jack11

This thread was initially started by armadillo but dissapeared all of a sudden so i'll start it again.

What is everyone's worst LFS or LPS advice, mine would be wither to put a betta in with 3 gourami in a 15G or to put 6 bala sharks in a 12G. There are probably worse out there in internet land rofl.

Jack

armadillo

Yeah, you're right: it disappeared. That's really odd.

I think the latest piece of advice you received, the one about the fact that 'plants are only meant to last up to 6-8 weeks in an aquarium' was a classic too!

So my worst ones that I can think of right now are:

• LFS - Just use kitchen salt in your tank, luv
• Hardware store! - Why don't you add a couple more common plecs to your 10G, which I had already advised you to stock with: 2 angels, 4 mollies, 3 common plecs.
• LPS - Just leave your tank with water for about a month and it will be cycled (without fish or food or any source of organic pollution)
• LFS - (this one to my dad) Of coooooourse 5 goldfish will be really happy in 12G.
• LFS - Just freeze your fish to euthanaze it
• LPS - Oh no, luv, you don't want aquarium salt. That's only if the fish are REALLY sick. DOH! I was asking for salt because I prefer treating ICH with salt/heat than meds.
• Hardware store - Mollies are happier in couples!!!!
• Hardware store - That little betta's a male. I know because it flares a lot (of course, that was a female, and I knew because of the ovipositor)
• LFS - Just leave your otos without food for 2 weeks (after I explained we were going on holidays and the otos had eaten all the algae in that tank)

jack11

haha i lobe the kitchen salt one and the freezing one... maybe love isnt quite the right word, but they are quite funny, were they at a lfs or lps?

Jack

armadillo

Good question, Jack. Just filled it in next to each entry. My hardware store has a LPS section, but only one person in there knows ANYTHING at all about fish, and she's absolutely no expert.

COBettaCouple

well, this was given to a customer at Petco by the manager, but we heard it and couldn't help but give her good advice.. anyway his advice to her question about a male betta with a bloating stomach was "maybe it's pregnant?"

armadillo

Oh I remember you saying about that one. What a CLASSIC!

Tom

The worst advise I have heard isn't really advise, but a statement. It was 'What's a neon tetra?'. It is really sad considering it was a fish store and the person was standing right beside the neon tetras too. But this was a few years ago now, so I am assuming the person was either let go, or got more experience.
Tom

COBettaCouple

lol.. it's amazing just how dumb employees, including managers, can be about the fish when they really outta know given that they're selling them and a pet-related business.

0morrokh

I've heard so much dumb advice since I started fishkeeping I can't remember most of it, but one recent one does come to mind..."I don't know, but if it dies just come get a new one before the kids find out."
Or how about a dumb statement, "What's a sponge filter? Do you mean the sponge in a canister filter?"

reef freak

I got some:
A lionfish will be fine with your Nemos
You can keep tangs is anything that is above 29ga. (That one made me mad, I'm not a tang police though lol)
Feed your fish twice a day, it will grow faster and bigger (The person had ONE clownfish)

COBettaCouple

..i'd say let's write a book out of the collection of bad and/or downright stupid LFS/LPS advice but i'm afraid many would adopt it as the training manual.

COBettaCouple

lol.. i'm surprised they didn't tell you to put your clowns in a freshwater tank.

armadillo

OMG OMG OMG. These are excellent.

reef freak

I told the people that got this advice that the store was lying just to make money. I think The LFS may of been PO'd at me...I'm prepared to battle them!

COBettaCouple

isn't it kind of rewarding in a way, to have a LFS po'd at you for knowing more about the fish than them?

Jim

Oh, defitily "Oscars are sort of quiet, curious fish. They'll do fine in a community tank"....


yeah right... he eventually ATE all of the rest of the community tank!

COBettaCouple

lol.. well, he did fine -- for him.

armadillo

Yes, but did it do it quietly, and curiously? Perhaps that's what he meant. The oscar was fine in the community tank, you have to admit. Only the other fish weren't!

Jim

Actually, the first time I saw him eat another fish I was on the phone with my mom. The oscar came up behind a small shark and bit it right in half, gulped down the back half, circled around and ate the front half before it hit the bottom of the tank. I will never forget it, I just stood there with my jaw hanging down, my mom on the phone going "hello...hello??" That's when I went and bought a book on oscars...

sgould

COBettaCouple