A sad day for hobbyists...

[Allison Reed]

I went to PETSMART today to purchase some krill for my fishes, and I happened to wander about behind a rather large lady and her entourage of about 6 other somewhat larger ladies/men, while they purchased about 4 foot of aquarium background. After a while, I noticed that they had bought about 40 feet of air tubing, a syphon, 2 aqua clear filters ( I think ) AND SOME FISH.
Sadly, I overheard "So are we going to set up the tank tonight?"

I wonder why people are so....slow...
I almost wept. It was a sad, sad thing. They purchased a ghost knife looking fish, some otos....

:( so sad. I hate to imagine what happened tonight.

[Matak]

It's a mindset. My wife was telling me that she was defending my fishkeeping habits to some freinds. "it isn't normal to change water every week" they said. True enough, but they're swimming in their toilet. "But it still isn't normal". I'd rather do right than be normal. Hopefully, word of mouth and boards like this will get the word out that fish are pets too.

[crash]

While it's kind of sad that the tank hasn't been setup or what not, it doesn't mean that much. I made the mistake with my first fish actually! About 4 months ago (yea, im still new to the hobby) I baught my Piranaha, nothing setup, didn't know anything about cycling, or much about tank maintence and cleaning. But I learned, and hopefully this person will to. Never the less there a hundred upon hundreds of thousands of people who go into fish stores and and buy on impulse or don't prepare themselves. I've done it and I've seen other people do it.

It happens in just about any kind of hobby, animals and etc.. Besides how would people learn from there mistakes? J/K.. but what can ya do I guess.

[Rometiklan]

Don't assume they were going to put the Ghost knife and Otos in the newly set up aquarium. Maybe they already have an established aquarium set-up, and the newly aquired fish will be housed in that tank.

It wouldn't have hurt just to ask the lady and her friends what they had planned just to put your mind at ease. If they were going to put those fish into the new tank, then you could have set them straight, and you could have made the PetSmart employee look really stupid for not pointing it out to them earlier. Believe me, the lady would have thanked you saving her money, time, a headache, and the aggravation, not to mention the fishes' lives.

[TTman]

exactly. in addition, since they already have established tanks, then setting up a new tank & putting in fish right away is NO PROBLEM (I do it all the time). just use some water, gravel & filter media from the established tanks.


Originally posted by Rometiklan
Don't assume they were going to put the Ghost knife and Otos in the newly set up aquarium. Maybe they already have an established aquarium set-up, and the newly aquired fish will be housed in that tank.

[somefinnfishy]

Dont be a sissy speak up I have many times.And helped people from killing lots of fish plus you just might keep some one from getting a bad taste for the hobby.Just be very polite the worst that will happen is you'll have to hear about their 4 other tanks for 20 min:D

[Tinycl]

I agree with somefinnfishy.I wish someone had told me about cycling a tank when i bought my first tank.:rolleyes:

Tell them politely some of the facts first and maybe save them the hardship of loosing some fish.The average person,IMO has no idea about how much resposibility there is to keeping fish.;)

At least they didn't buy 4 oscars.:(

[Matak]

I ran into the same situation in a Big Al's a while ago. A grandfather was getting his grandkids some fish. It seemed obvious to me that this was for a new tank. I asked him a few questions but it seemed he wasn't interested in providing the fish with a healthy environment, but rather in pleasing his grandkids. I wrote down the web address for AC in hopes of his further education, but I really wonder if he followed through.

Sometimes I feel I am spreading the gospel of good fishkeeping ;)

[goozy]

fortunatly there's a really good store here that always, always, asks a person they don't know, buying fish, if they're tank is cycled. That's the way it should be. sometimes in those chains the employees don't seem to know any better then those people setting up a tank and adding fish the same day.
It is really sad. Trying to explain to people the whole process is next to impossible. I try all the time, working in a school I see lots of really bad situations. I work on the computers. During a week off of school I went into one room, heard a really wierd noise. The filter in a 10 gallon tank had run totally dry and was burning out. the light had been on for 3 days. the fish hadn't been fed. I went into another room. There was a small hex type tank maybe 10 gallons. In it were 5 gold gouramis and one tetra. the light had been on for 3 days and of course the fish hadn't been fed. then I went into another room. There was a 10 gallon tank. In it was 3 gold fish a pleco and one tetra, the water was down to 2/3 rds and the light was on, no food. It's a loosing battle.

[OrionGirl]

While I agree that there are lot of goof-ball things, bad things, and awful things that happen in LFS and fish tanks in general, but really, there are lots of circumstances that you are not aware of that may be just fine.

I know I've been given some really odd looks when I go shopping. Last time, I picked up a bag of salt, 2 corals, blood worms, some plants, a cladophora, a power head, a 2.5 gallon tank and some sponge media. I've had people go out of their way to point out to me that the plants I'm buying won't live in the SW tank...Or, that the scooter blenny can't go in a freshwater tank.

My policy is: If I see some one who is making the purchases stereotypically made by a newbie, I will ask them if they are just getting started and might be looking for some help. If they say yes, I always ask what level of experience they have, and what they want. Lecturing someone cold will not be well recieved.

