The last couple days I've really been thankful for the LFS's we have in Oklahoma City. I'm visiting my inlaws in Laredo, Texas and my mother-in-law picked up a 30 gallon hex tank at a garage sale and wanted to have me help her set it up. My wife and I looked for any LFS's and found two. I wanted to put a HOB filter with easy maintenance for her to keep the work down. Both LFS's had Emporer 400's but wanted $125 !!!! One store had fish labeled nothing like what the fish are. I didn't ask whether they had moved or restocked fish and just hadn't changed the nametags or if they were just stupid. Dwarf neon Rainbows were labeled "painted skirt tetras". Albino cories were labeled "skunk cories". Pearl Gourami's were labeled "gold gourami's". etc. etc. the other store was at least knowledgable on their fish and were actually competitive on some of their species but didn't have much to choose from. the have no big chain stores here so basically wal-mart is her best LFS. That's just sad. I'm going to buy her a filter and whatever else we decide to get online and will bring her what I can on our next trip down. I'm trying to talk her into a livebearer tank since we have lots of extra platies and mollies growing out right now and can give them to her for free. Next time you go to your LFS, make sure and appreciate what they have and the prices they sell them for because I can tell you it can always be worse. Kyle
Value your LFS..
- Thread starter snakeskinner
- Start date
You mean like the LFS about 10 minutes from my house that sells Fluval 404 cannister filters for about $230 and emporer 280s for about $80? I sympathize with any small business owner, but when you can get the stuff they are selling for half price online new in the box it is hard to buy locally. At least I have 3 places to buy decent fish from and about 3 others I still browse out of habit.
yea, I felt severely 'ripped' when I saw an Emporer 400 online for $45 when I paid $80 here in a LFS 
I am definately looking online for any new equipment I may purchase.
That being said, I do appreciate the fish selection here in town. I have 4 LFS that I can shop at and that is wonderful.
I am definately looking online for any new equipment I may purchase. That being said, I do appreciate the fish selection here in town. I have 4 LFS that I can shop at and that is wonderful.
What most people dont realize is that most of those LFS pay the amount that the online retailers sell it for. Therefore it is impossible for a LFS to compete with an online vendor. Support your local store, or it will be gone.
Bull an ac 500 for 31.00 on line at my lfs 119.00. No one should have that kind of mark up. I understand they have to make a profit but not that much. I watch people buy their products all the time. I just keep my mouth shut. :shake:
i dont know how they can even charge for guppies and mollies.. thats like charging for rocks, oh wait, they do that too..
Keeping my mouth shut is the hardest part of visiting my LFS. 
I have 2 LFSs I go to, one a big chain (DeathCo) and a small independent store, but even at the small store they have some bone-headed "experts" who give bad advice. I was in the little store the other day when a woman was buying a 33 gallon tank & all the trimmings; when she went to pick out substrate the "expert" told her not to buy any gravel at all, as it would make it harder to change the water
and would "hold the smell." 
The DeathCo store "experts" just do horrible things like leave fish skeletons in the tanks and encourage people to buy 10 fish to go in a 2.5 gallon tank because "they won't all make it." They sell Dracaena as an aquatic plant, too, even though some varieties are toxic to cats & dogs and they shouldn't even have it in the store!!!
I have 2 LFSs I go to, one a big chain (DeathCo) and a small independent store, but even at the small store they have some bone-headed "experts" who give bad advice. I was in the little store the other day when a woman was buying a 33 gallon tank & all the trimmings; when she went to pick out substrate the "expert" told her not to buy any gravel at all, as it would make it harder to change the water
and would "hold the smell." The DeathCo store "experts" just do horrible things like leave fish skeletons in the tanks and encourage people to buy 10 fish to go in a 2.5 gallon tank because "they won't all make it."
They sell Dracaena as an aquatic plant, too, even though some varieties are toxic to cats & dogs and they shouldn't even have it in the store!!! maybe I should have specified the "good LFS's". I understand they can't beat the prices of someone who sells a much larger volume than they do like a petsmart or something but 500% markup is just a ripoff. I've always followed the rule of sell 10 items for a profit of 2 dollars instead of 1 item for a profit of 20 dollars and you make more customers that will return for more business. That's how we run our business anyway. I know they can get the Emporer 400 from Bigalsonline for $39 so they must be paying a little less than this from marineland. If not, they can always buy them from bigals and make a lot of profit on that alone. I know why they only had 1 in stock, they'll never sell those. KYle
if you complain LFS store employee's not knowing everything, i really think your just lazy. everything you need to know is in a book. go to the town library and get one out.
LFS do not pay enough for them to hire marine biologists, get used to it.
LFS do not pay enough for them to hire marine biologists, get used to it.
I don't expect the LFS employees to know anything, really, but they should at least be honestly ignorant and refrain from giving blatantly bad advice. That woman's tank is going to smell much worse without gravel, for sure. He talked her out of buying driftwood, too, so everything in her tank is "easy to clean."
I feel sorry for her fish.
I wish I had a good LFS to be thankful for!!! Although my little neighborhood store has a couple good guys in it, they are spread too thin to keep the tanks looking good at every visit. I saw some great stores in San Francisco's Chinatown; one was right across the street from my hotel & I visited those fish 7 times in 4 days. Since I don't speak Chinese I was not bothered by any random overheard advice. I wish I had stores like that here.
I feel sorry for her fish.
I wish I had a good LFS to be thankful for!!! Although my little neighborhood store has a couple good guys in it, they are spread too thin to keep the tanks looking good at every visit. I saw some great stores in San Francisco's Chinatown; one was right across the street from my hotel & I visited those fish 7 times in 4 days. Since I don't speak Chinese I was not bothered by any random overheard advice. I wish I had stores like that here.