Beware-Never Again

Thats typical of pet stores. Most are looking to make a sale, and they could care less what effect it has on your tank, or you..

ya, u gotta reaserch so when they do tell you that stuff, you can annoy them by doing the smart thing

its good to hear though that you took it upon yourself to research your fish and ask questions. unfortunately, most places, especially the bigger chain stores, dont give out the most reliable information.

also, ive found that by being decisive about what i want from the get go helps me spend less

Its the typical thing at chain stores and even non-chain stores with less than honest or knowledgeable staff. But there are a few people out there that really care, just rare.

If i'm out looking at fish for ideas, I never make an impulse buy until I can properly find out about diet, cause I've learned the hardway too many times after the fact. And some chains will make up the craziest names for fish, and when pressed for diet or care, are at a loss.

In fairness, keeping 'em all in one tank at the store is one thing versus keeping them for life in a tank.

What fish do you have that you are worried it will outgrow your 55 ? I didn't see any in your list that would concern me in terms of size...

If they have nice fish don't write 'em off as an option for what you want to buy now that you know what you're looking for

ya been to the jacks in Richmond IN most of them are just trying to make a sale. by this point thay know to leave me alone.

thats why i usually just tell them what i want and i don't ask questions.

sadly, uninformed "hobbyists" that often go to those stores are more likely to believe a person that is "paid to give information" rather than some 16 year old kid (*sigh*)

Guys...Thank goodness that there is plenty of research material available for anyone trying to make a start in the hobby etc.

uh...edit time out...give me a break i'm doing other stuff too

continue:

to be honest, i HATE getting into fights with LFS employees. usually i just chime in and say something like, "oh, you're getting pacu? man they are awesome, but they get huge! i saw some at the Shedd Aquarium yesterday, and they had to be 3½ feet long!" or "i had an oscar a when i was a little. he got to at least a foot long, but we had to get rid of him becuase we didnt have the time to take care of the 75 gallon tank he would have needed." at that point, the people buying the fish usually reconsider their purchases, or ask something like, "is he REALLY going to get that big?" and the LFS worker usually tries to be sly with the sale and says "they only grow to the size of their tank." then the person looks to me and i say "ehh, that called stunting...its not the most pleasant thing. your ten gallon would probably be better off with a dwarf gourami and some neons. dwarf gouramis have all of the same personality as oscars, but they only get to about 3 inches long rather than the 12 an oscar will get to." "hobbyists" usually want to cram in as many fish as they can, so they usually take the six neons and the dwarf gourami over the one oscar.

sometimes though, they start by attacking me. then all bets are off.

the best one was when i was with my aunt and we were getting fish for my cousin's 20H that we had fishless cycled using ammoina and media from my tank (only had my 20H at the time). everything was good for about a week and we stopped at an LFS to get some fish to surprise him with (i knew what he wanted, he had a list that he gave to me for "approval" ). my aunt and cousin were "new" to the hobby so to speak but they both had done plenty of reading and research on fishless cycles, filters, water changes, chemicals, etc.

so we walked up to the fish dept., and asked the woman working there to get us a couple of fish. she asked if there was anything in the tank, and i said no.

she said, you have to cycle the tank with some of these starter fish (pointed to mollies and platies). i told her that we had already cycled the tank. she asked how, and i told her that we added media etc. and everything has been good for a week. maybe she just didnt understand the fishless cycle, but she told me i was dead wrong and that all of the fish i would have gotten would die. so i explained the entire fishless cycle, and we kinda went back and forth (mind you she is just repeating the same stuff over and over) and she finally gave up and said:

"i am obviously not the expert here"

i maintined me cool the entire time, but right here, i would have made a subtle snap back, but held my tongue and let her storm off.

i told my aunt, "i wanted to say 'obviously not' (ok, i usually have a better one, but this isnt the high school lunch room) but i tried so hard not to"
and she said, " yeah, i was waiting for you to finally snap back with something like that just to get her to shut up. i dont know what her problem was."

if you have made it this far, good job! thus ends my rant...