Silly LFS patrons...

Sploke

Sploke

resident boozehound
Staff member
Oct 20, 2005
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South Windsor, CT
Real Name
Matt
I know there are a lot of stories out there, but this one guy drives me nuts.

He's the guy that you see at the fish store like every time you go, and EVERY TIME he's buying fish. And not because he just keeps buying new tanks either.

So last time he notices that they have some new blood parrots in, and he picks out a group of about 5 to take home. I give credit to the store clerk, because he started quizzing the guy about what he was putting these guys into. It turns out hes going to put them in with a few others he already has into a 30 gal. The clerk says, you need at least a 55 for those. The guy responds with, well I have a 55 but its got fish in it, so these will go in there when those fish die. :duh:

I was really hoping I never would see him again but, then, yesterday I go int o order s new stand and there he is again. More blood parrots, and he's giving ADVICE. Some new guy has a 20H that hes looking to stock. Dumb guy goes, (and I quote) "well a bunch of tetras would be good, maybe some cichlids, and you need a suckerfish. I recommend the plecostomus, they get about 20", it would be great in that tank. Oh yeah, how long has it been running?" At this point I'm ready to jump him but I think maybe hes going ot redeem himself with knowledge of cycling a tank. New guy: "Oh, I set it up 4 days ago." Dumb guy: "Oh perfect, you're golden then." Swing and a miss. I almost passed out, as the clerk just kind of went along with all this (different person from the first time).

So, he proceeds to pick out new fish, check this for a lineup: an iridescent shark, some blood parrots, a firemouth, some tetras, and a betta. and he wanted to get a green terror to add to his cichlids, but "well what kind of cichlids do you have?" "Oh the albino kind." I had to leave the store at that point, since I was about ready to commit crimes. what do you do with people like that? Do you even try to educate them? He's so sure of himself I can't imagine convincing that all his knowledge about fishkeeping is basically flawed. Man. I just needed to vent. I didn't think to recommend this site until I had already left the store, I wasn't thinking to clearly at that point.
 
and the LFS wont do anything about it because they would be turning away a customer, I've stopped some people already and did my best to educate on some of the very basics of aquarium care..
 
thats awful,but wanna knokw whats worse? working at a lfs and you wait on idiots like that and you tell them what they are doing is wrong and they say why? and you explain it and they are like you dont know what your talking about and than you get the "well it works in my tank" etc, you can spend 15 mins telling them why NOT to get something and they will get two and you have to sell it to them.
 
yeah thats why I didn't start trying to set the guy straight. I had a pretty good feeling it wasn't going to get anywhere. kind of like trying to teach a pig to sing, it will never work and annoys the hell out of the pig.
 
you could try corrcting the guy, but if he is not receptive the more productive and effective way might be to just go behind him and correct his mistakes, its not fixing the source of the problem, but it will hopefully fix some of his mistakes. you could also talk to the clerk who knew what he was doing and have him warn the other clerks about this guys verbal diarrhea, maybe even let management know that some random customer is ruining their business and the clerks who dont know better are indirectly supporting him since they did stand buy and let it happen (probably even listened carefully so they could "learn" something and pass it on to the next customer).
 
most LFS can simply refuse to sell things to people. it may have direct effects on what they were about to buy, but people are associating that store with the advice they get in it, not just what comes from the clerks. so if they are getting bad advice they think the whole store doesnt know what it is doing, then they stop going there, word of mouth to a few fish friends, they dont go there, and it is immeasurable on how much business you are actually losing.
 
I have so many people tell me that fishy cycling is better. A friend told me that fishless cycling dosen't work because she tried and after a week it wasn't doing anything :rolleyes: so she went and bought fish, she said you lose half of your fish but its worth it. I find it has more to do with the people just can't wait to get their fish :( . The guy at our Petco at least knows about fishless but dosen't know details about how it works.

Trying to explain usually results in people not wanting to listen. Especially since I'm not experienced, people certainly know more about it than me on these issues!

I would agree with you and give the guy this web site. Tell him how wonderful it is for the serious fishkeeper and rub in this is where people go when they get into the hobby. Don't say anything negative to him or he won't come.
 
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if you do it right you shouldnt lose any fish when cycling. they shouldnt even ever show signs of distress. i have cycled 20 gallons at work with angels(wasnt exactly my choice) and they did fine. i usually add an appropriate amount of hardy enough fish, it clouds up for a couple weeks, then its fine and ready to take more fish and no fish ever died or ever showed any signs of stress or any problems.
 
Problem is, that dumb guy is their dream customer. They WANT to keep replacing all those fish again and again and again. Most LFS's (with the exception of a few) care only about selling as much stuff as they can.

What I would have done was butt into the conversation and said "excuse me sir, but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. I just wanted to let you know that everything this guy's telling you is a load of horsecrap (insert different word in place of crap)!" I would then explain the cycling process, and what fish are and arn't compatible with each other, and how big some of those little fish REALLY get. By this time the diareah mouth guy is really going to feel like an idiot, which tends to keep people from opening their mouths the next time they don't know what the heck they are talking about. It's going to be obvious when you start explaining the facts that you know what you're talking about and the other guy doesn't.

The funny thing is when those people try to give YOU advise. I have had to bite my tounge a few times.
 
I shouldn't laugh... really, I shouldn't, but you just described my step-daughter. She has four tanks in her room at her mom's house, and she is constantly buying fish. She gets tired of something or it grows too big so she gives it back to the LFS and buys something else. My step-son and I have teased her about how she isn't really buying fish, she's just renting them. It's sad and pathetic. I try to talk to her about being responsible, but she is 16, and her mom will buy her anything.
 
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