Another horrible LFS story

[flamehawk]

Yes another LFS story. Went to one in Framingham , Mass., while visiting the area. The fountain of misinformation was flowing. A poor guy came into the store and apparently had suffered significant fish loss in his 75 gallon tank. He currently had 3 tangs , a dwarf angel and a large wrasse left...yes in a 75 gallon after already other fish losses! The guy in the LFS suggested he go ahead and either buy another tang(pointing to an eight inch sweet lip naso) or two, and/or a big angel like an asfur or french. I couldn't here anymore and had to jump in. The customer left w/o buying anything. To say the least the LFS was not to happy so I rounded up the family and left.
Just can't help but wonder how many fish die because of this type of irresponsible advise. No wonder many are up in arms about the hobby and will eventually, unfortunately , contribute to it's potential demise.

 

[glazer]

P!sses ya off don't it...
Makes ya wonder about LFS and their motives sometimes... I mean if this guy really cared and gave good advice and help to the customer on getting his tank setup properly he would prolly lose that opportunity to sell him yet a couple more fish. Ah, the almight buck!
I overheard some of the worst advice ever given by a LFS employee not long ago, after the customer left I asked this kid if he had any tanks set up at home. Heard about his experiences and he said... "Well I'm still learning and besides I get an awesome discount so I can replace whatever dies pretty cheap."
Grrrrrr, I wanted to kick his "shorts down around the knees boxer clad ass hangin out" right there on the spot!
Sorry to go on so but I am kinda fed up with the "retail world" in general... nobody seems to care anymore, that's just sad.

 

[hubu]

while i was on school break. i went home to miami. and i went to a LFS, there was some lady buying stuff to start on a 29 gal tank. this would her first tank i guess since she was asking a lot of questions. she somewhat knew what see needed and the reasoning behind why its required. but one thing i guess she didnt research much on was how many fish she can keep in a tank. the guy at the LFS told her that the rules for the number of fish in a freshwater tank wouldnt apply to SW, which i nod in agreement. but when the worker told her that she can keep 1 fish for every 2 gal. i was just like wow. and the funny thing was that they had never heard of a CPR Bak pak skimmer, all they knew was a HOB skimmer, some generic brand skimmer.
during that week, i was given a finger leather by a friend. but i was staying in miami longer than i thought so i had to keep the finger in a make shift tank for 4 days. so i got 1# of LS and SW and a 9w PC on it. sine fingers are hardy and require low light. i was very postive in keeping it alive for that long. but i had asked the ppl there still to get opinions. the guy was like. it will never survive that long. hahahaha the pic i have posted here of the finger leather. thats the one i kept in that make shift tank for 4 days.

 

[flamehawk]

Any other ecent horror LFS stories and better yet suggestions on how to deal w/ this serious issue.

 

[almarktool]

well the only way u can help with these issues is when u are in a LFS and overhear customers getting bad advice 1) step in if u dare and 2) prob most important is to tell them about this BB it is the only way they are really going to learn sad enough most people just do not like to read books and will just rely on advice from other people, so send them here so we can get them straightened out, as far as the other half of aquarium owners that purchase on the internet we can only hope they know what they are doing or better yet if u have the power to ask your internet stores to post a fish per gallon rule or better yet 1 tang per x ammount of gallons never use the inch rule because most people don't account for them growing that's my 2 cents

 

[reeflooker]

Lighten up on the LFSs people. Keep in mind that LFSs are businesses. To make a profit, they have to hire staff at low wages. Staff turn over frequently. Its not always possible to hire expeienced help. It takes time to train staff, as reefkeeping is a complicated hobby. Try to view the situation as if your the owner of the LFS. You should always double check any information you receive from a LFS.

