*****...WOW!

[browniebuck]

We used to have a ***** in Canton that was a great place to buy fish...the people that ran the aquatic department got permission to order from a variety of different places and very seldom ordered from the "preferred" supplier as they always got bad fish from them. They used to get such wonderful fish in at VERY reasonable prices. We used to go there more than anywhere else. Unfortunately, the rest of the store didn't do very well and the store was forced to close.
We decided to go to the nearest remaining ***** to see if they were as good as ours was, only to find that their SW selection was puny and often sickly looking. We went back a few times and found that their selection and quality had improved when they hired a new person to run their aquatics section. We go back every once in a while with varying success.
We went back in on Saturday and nearly every single fish in their SW system had ick. They had a juvi Koran angel that had ick so bad it broke my heart. They had a rusty angel that was covered in ick. On top of all of the fish looking sickly, their prices were astronomical! They had a powder blue tang that was about 2-3" and were asking $89.99 for it...and it didn't look healthy at all!
After this visit, I will never again be even remotely tempted to get a fish from this place, and I would encourage others to either stop buying from them or to continue to point out things that are done wrong. I am heartbroken because so many fish looked so miserable and they were still selling them. I am at a loss due to the fact that nearly all of the reputable places in my area are now either run by idiots that know little/nothing about SW other than that they can make a lot of money on the fish OR they have gone out of business due to the economic downturn.

 

[flower]

It s hard to find a person truly knowledgeable about Saltwater fish.
To start with, it is an expensive hobby. Those who can afford to keep saltwater aquariums need a better job than what a pet store chain can or will pay. So what you have are kids looking for a job, any job, just tell them what to do and how...be it McDonads or *****.
So most kids don't have enough knowledge to help others who ask in the store for help, or keep critters healthy. I for one could not live on what ***** pays.

 

[browniebuck]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3224933

It s hard to find a person truly knowledgeable about Saltwater fish.
So most kids don't have enough knowledge to help others who ask in the store for help, or keep critters healthy. I for one could not live on what ***** pays.
Good point...but I am not only talking about the kids that they have working there that have no clue (I have never and will never ask them for any advice...unless I want to kind of test their knowledge), I am also talking about the person that manages the aquatics department...they don't rake in the cash, but they make more than a lot of other non-degreed, high school graduate types. They also have to make sure that their store isn't losing money in their department if they want to keep their job, so they SHOULD know something about how to keep a saltwater system healthy!

 

[cranberry]

Most of these positions are now filled with educated college students. It's not that they are kids, because I get the same answers from the adults I do from the younger ones.
Peeps do not have pride in their work to seek more education and their bosses are not offering them that knowledge.... if they indeed have it themselves.

 

[browniebuck]

It just really sucks because my wife and I really enjoy taking little road trips around Ohio to seek out new and exciting LFS, only to find one that is really good and then find that they are out of business because of this economy.
We had one locally that would not sell a fish until it was eating, he would keep fish in his store for at least 2 weeks before putting a price on them, he would also special order fish and STILL keep them for 2 weeks to make sure that they were healthy and eating (unless you agreed to pick them up on delivery day before they were acclimated to his tanks to save on stress). This guy was very knowledgeable and would talk to you about your tank for as long as you wanted...he would offer advice, suggestions for additions, help solve problems, etc... He went out of business around the first of the year, he just couldn't justify staying in business any longer because so many people in our area are getting out of the hobby. I hate to lose someone like that because they are so passionate about the hobby...then we have ***** stores that stay in business

.

 

[jaodissa]

We have 4 *****'s/petsmarts in my area and I have never seen them selling saltwater fish. Why do some carry them and others don't? (just a curiosity)

 

[browniebuck]

Originally Posted by Jaodissa
http:///forum/post/3225002
We have 4 *****'s/petsmarts in my area and I have never seen them selling saltwater fish. Why do some carry them and others don't? (just a curiosity)
Not sure why some do and others don't...I wish that this one didn't, they get their livestock from shady suppliers that harvest their livestock using methods that most places say aren't safe or healthy for the fish. They almost certainly have to be losing money with all of the fish that they lose...not to mention the number of hobbyists that stop shopping there after they get something that wreaks havoc in their tank.
The funniest thing about the ***** that closed is that they had the 3rd highest saltwater sales in the entire company (nationwide), it was the rest of the store that didn't do much business. I wish that the people that ran that department would have opted to join together and buy the place and turn it into a saltwater only superstore...that would have been AWESOME!!!

 

[small triggers]

yeah,,, the ***** near me finnally stopped carrying saltwater fish after having 50 ish people return after an hour in ONE DAY with dead fish wanting a refund......they got a shipment in and called all their 'preffered' clients of whom i know about 5,,,, they all get home and within an hour the fish were dead,,, and they all showed up within about a 30 minute window wanting refunds.... the next day they stopped selling SW and dropped what little bit of stock they had to my LFS......

