Things to avoid when going to the LFS's

[scotts]

I HATE when prices are not listed on the tanks. Once I saw coral I liked asked the price and it was $60. Thought about it and went back the next day to get it and a different employee told me the price was $70. I passed.
The miracle $20 bottle for any problem you have. I even bought a bottle of something to keep my water clear.

I hate to think of how much money I literally poured into my tank.

 

[usc932000]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
It is every hobbiest's job to quarantine fish. Stores get fish directly from the distributors. They come from the sea before the distributors. Most stores cannot afford to quarantine all new fish. The fish come in with parasites, and often in poor health. That is why it is important to spot a fish that you like and ask the store to keep it for you. Come back every two days, make sure the fish eats well before you buy it. We can condemn stores all we would like. It is the responsibility of the hobbiest to be certain that they are buying a healthy fish, and to be sure that they keep it healthy.
Yeah I understand all of that, but to sell the fish immediatley is more of what I'm talking about. Some stores won't sell fish right away because of everything you just mentioned. I guess I have been spoiled by doing business with good stores in the past. The stores I have recently come into contact with are not so good.....Maybe its just me??

 

[renogaw]

how about when a lfs tells you it's ok to put a tang in a 40 gallon? oh wait... SWF.com does that...

 

[scrapman]

Originally Posted by MichaelTX
giving it a bump for more interection on what to look for when you go into a LFS' and what thows up your red flags when you go into a store.
Mike

Michael TX,
Are you OK? LOL.... what the h... does that mean?

 

[michaeltx]

it was falling off the first page so I gave it a bump back to the first page for more people to interact and give their opinoins LOL
Mike

 

[shinobi9119]

Originally Posted by renogaw
how about when a lfs tells you it's ok to put a tang in a 40 gallon? oh wait... SWF.com does that...
lol

 

[limitedslip]

I acutally find it best to get to know the people at your LFS. By talking with them for 5 to 10 minutes, you can pretty much gauge their understanding of the saltwater world. All three of my LFS's quarentine their fish for 1 to 2 weeks before putting them up for sale (see, when you talk to them, you can better understand how they take care of the fish that you someday might own).
Also, stay away from stores that constantly have new employees. The three LFS's almost never change their employees, which allows you to feel safe when purchasing from them, as you know them and how they take care of fish, whereas, some "everything" pet stores have a new person in charge of saltwater every few weeks or so because they cant seem to keep the fish alive (its sad, but its true).
just my 2 cents

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by Limitedslip
I acutally find it best to get to know the people at your LFS. By talking with them for 5 to 10 minutes, you can pretty much gauge their understanding of the saltwater world. All three of my LFS's quarentine their fish for 1 to 2 weeks before putting them up for sale (see, when you talk to them, you can better understand how they take care of the fish that you someday might own).
Also, stay away from stores that constantly have new employees. The three LFS's almost never change their employees, which allows you to feel safe when purchasing from them, as you know them and how they take care of fish, whereas, some "everything" pet stores have a new person in charge of saltwater every few weeks or so because they cant seem to keep the fish alive (its sad, but its true).
just my 2 cents

Worth a lot more than 2 cents! This is especially true of the mass merchandisers (*****,et al). When you're waited on , you could easily have the cat dept person, who is covering for the fish person; who's at lunch, and hasn't been trained anyway. A good lfs is priceless; but what a tough biz. The stores have to buy their hard goods at about the same price we can buy them online. They compete with massive livestock suppliers, like SWF.com, who have their business practices down to a science. I had a great store when I lived in Mississippi, pre-Katrina; but have bought almost everything I buy, even frozen food, online now. I seldom go to any lfs anymore; I can't resist correcting the salespeople on their incredible lack of knowledge. The last time I was in one, not a *****, but a big fish store about 90 miles away; the clerk didn't know why the aquacultured juvi yellow stripe maroon clowns had white stripes and how she could be sure they would grow into the yellow stripe variety. Duh! Aquacultured, maybe the parents were gold striped? Sad.

 

[bs21]

Originally Posted by Scotts
I HATE when prices are not listed on the tanks. Once I saw coral I liked asked the price and it was $60. Thought about it and went back the next day to get it and a different employee told me the price was $70. I passed.
agreed it is frustrating but i have been able to get great deals from a store like this though...just have to figure out who to talk to and its not the guy that makes all the frags you are looking at.
the other thing that sucks about this is saturday for example it was really busy in there and it took forever to find a salesperson to ask the price on each of the 20 different corals i was looking at. if the price had been posted i could have picked whichever ones i liked with a reasonable price and then just told the guy and it would have saved a ton of time. Instead I asked a couple prices thought about it and when i was ready with my decision guy was gone helping someone else.

