I hate LFS's

[peef]

So my friend who has a stock 24g Nano cube came over last night to get a frag or two from me. He was asking me why all of his copepods disappeared. I went through the list of params with him and all was in check. I asked if anything had changed in the tank, he said not at all??!?!?! Then he goes OHHHH wait, I got a new fish. In my head I went, "OH CRAP". I said let me guess a dragonet. He goes Woa how do you know. I said eh, a mandarin fish, huh? He said yeah the LFS told me it would be perfect to color up my 24g. That they are the perfect size for a 24g and do no need anything special other than a cycled tank with about 10-15 lbs of live rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH, I hate them I hate them I hate them.

 

[perfectdark]

I have slightly more patience for a fish store that does this due to ignorance rather than just trying to sell somthing for a quick $. But on a whole there is no excuse for it what so ever IMO. The only way for the LFS to redeem themselves IMO Is to admit fault due to ignorance and refund the money. But from ME thats asking a whole lot. IMO doing more research and relying less on fish stores for advise is the only way to go.

 

[grabbitt]

Haha... Business by any means necessary.
Tell him he might want to do some homework next time when his mandarin starves

 

[peef]

Yeah I informed him that I am by no means an expert but that he should either come here, do his own research, or ask me!!! But bottom line NEVER trust the LFS again. I gave up on them (same one) awhile ago. I look at their stock alot, (as my wife has a bunny, bird, dog, and I have a snake so we need food) and there are ALWAYS dead fish or anemones in their stock tanks. Not just dead like oops guess it didn't acclimate, but dead like 3 days later and still rotting! I am actually just about to start school to become an aquarist ( I have fallen HARD for this stuff), and after I graduate from that I am going to start my own SW ONLY store. Probably in miami! I have already talked to the wife and she thinks it is a GREAT idea

!!!!!!!

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by peef
Yeah I informed him that I am by no means an expert but that he should either come here, do his own research, or ask me!!! But bottom line NEVER trust the LFS again. I gave up on them (same one) awhile ago. I look at their stock alot, (as my wife has a bunny, bird, dog, and I have a snake so we need food) and there are ALWAYS dead fish or anemones in their stock tanks. Not just dead like oops guess it didn't acclimate, but dead like 3 days later and still rotting! I am actually just about to start school to become an aquarist ( I have fallen HARD for this stuff), and after I graduate from that I am going to start my own SW ONLY store. Probably in miami! I have already talked to the wife and she thinks it is a GREAT idea

!!!!!!!
Man thats awesome, I am jealous I would love to do that.. and live in FL for that matter. LOL

 

[grabbitt]

During yesterday's visit to my LFS, they had about 20 fish in a 40 gallon tank. Oh, they also had 5 snowflake eels, two of which were more like pythons than eels. I watched one demolish a bangaii cardinal right in front of me.
It's sad when owners prioritize with profit over ethics.
The worst part is that these people coming in to buy a new fish usually do not know enough about what they are buying, nor do they realize they're very likely to introduce a disease to their tank with credit to their previously over-stressed environment.

 

[peef]

Yeah, I can't wait until I get mine up and going. I am going to set strick guidelines. Also I will not let anyone run the floor without first having at least what I would qualify as "helpful" knowledge yah know! Should be exciting! I think that when people come in and see a healthy store environment they will come to me instead of the mass stockers. And I already know the people here to go to for wholesale, just won't sell to me as an individual, only if you own or work for a store!!!!

 

[aquaknight]

I think the problem is that, it's a LPS local pet store, not a fish store. Where fish only represent a percentage of their income, instead of a fish store who's income is 100% from the care of fish.
Good luck in your future endeavors, but don't go overboard, remember some people get offended when you ask what size tank they have...

 

[peachie98]

Originally Posted by peef
Yeah, I can't wait until I get mine up and going. I am going to set strick guidelines. Also I will not let anyone run the floor without first having at least what I would qualify as "helpful" knowledge yah know! Should be exciting! I think that when people come in and see a healthy store environment they will come to me instead of the mass stockers. And I already know the people here to go to for wholesale, just won't sell to me as an individual, only if you own or work for a store!!!!
Where are you going to go to school for it? (just curious, I'm in south Florida too).

 

[puffer32]

Alot of LFS hire young kids who will work for cheap and do not know what they are doing. My hubby is a mature knowledgable hobbist and a lfs and would never sell a mandrin to a person with a small tank, so it really just depends who you deal with.

 

[flricordia]

Some $@## and some are OK. A couple here I would not buy anything fishy, though I would buy corals if they had just come in and a few here that I know and trust the owners and they do go out of their way to make sure that a system is able to support the livestock in question. I know there are good LRS out there. Usually it is the one that is dedicated to reef and reef related goods and the owner takes pride in his/her own system.
Peef, I agree, your friend should take it back for a full refund and if they won't do this then they should supply live tigerpods. Bet they take it back.

 

[mie]

Fish eat pods to.

 

[calvertbill]

LFS owners are no different from people in any other walk of life (no I don't run a LFS, I breed thoroughbreds). There are sincere helpful people, and there are sleazoids.
You've just got to ask a lot of questions and learn who's knowledgeable and who's not...and who's venal and who's trying to help. Not counting chains there are 4 LFSs in my area. Two are run by indifferent idiots, 1 by a well informed but greedy owner, but the 4th is a goldmine.
Does he want to sell and make money? You betcha. But I still remember when I referred a friend and she tried to buy a changling Emperor and he refused to sell saying "when did you buy a new tank?" He then proceeded to tell her the population of each of her three tanks and explained why the Emperor would create problems. It seems he was listening when she talked over her last 4 visits to his store. I felt good about that referral.

 

[garnet13aj]

I have slightly more patience for a fish store that does this due to ignorance rather than just trying to sell somthing for a quick $.
I don't think ignorance is really an excuse. I plan on opening an LFS in the future and I won't sell any fish that I'm not knowledgeable about...

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by GRabbitt
Haha... Business by any means necessary.
Tell him he might want to do some homework next time when his mandarin starves

Yeah, what ever happened to personal responsibility. But this sure is a two-way street. In a hobby as complicated as ours; you should be able to trust your lfs.I think one of the 1st real lessons many of us have learned is that you really can't. I really can't think of any other area where the absolute best source of info is a forum like this; where we learn from the opinions and experiences of others---and there really aren't any rigid rules, except those enforced by the tang police. ( I remember way back when I learned to fly; can you imagine learning that "by forum".) Watch; this Mandarin will be the one that thrives on mysiss and that will be another "exception to the rules" posting. I wouldn't want it any other way!