me if ther. Compatible w my current fish, plus that fishes specific needs.
 
darthtang aw

darthtang aw

Active Member
seecrabrun said:
I've been to ***** a few times, I don't count them...

Wednesday I had to go out of town for an appointment and so I thought I'd visit a real aquarium store for the first time.

They sell nothing but saltwater related items. Fish, coral, inverts, etc.

The stock was nice looking and the prices seemed good. But when I started asking questions I felt the employee, who turns out is the only person other than the owner, he was less than impressive.

He proceeded to tell me that you should not listen to the people on the Internet, they are wrong and jerks. He said you don't need hardly any live rock in your system, definitely not as much as the jerks recommend.
He then showed me what he recommends for starting up your tank. A bottle of marine rubble and a bottle of bacteria. Put it in your filter instead of the media and let it go.

He also told me mushrooms live dirty water and don't need to be fed.

There were a few other things. He was pretty unhelpful with the specific questions I had. I'm really surprised.

I'm hoping I can find a better one that is within decent driving range or I'll just have to stick to all online shopping. One good thing is their prices on supplies seemed really good, so I stocked up on a few items.
Click to expand...

This hobby doesn't really have one set of rules, they are more like guidelines.

Darth (everything on the internet is true) Tang
 
trigger40

trigger40

Well-Known Member
my lfs guys are great they know a lot about the hobbie and try to get me to buy stuff i dont need! and its my only lfs so i have never had a bad experience at fish stores.
 
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