What is the WORST thing you've heard the LFS say??? I got a great one!!

[me-n-my-fish]

Originally Posted by tecster93
well im sorry to hear about everyones poor LFS's... I for one am very pleased with the one i go to... Very helpful and best of all very knowledgeable... Never steered me wrong and have been there from the start... They are straight up with what is a smart choice, to the point where i can ask if this fish or coral at a rather high price would be good for my tank and can expect an honest answer... I have been turned away time and time again from expensive items because he said they were not compatible or its too soon... Anyone else find their LFS to be honest and trustworthy?? Seems like nothing but bad experiences...
One of my LFS in Pensacola is this way. If my tank is not ready yet, or not compatible, he will not sell it to me. This i like, because i will get all excited and wont be thinking. Kinda like a little kid in a candy store. I dont think that i could beat a sale out of him if he would not let me have it. Good guys at this one!!

 

[firefish21]

I just wanted to say a few words.
I recently got a job at my LFS. Its not a HUGE chain store, but it is mainly located in Ohio and Indiana, and specializes in fish. However, it does have birds, reptiles, cats, dogs, and small animals as well. The employees are all intelligent and informative when it comes to pets. However, not EVERYONE there knows EVERYTHING about ALL the different pets. Everyone "specializes" in at least one area. Then, they train you on the others. But, no one pretends to know something that they dont. We all have to ask questions. Most employees have worked as a vet's assistant, or are currently going to school to be a vet, or something like a marine biologist.
Do you realize how hard it would be to find a teenager who knows everything there is to know about all pets?
I think most places expect the customer to check into their hobby before they begin buying all they see.
However, now that I work at a LFS I know that this isn't always true.
I get so mad when the customers wont listen to the advice we give (I have hanging around SWF.com for about 3 years now, and get a lot of advice from people on this board)
For example: I told this lady and her son (who JUST set up their tank 2 hrs prior to coming into the store) that the anemone and starfish were OUT of the question for their 10 gallon tank.....but did they listen....NO! I told them that it was not a good idea to get any fish until the cycle completed.. blah blah. I suggested they cycle with a raw shrimp instead of using damsels, but they really wanted fish. I told them that it wasn't smart to put the fish through that so they left without getting anything...
A week later, they come back and tell me that their Anemone and CC starfish have died.. I was so mad. THey must have gone to a different store.. because no one in ours sold it to them.
But anyway, besides Pet.Co (that place MUST be horrible) I think that most local pet shops are MUCH better.
I would never sell someone something that I was unsure about.
:yes:

 

[jayc]

Originally Posted by tecster93
well im sorry to hear about everyones poor LFS's... I for one am very pleased with the one i go to... Very helpful and best of all very knowledgeable... Never steered me wrong and have been there from the start... They are straight up with what is a smart choice, to the point where i can ask if this fish or coral at a rather high price would be good for my tank and can expect an honest answer... I have been turned away time and time again from expensive items because he said they were not compatible or its too soon... Anyone else find their LFS to be honest and trustworthy?? Seems like nothing but bad experiences...
I do have one good LFS near me. The workers there are really smart and know alot about the hobby. They have suggested me not to get things on many occastions when I was about to buy it. The LFS I mention earlier that sold me the porcupine puffer and yellow tang for my 29 closed down.

 

[mudplayerx]

One of the lfs's near me has appalling practices. Once they got about 50 large hermit crabs in (like 5" diameter) and they were all dead by day three. They keep their mandarins in tanks without live rock...the one I bought was on the verge of death.
One tank had some sort of puffer in it and the current was way to high for it's anatomy... poor thing was being blown around like a feather in a tornado.
To top it all off, one large live rock on sale was covered in a lovely purple coraline algae. The guy that works there that I know from college warned me not to buy it because it was painted on.

 

[jer4916]

LOL, I'VE GOT A GREAT ONE...OR A FEW!
Well theres a place here in sioux falls south dakota called " Mini Critters" NEVER shop there. But there employees tell you that there fish are fine to add into any tank right away even though they dont qt there fish. Also they tell you ..that you can just dump the fish right in....no need to drip the...just dump them in ...they'll be fine...LOL! ...I get ticked off when people just dump fish in. Anyways they also told me i could have a yellow tang,koran angel,v-lion and a few other fish in a 55 gallon...flipp'n histerical...and on top of everything they told me my lion wouldn't eat a small blenny....guess what...30 seconds after adding it to my tank... my blenny was in the lions mouth.
Reguardless i didn't know what i was doing back then...now that i research and have a reef i know better...but wow....some fish stores are discusting...seriously just because there fish doesn't mean there any less important then a dog or a cat.....pet stores who do stuff like that should go to jail for animal abuse.
~chris

 

[diablo]

Originally Posted by mudplayerx
To top it all off, one large live rock on sale was covered in a lovely purple coraline algae. The guy that works there that I know from college warned me not to buy it because it was painted on.
lol

:sleepy:

 

[parmoffitt]

I just had to add something to this. I was in the LFS the other day and was asking about ick and the best way to combat the problem when you have a reef tank. He told me that if the fish get ick it's their problem and to let them die. I just stared at him in shock!

 

[jayc]

:hilarious :hilarious :hilarious

 

[mimzy]

this thread, I feel, needs a bump.
BUMP DIGGITY!!!!!

 

[keonia]

Okay.. I'll add something here..
There was a Emperor Angel with ICK at the pet store, I asked the sales person if he was going to treat the Angel (and do a hyposalinity dip). He says, "I can't our manager doesn't want us to treat the fishes"
Isn't it dumb first the lfs salesperson didn't know how to treat ick and second, the store would rather have the fish die than let their sales person do something.. 3rd, $50 or 60 net cost down the drain!!!
I'm not shopping their for fishes!! Um.. like why don't they hire people who may know something about fish diseases!! He was a regular employee there too..

