michelle l
Member
I live in a relatively small town (about 100,000 people) that doesn't really have any LFS with a good selection of saltwater fish. I have been looking for a purple tang, but didn't really want to request that someone order one for me. So, I called a LFS that is about a half hour drive away from me to ask if he orders purple tangs on a regular basis, because he generally has the biggest selection in this area. He told me that he had one in stock, and that it was healthy and eating great. I was stoked!
So yesterday my husband and I drive a half an hour to the store, and when we see the tang I was so dissapointed. It had the beginnings of head and lateral line disease all over his head and lateral line, and looked like it had been punctured with pins all over it's face.
So, I opted to pass. We went on browsing, and the owner came up and asked us if he could help us. I said, no thanks, just looking, but my husband couldn't resist. He said, "Well, we were looking for a purple tang..." and the guy says, "Well I have one right here. He's healthy and eating great." At that point, *I* couldn't stay quiet. I said, "It's not healthy. It has head and lateral line disease." The guy looked cornered and said, "Well, do you want to see it eat?" I said, "No, I'm sure it will eat fine. But that doesn't make it healthy." And to this the guys says, "Just feed it some Omega 3."
I was so ticked off. We drove that far, with gas at over $3 a gallon, on his word that the fish was healthy. We find that the poor fish has a (most likely) fatal disease, and he still tries to pass it off on us as healthy. When he finds that we actually know what we were looking at, he tries to make it look like the fish has a very minor issue. I told him for $70, I'd pass on a sick fish.
I have heard of LFS owners with no scruples, but maybe I have always been lucky and never dealt with one. I was really upset that someone thought I was that ignorant and tried to take advantage of me that way, and also that instead of giving the fish proper care and placing it in quarantine, he was trying to rub it off on someone else. I also saw several other fish with problems such as velvet and fungus, all for sale. I realize that every LFS has issues sometimes, but they shouldn't try to sell the fish to customers. I won't be going back there, because this isn't the first time I have had this LFS try to sell me something inappropriate. Once, his mother tried to sell me a trigger for my community tank, but I thought maybe she was just helping out around the store and didn't know any better herself.
Now I know that maybe she did!
So yesterday my husband and I drive a half an hour to the store, and when we see the tang I was so dissapointed. It had the beginnings of head and lateral line disease all over his head and lateral line, and looked like it had been punctured with pins all over it's face.
So, I opted to pass. We went on browsing, and the owner came up and asked us if he could help us. I said, no thanks, just looking, but my husband couldn't resist. He said, "Well, we were looking for a purple tang..." and the guy says, "Well I have one right here. He's healthy and eating great." At that point, *I* couldn't stay quiet. I said, "It's not healthy. It has head and lateral line disease." The guy looked cornered and said, "Well, do you want to see it eat?" I said, "No, I'm sure it will eat fine. But that doesn't make it healthy." And to this the guys says, "Just feed it some Omega 3."
I was so ticked off. We drove that far, with gas at over $3 a gallon, on his word that the fish was healthy. We find that the poor fish has a (most likely) fatal disease, and he still tries to pass it off on us as healthy. When he finds that we actually know what we were looking at, he tries to make it look like the fish has a very minor issue. I told him for $70, I'd pass on a sick fish.
I have heard of LFS owners with no scruples, but maybe I have always been lucky and never dealt with one. I was really upset that someone thought I was that ignorant and tried to take advantage of me that way, and also that instead of giving the fish proper care and placing it in quarantine, he was trying to rub it off on someone else. I also saw several other fish with problems such as velvet and fungus, all for sale. I realize that every LFS has issues sometimes, but they shouldn't try to sell the fish to customers. I won't be going back there, because this isn't the first time I have had this LFS try to sell me something inappropriate. Once, his mother tried to sell me a trigger for my community tank, but I thought maybe she was just helping out around the store and didn't know any better herself.
Now I know that maybe she did!