 

[autofreak44]

Originally Posted by srfisher17

Worth a lot more than 2 cents! This is especially true of the mass merchandisers (*****,et al). When you're waited on , you could easily have the cat dept person, who is covering for the fish person; who's at lunch, and hasn't been trained anyway. A good lfs is priceless; but what a tough biz. The stores have to buy their hard goods at about the same price we can buy them online. They compete with massive livestock suppliers, like SWF.com, who have their business practices down to a science. I had a great store when I lived in Mississippi, pre-Katrina; but have bought almost everything I buy, even frozen food, online now. I seldom go to any lfs anymore; I can't resist correcting the salespeople on their incredible lack of knowledge. The last time I was in one, not a *****, but a big fish store about 90 miles away; the clerk didn't know why the aquacultured juvi yellow stripe maroon clowns had white stripes and how she could be sure they would grow into the yellow stripe variety. Duh! Aquacultured, maybe the parents were gold striped? Sad.
speaking of *****, my friend just started there about a month ago and when i asked him what section he worked in, he said all of them. also he has no former pet experience besides his dog at home. nothing against him, but just fair warning that ***** is probably not the best place to ask for advice.
in a nutshell, stay away from *****... im surprised no one already said this

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by autofreak44
in a nutshell, stay away from *****... im surprised no one already said this

I just assumed it was a given... LMAO...

 

[michaeltx]

***** isnt the main problem its uneducated people getting their info from ***** or other chain type stores. places will only sell whats being bought from them. If you know your stuff and how to protect your stock **QT** then you can get good deals at *****. something else is not all of them are the same depends on the people and what their idiology on it is on if its a good store or not.
Mike

 

[smartorl]

How about overhearing the employees at the lfs giving out hideous advice? You know it is time to find a new lfs store when you find yourself giving advice to customers in the parking lot because the store is just out to rip them off.

 

[michaeltx]

I do it right in front of the employees and since I am always in the stores I am not asked to leave most of the time LOL I also suggest a certain website to come to and ask questions. most of the LFS' that I go to have no problem letting some say their experiences on it. and trust me it has ore impact when you are asked to leave and the last comment to the intended buyer is if you dont beleive me research it on SWF.com and you will see they give good advice with out going for your wallet! most of the time they are right behind me leaving the store LOL
Mike

 

[fish4ever]

Walking into a lfs to see one of the employees popping bubble algae cause he thinks it's cool.

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by fish4ever
Walking into a lfs to see one of the employees popping bubble algae cause he thinks it's cool.
HA HA HA HA HA.................

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by MichaelTX
***** isnt the main problem its uneducated people getting their info from ***** or other chain type stores. places will only sell whats being bought from them. If you know your stuff and how to protect your stock **QT** then you can get good deals at *****. something else is not all of them are the same depends on the people and what their idiology on it is on if its a good store or not.
Mike
***** can be a good, inexpensive source for supplies; but I would never buy livestock or ask for advice from there.

 

[mbnum2]

About 4 years ago, when I was in college. I decided to take up this hobby. Not knowing any better, and being impatient, and being kind of strapped for money as a college student who also worked part time, I went to PetLand, and after talking with them and being convinced I could run a 55gall reef on two HOB millenium 3000 (or whatever they were called) I purchased everything I needed to start my aquarium. I started off with 30-40lbs of live rock and then a few damsels. Not really advised to let cycle. Over the next 8-10 months or so, I continued having problems in my aquarium and continued dumping money into my tank

. I purchased fish such as blue hippo tangs and other larger fish that should have no business in my tank and they continued to fall

one after another, being a newbie I had no idea why. My parameters where all right on according to my and their testing systems, however they would keep selling me product after product that had no business belonging in my aquarium. (ie corals that could not live with the lighting that I had) I had to eventually break down my tank b/c I could no longer afford to keep up with the cost. Needless to say I spent over a thousand dollars over the course of a year on an unsuccesful attempt to maintain a hobby that I really put a lot of time and effort to enjoy.
I do realize that this was mostly my fault for not doing any homework and research on what needs to be done in order to keep a successful tank, but I really did trust those guys at the LFS and thought they knew what they were doing

.
Now I am currently running a very successful 55gall semi-reef (only have 2-3 corals and 60-65 lbs of LR) aquarium and havent had any casualties due to illness or stress. (One or two little guys did get sucked through the sump

) I found a great Reef store down the street from me and have had great success with them and their products. Knowledgeable and honest people.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by autofreak44
speaking of *****, my friend just started there about a month ago and when i asked him what section he worked in, he said all of them. also he has no former pet experience besides his dog at home. nothing against him, but just fair warning that ***** is probably not the best place to ask for advice.
in a nutshell, stay away from *****... im surprised no one already said this

Check post #15 above. My fragile little ego has been bruised! (Yeah, right!)

 

[nixis]

I have a couple of LFS in my area, one of them is awesome. They actually love what they do. Only the owners work at the store, and they are very helpful. I was in a hurry one day and stoped at another fish store in the area, I am still new to the hobby and was unaware of ich. Unfortunally I got ich from that store.

I would say to anyone who is just starting...do research! I just jumped right in, and well I had a tank sitting with no fish forever, because I was not educated. Beware of fish that look unhealthy. I have found this site to be so helpful. I would love to thank everyone for being so nice to the new members. I love the hobby!