 

[djevack]

(the owner was Pakistan but went to school in Italy and there learned English but with an Italian/Pakistan accent)
LF: Hey buddy
me: uhh, hey
LF: I hook you up with killer fish tank, going to beeee stller
me: what kind...
LF: 29 gallon buddy, it will have lots of coral and as many Nemo's you want. going to beeee stller, trust me
(I exit store)
not that great but his accent made it like 100000000X better

 

[hot883]

Originally Posted by tecster93
well im sorry to hear about everyones poor LFS's... I for one am very pleased with the one i go to... Very helpful and best of all very knowledgeable... Never steered me wrong and have been there from the start... They are straight up with what is a smart choice, to the point where i can ask if this fish or coral at a rather high price would be good for my tank and can expect an honest answer... I have been turned away time and time again from expensive items because he said they were not compatible or its too soon... Anyone else find their LFS to be honest and trustworthy?? Seems like nothing but bad experiences...
One of mine is similar to yours. He has been doing SW for 25 years. Only bad thing is his tanks are not that clean.

 

[fishamajig]

:hilarious
then someone told me a lobster was a prawn and was reef safe

 

[connor]

i went to ***** yesterday, i only went with my aunt to help her get stuff for her dog. i couldnt not look at the saltwater tanks there was at least a dead fish in almost every tank!!
in the two display tanks there was a dead angel and clownfish,in one and banded cat shark (dead) in the other with crushed coral on the bottom of the tank, so first i say exuse me there are dead fish in those tanks, tthen the guy looks at and just shruggs his sholders and walks away then i go find another person and tell them there is dead fish in the tanks an you should not have a shark in a 55 corner tank and he laughs at me and walks away mubling. So now im so pissed i went over to where they keep the nets took one went over scooped the dead fish and shark out and put the fish right in frount of where you walk in and the shark by the registers i will never go in ***** agin!!!!

 

[celacanthr]

well i know this is weird but im not sure whether ny store is bad or not. All i know is that n their display tank is that they cycled and have held off on fish and have just added a cleanup crew, but they added a pencil urchin. so what do yall think?

 

[bret61081]

Originally Posted by stuckinfla
I told that to the LFS guy right in front of the customer :jumping: When we were alone for a sec, told the cust. not to listen to anything they said and gave him the name of 2 other places.
I have done the same thing when I went in there before! I keep some of Exotic Aquotics Business cards in my wallet for that reason! This store is HORRIBLE! One day I was there they were selling a blue ribbon saying that they are really hardy ect ect ect...then another time they were selling 2 eels...zebra and a striped moray to a guy who had a 29G tank with a SFE already!!! I was in shock....HORRIBLE STORE....almost as bad as crazy about pets on Oakland with nurse sharks and bambo sharks in a 55G....these places should be shut down

 

[inkman2004]

Whenever I need a question answered anymore I have found that I have better luck asking an aquarium maintenance company. We have one here that has really helped me out. Just look at is as if the fish die in their systems then they lose money so they usually do their research.

 

[reefman22]

I went to a new LFS while my 55 was cycling. I told him I had 50 lbs of LR and 60 lbs of LS and he said yes that should be good. He said how long has it been set up? And i said about 2 weeks, the cycle is almost over. He said no its not! You'd better get some fish in there to start up the cycle! You should get some blue devil damsels to start the cycle. Even though I was a newbie (and am still a little) I knew he was wrong. So I said no thanks and left and am yet to go back.

 

[reefman22]

Originally Posted by connor
i went to ***** yesterday, i only went with my aunt to help her get stuff for her dog. i couldnt not look at the saltwater tanks there was at least a dead fish in almost every tank!!
in the two display tanks there was a dead angel and clownfish,in one and banded cat shark (dead) in the other with crushed coral on the bottom of the tank, so first i say exuse me there are dead fish in those tanks, tthen the guy looks at and just shruggs his sholders and walks away then i go find another person and tell them there is dead fish in the tanks an you should not have a shark in a 55 corner tank and he laughs at me and walks away mubling. So now im so pissed i went over to where they keep the nets took one went over scooped the dead fish and shark out and put the fish right in frount of where you walk in and the shark by the registers i will never go in ***** agin!!!!

I see you are from Boca. Me too. What LFS do you go to? Barrier Reef? They are always nice. What part of boca do you live in?

 

[mimzy]

Ugh. I've got a new one, but it doesn't really have to do with fish...just senseless people.
We were shopping in our fav LFS when a conversation between one of the employees and a customer got a little loud. They were laughing and joking with each other, but everyone in the place could hear them...which is no small feat.
At one point the customer's wife made a comment about a coral they were buying - something to the effect of "Maybe we should get a different one, I don't really like the colors on this particular piece."
Well, the employee puts his arm around the man and says to him "Look, are you going to listen to her, or are you going to listen to me? I know what I'm doing. Besides, I'm a guy."
The customer just LOOKED at the guy - didn't know what to say, and the employee just went on and on and ended with a really loud, "C'mon man, it all comes down to bros before hos!"

The customers were really taken aback and just kinda giggled and tried to shake it off.
What do you SAY to that? I probably woulda thrown the coral in the guy's face and walked out. There were a great number of women in that store whom I'm SURE were not thrilled to be lumped into a category entitled 'ho,' INCLUDING the man's WIFE who was standing RIGHT THERE!!

Not to mention the fact that that is a COMPLETELY warped view of the way relationships are meant to work..but that's another story for another time.
It's a free country, and u can say/think/feel/do what u want - but don't go insulting your customers to their faces. Among a great many other things, it's just bad for business.