[Aderynglas]

Goozy
I'm always shocked at the ignorance regarding fishkeeping that I have seen in educational establishments :eek: . Perhaps you could offer to give fishkeeping talks/lessons to those members of staff/pupils who are interested. Maybe if approached from an educational point of view with emphasis on the science bit you could sell the "head" on the idea - after all what are they teaching their pupils about pet care if the fish are so badly neglected?

I plan to try this tack in my childs school as the same problem is evident there - just as soon as I figure the best way to approach the head or deputy (child just started this year, don't want to be pushy);)

[superstein61]

Originally posted by Allison Reed
I went to PETSMART today to purchase some krill for my fishes, and I happened to wander about behind a rather large lady and her entourage of about 6 other somewhat larger ladies/men, while they purchased about 4 foot of aquarium background. After a while, I noticed that they had bought about 40 feet of air tubing, a syphon, 2 aqua clear filters ( I think ) AND SOME FISH.
Sadly, I overheard "So are we going to set up the tank tonight?"

I wonder why people are so....slow...
I almost wept. It was a sad, sad thing. They purchased a ghost knife looking fish, some otos....

:( so sad. I hate to imagine what happened tonight.

Actually it was quite sad for me to read your post - BUT for DIFFERENT reasons.

1. You know nothing about their circumstances, so why assume the worse. They could be experienced fishkeepers, they could be using BioSpira, etc, etc

2. if you were concerned, why not speak up and ask them politely if this was their first tank.

3. BUT WORST OF ALL You also seem to take some delight in pointing out that this was a "rather large lady" and "6 other rather large ladies / men". What does their age, sex, religion, size, sexual preference, etc, etc, etc have to do with anything !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Obviously in your mind it did because you went out of your way to mention it. That is both discriminatory and disgusting.

perhaps you need to reconsider your thinking on a number of things

[K_S_W_I_S_S]

i didnt think it was relivant for us to know the size of the people, but i dont think he should be hung.... but, its your opinion, not mine ;)

[K_S_W_I_S_S]

ok, the name allison sounds like a female.... i dont think she needs to be hung...

[Allison Reed]

Oh please, cry me a river.

[TheDuBdoNe]

Originally posted by Allison Reed
Oh please, cry me a river.
im so tired of that song... lol... that was my thoughts exactly... but oh well to each there own...

i think her point was that she was afraid this rather large lady was gonna eat the fish... lol... again just kidding... people take things to personally i think...

whenever i see someone buying fish stuff that looks like they are about to set up a death tank i pull out my trusty small mag light, shine it in their face and proceed to interrogate them...

[Roland]

As far as I can make out, theres nothing really to suggest that the fish she bought were for the tank that was still to be set up. I mean I supose they could have been.... but isnt that jumping to conclusions, and isnt mentioning her/ their size a bit judgemental and cruel?

[goozy]

I think as far as the teachers with the fish tanks go, I am going leave a good informative fish site up on one of thier computers so it's the first thing they see when they go into thier rooms. (I'm kind of a wimp and a lot of teachers think they know everything)

[TKOS]

One of my favorite saturday rituals while before I get my groceries is to stand by the Walmart tanks and tell people about what they are getting into. Last week it was telling someone about the right type of food for a betta (goldfish food just wasn't the right choice) and the week before that why it wasn't a good idea to buy the butterfly fish with the puffy white eye and a small goldfish bowl to put him in. I have never had anyone get upset and they always seem very happy to actually learn a little something.

[Allison Reed]

Because it's petsmarts job. Im positive the fish lady informed the ladies about their pets, because I know *two* of them personally, and you could confuse them with professionals. I'm not getting paid to do it, they are.

And its not a big deal that I mentioned her size. I dont see why you are flipping out because I'm giving details about the situation. Some of you need to get out more, and realize that its not that big of a deal that I wrote the situation in story style. *Insert word indicating a high level of frustration*.

sorry--I don't want the use of that word to cause even more grief in this thread. OG

[OrionGirl]

Hey, can we keep this thread in topic? Was the comment about the size of the shopper needed? Maybe not, but it's not like Allison said the woman was obviously an idiot since she was large...Statments of fact--neither the woman nor her companions were small people--are not judgemental or cruel. In fact, everyone who snipped about it is displaying more of those traits, since they are interpreting her comment to be made in a negative light. Within context, at most, I detect a bit of sass. Not the same as derogatory.

On topic!

[superjohnny]

edit> This is absurd.

[ChilDawg]

Off-topic: What the hell is going on here?

On topic, I "accidentally" bump into people like that (not literally) in order to ask them what their tanks at home are like. Usually, they get a good [friendly and non-condescending] lecture on cycling, compatibility, etc., and the NFS (National [chain] Fish Store) loses customers. Anyone who has a fish store should do this to swipe business. I've been told that people would buy from me if only I had a store.

[superstein61]

Originally posted by Allison Reed
Oh please, cry me a river.

Yea, thats a suitable response - I expected nothing less from you

[OrionGirl]

Okay, no more.

Locking it because ya'll can't stay on topic.