 

[salisbury a d]

This just happened Recently.
I went to the store (*****) ya I know not the best choice but when you know what you are doing you can be pretty successful with their fish.
Anyway. Few months ago I had a nicely stocked tank with two clowns and a goby. I wanted to try my luck with a pygmy angel and got a flame angel. This fish stressed out and got ich that killed all but the goby. So it has been a few months since I have had fish.
At the store my mom who can't keep her yap said that, "Oh all the fish we have ever had from here or providence have died from ich or something?"
She knows as much as this aquarium as the transmission in her car.
The Employee tried to tell me that I did not have enough filtration, live rock, and that I do water changes too often( Once every 4 weeks)
Also told me not to Add any suppliments at all, and to never shop at another pet shop that I happen to trust and would have gone to if it was not so far away.
Sorry for talking so long. By the way the fish were firefish and they are doing just fine.
Adam

 

[jonthefb]

Well hey everyone, in a couple years when i finally set up my very own LFS, probably somewhwere here in Colorado, you all have jobs if you wanna cruise this way. that is my ultimate goal is to own and operate a fish store, as colorado is in dire need of a pretty good one. There are a few in Denver that arent bad, but thats like 2 hrs away. I hope to teach for a few years, save up some money and get my masters and doctorate in coral and fish husbandry in Hawaii, then come back to the states, and start my own lfs. SO if none of ya are doing anythign in about 5 years, let me know and i can get you a job in my store! Then we can give people bad advice so they can post their horror stories on this board!!! <img src="graemlins//urrr.gif" border="0" alt="[urrr]" />
jon <img src="graemlins//urrr.gif" border="0" alt="[urrr]" />

 

[class clown]

HuBu, I also live in Miami. Which LFS are you talking about? There are a couple of TERRIBLE LFS around here. I just posted my comment in the fish forum (under this same thread) about an LFS considering selling a blue tang to a lady that knew nothing and only had a 10 gallon tank that someone gave her.

 

[olsenjb]

When I set up my tank, I went into the LFS about 1/2 mile from my home. I was intent on spending more than I needed to get set up. The guy at this LFS actually steered me in the opposite direction. Here, he could have taken advantage of my naivity and sold me a bunch of stuff that I didn't need, but he didn't. Ever since then, I dealt with this guy exclusively. So, yes there are a bunch of bad ones out there, but luckily occasionally you can find a LFS like this one who you can trust. Makes things much easier for a beginner like me.

 

[hubu]

Originally posted by Class Clown:
<strong>HuBu, I also live in Miami. Which LFS are you talking about? There are a couple of TERRIBLE LFS around here. I just posted my comment in the fish forum (under this same thread) about an LFS considering selling a blue tang to a lady that knew nothing and only had a 10 gallon tank that someone gave her.</strong><hr></blockquote>
the one i was at was The Living Reef on 57th Ave right off the 826 Highway.

 

[donkeykong]

what matters more IMO is the employee not the store. I had one guy try to sell me a tang for my 20gl. Then turned around and had another employee give me great advice and also cut me a deal on lr. He even told me to go to another lfs for my test kit to save me money. I always shop there as long as he is there.

 

[grayne]

I could sit here and write about a plethora of times that I have heard LFS employees giving bad advice to consumers, but what I think is the problem that will cause this issue to never be solved is capitalism. The LFS owner more than likely lives off of the monies generated from sales at his/her store. Whether ethical or not, it is much more lucritive to sell a fish that is doomed to perish than to tell the customer no. Of course there are stores that do not fit in this description, but I would believe the majority would sell someone a grouper to put in a goldfish bowl.
To give some credibility to my theory let me quickly give you an example of a little experiment I sort of stmbled into a couple months ago. I went to 3 larger LFS stores (all privately owned (no *****'s, etc.) looking for a sand-sifting starfish for my DSB (I know after reading many posts here I now know it wasn't the greatest choice). All three of the stores told me that they would pose no problem to my DSB (2 of the 3 told me that they would make it work better ?!?!). About a week later I was back at store X and I heard the owner telling another shopper that a sand-sifting star was not good for a DSB. I went back to the other two stores over the next few days and talked with employees and acted like I was some expert on DSB's or something, and of course they all agreed with me that sand stars were the worst thing imaginable. Why did they do this? When I was looking to purchase all they wanted to do was make a sale and book a quick 10-15 dollar profit on a fish, but when I wasn't buying they were more than happy to talk their "real" beliefs on the hobby.
So, I would have to say that I agree with many of the points brought up above. If you hear someone being given blatent bad advice just to sell something either step-in and say somethingor step-aside and let the LFS do what they do.