I'm pretty angry!

[racingjason]

About a year ago I went into a LFS and while buying some supplies I notice a 10-15 gallon tank on the counter, heavily planted, driftwood and then I noticed what looked like a 15" pleco in the tank behind the driftwood. If you have never seen a 15" pleco they are VERY wide as well as long. Anyway I offered to house the fish in my tank for them because he couldn't really move in that tank. The owner said maybe, so I persisted and offered to buy the fish. She said he was not very old but was spoiled (bloodworms everyday) by a guy with a 30 gallon or so tank and now was too big for his tank. She told me she would consider it so I left. I really didn't want him, but felt bad and I had room to spare. Well I went back 3 times and she would not sell me the fish. I told her I would give $30 and she kinda chuckled and said no.
Well the other day I popped in to see if she had a T fitting and she said the pleco had died a few months earlier. :mad2 What could be worse than a tiny prison cell for almost a year? Some people suck.

 

[Harlock]

Dude, did you tell her off?

 

[Ems]

That's awful. She should have known better. My pl*co was about that size in a 33Gal, but I gave him to the LFS cuz he was too big.

 

[Aqualung]

That's terrible. That LFS wouldn't be getting any more of my business!

On a similar note, I went to pick up a couple of ferrets yesterday. At the house was a ten gallon tank with 7 large gold fish and a RTB shark! I wanted to say something, but didn't want to seem rude and have them not give us the ferrets. Sigh.....

 

[YoFishboy]

This story reminds me of that Aquababies crap...you, know, the tiny cubes with fish in them - fortunately, enough people got ticked and complained to local stores and you don't see them much anymore. So many poeple don't bother to check what there pets really need - when you are responsible for a living creature, I don't think a few hours on the internet learning about your future pet is a lot to ask!

 

[racingjason]

Dude, did you tell her off?

No. I was just kind of dumbfounded and walked out.

 

[colser]

name and shame the LFS

 

[Maj0rFiSh]

yea too right man, name n shame!

 

[racingjason]

I am American, but I don't live in the USA at this moment so I don't think it will make much difference to most board members. I told all the local guys I deal with what happened and they said they won't go back either. Another store has approx 30 3" discus in what looks like a 100g tank max. Since they are so expensive the fish have been there for months! Getting harder and harder to find responsible LFSs.

 

[applechickbsn]

I'm still learning about fish and the different species, so I had to look up what a pl*co was before I could respond.
All I can say is "Wow".
That's a beautiful fish to just let go like that, but unfortunately, more and more are...