 

[hunt]

i Have an older brother working at ***** while in collage. From what he says, its the bosses fault. at one point they told the workers to only feed the fish once a day. My brother is very knowlegable about fish, so are alot of the other workers, its what the bosses do to save time and mony/(for my case anyway)

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3224933

It s hard to find a person truly knowledgeable about Saltwater fish.
To start with, it is an expensive hobby. Those who can afford to keep saltwater aquariums need a better job than what a pet store chain can or will pay. So what you have are kids looking for a job, any job, just tell them what to do and how...be it McDonads or *****.
So most kids don't have enough knowledge to help others who ask in the store for help, or keep critters healthy. I for one could not live on what ***** pays.
I really like this thread/post for several reasons. I'll just start with something that happened to me today.
I tried a new fish store today. It was said to be mostly saltwater in the ad and since it was a mom and pop sort of place my expectations were higher than that of a Petsmart or *****.
The tanks there were pretty good as far as the freshwater part went but the saltwater section was very poorly kept. I talked to the guy a little and he tried to sell me ten gallons of used aquarium water (I told him I was starting my first freshwater tank). He said that there was a lot of bacteria in the water column that would speed up my cycle. As we all know the bacteria grows on surfaces in our aquarium. He also tried to sell me a way overpriced sponge filter.
He had the impression that this was my first tank and I didn't know much. It's sort of sad to think of how much money he could have gotten out of me if I didn't know what I was doing. I know that these people need money in order to stay in business but that doesn't change the fact that it's immoral. I took the nice guy route (or debatably the sissy route) and just walked away empty handed.
Yeah, most kids that work at saltwater institutions don't have saltwater tanks because they can't afford them. Therefore they have no experience. I wouldn't want to work in a saltwater fish store and I love saltwater fish.
My next point is when you said, "any job, just tell them what to do and how...be it McDonads or *****."
There is a fish store called McDonalds in my city that is worse than *****.
All I want to say about kids working at saltwater fish places is that you should show them respect and give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove themselves idiots.
@ Hunt. There is no rule of thumb for feeding times for fish. Some fish I wouldn't dare to feed more than once a week and others need to be fed small amounts a few times a day.
My drother wint to collage two.

 

[hunt]

Im not saying that all the fish there need to be fed daily, im just saying they only feed daily for all fish, regardless of how often they should be fed. this includes the ones that need to be fed a few times daily

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by Hunt
http:///forum/post/3228596
Im not saying that all the fish there need to be fed daily, im just saying they only feed daily for all fish, regardless of how often they should be fed. this includes the ones that need to be fed a few times daily
I see. That makes sense now.

 

[cranberry]

Kids and adults alike are lacking knowledge about the hobby in a lot of situations. Daughter worked at an LFS.... she knew more than the adults there.

 

[mrdc]

My ***** is pretty bad also. They pack the fish into small tanks and the fish always look unhealthy. The workers don't seem to know more about the inhabitants than what is on the price cards that give you a couple of facts about the fish. The only thing that they do get that usually looks good are the live rock but how hard is it to screw it up unless they happen to expose the rock to air for too long. I have the delivery days for every store in my area so I know when to go look.

 

[nwdyr]

***** is like any big corp. They build a HUGE store...spends MILLIONS in advertising...and people go there. Then they hire 8-9 dollar per hour children, and they still make a profit (most of the time) the general public puts up with the big corp. mentality , I used to own a resturent...well big corp. came in and opened 5-7mill. dollar places with micro-wave food and kids that cant speak well...cook...or mix a drink. BUT they still make money , again because they put up a big sign and have "fun " commercials. Its ashame , but get used to it. The public buys into "the look" of all these places and have lowerd their standards. Hope everyone wakes up soon and the mom & pop stores come back in all industries.

 

[hunt]

i rarely go to ***** for fish, mainly for supplies. (i get a 20% discount on everything)

 

[browniebuck]

We just bought our Powder Blue Tang from a saltwater only LFS in Columbia Station, Ohio (about an hour and a half drive each way). We paid $40 less and the fish is a million times more healthy...I was talking with the people that work there (mostly kids) and they seemed VERY knowledgeable...but they were hired based upon their experience with SW tanks and their willingness to continue to learn about them. These kids also weren't trying to up-sell me as a lot of the big box LFS do, knowing that I was looking in the $50 range...the kid that I was dealing with (after asking about my tank) showed me several different fish in that range after explaining that the PBT just came in Friday. I was very pleased with the experience and will more than likely make this place my go to not so local, LFS.

 

[al mc]

Originally Posted by Cranberry
http:///forum/post/3228612
Kids and adults alike are lacking knowledge about the hobby in a lot of situations. Daughter worked at an LFS.... she knew more than the adults there.
My 12 year old daughter is know as 'the fish nazi' at one LFS because she has more knowledge than everyone but the LFS owner.

She is not a braggart but when they try to tell her something she knows is not true she is not afraid to 'call' them on it.

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by Al Mc
http:///forum/post/3228938
My 12 year old daughter is know as 'the fish nazi' at one LFS because she has more knowledge than everyone but the LFS owner. %% She is not a braggart but when they try to tell her something she knows is not true she is not afraid to 'call' them on it.
Well she has more guts than I do because I never "call people on it."

That's a snazzy profile picture by the way.

 

[mrdc]

Has anyone ever done this? I have thrown questions at the fish store employees before just to see what their answer will be. These are questions that I know the answer to but want to see what answer they give me. I’ve done that before just to see how knowledgeable they were. If the answer to the question “can 5 lemonpeel angels be kept in a 45 gallon reef” was yes, I would not trust that person’s information.