alyssium

i went into my lfs yesterday/day before..? and it was sad. just about every tank the fish had ich. not to mention few tanks had dead fish floating in it. it's a common occurance at this store. the worst part is once an employee let me see their back room. Not only was it a disaster, but there was a bunny in a small cage that was too small for it and teh bloodworms that are supposed to be frozen were left warm in the back.

sirdarksol

That's got to be one of the winners for the "worst fish store" awards.

adojavier

Things here in Venezuela are not that different. I found a great pet store that specializes in fishes. There are some really good clerks and some bad ones. Being a newbie (that was some 10 months ago) and not knowing anything about fishes I bought a 10 gal and asked them to help me picking some good fishes for a community tank. Here's what they sold me: 4 blue rams, 2 adult (2,5 inches) tiger barbs, a couple swords, 3 tetra serpae and two white skirt tetras.... I finally found (after a tetra serpae passed away due ammonia poisoning) this website, and now I'm teaching them how to keep fish...

MeGustaUnaPez926

The worst advice I've ever gotten was, "Oh! You don't need to test your water! The test kits are expensive and you'll do fine with out one" I just said "uh-huh" and bought one somewhere else. Other than that, I've got nothing but wonderful advice from that store, but I guess everyone makes mistakes. I never saw the guy who told me that again, though.

zel

Ok, how about this conversation:
me: do you know what kind of shrimp that is?
LFS (female): its a ghost shrimp. You dont want that. They are whimps. They will try to clip your fishes fins at night while they sleep.
me: dont they eat alot of algae and mind their own business?
LFS (female): no, your fish will always be stressed while they are around, and eventually eat them, or get eaten.

I left without buying anything.

Alessa

Ghost shrimp are some of the most peaceful things around.

zel

Heres another good one:

me: that whole wall is cichlids, right?

LFS: yeah

me: I'm not ready for them. They require certain water conditions, right?

LFS: These cichlids? (pointing to them) NO, they are captive bread. You could p*ss in their water and they wouldnt care!

me: wow! really? (knowing what an idiot this guy was)

LFS: dont read stuff about fish on the internet, its all b*ll****. Come here and talk to us!

I said "Thanks." and walked out. The scary part is that this store was highly recommended to me for their selection and knowledge of tropical fish.

Tavel

maybe they were selective bred for their "durability"...hahaha

dr.fluffanutter

Oh God I work at a Petco, and that is my worst pet peeve ever. I'm constantly swooping through the fish department to check that they're properly stacked. I've also been known to briskly "educate" customers I catch putting them back like that.

What I hate is how uneducated and stubborn customers wear on a person after a while. I had one lady get outraged at me for telling her that buying her betta boy a betta girlfriend was a horrible idea, just because "another store" told her that it would be just fine to stick the two together. -_- Thank god she ended up not buying the girl. Other customers walk in and try to buy 5-10 fish at a time for their already overstocked tanks. For every one that listens and seems genuinely upset that they've been mistreating animals out of ignorance, there's 3 or 4 that insist that I'm wrong because another employee at some other pet store at some other point told them that they were doing just fine. Or even worse, that they've been doing it like this for years and they've never had a problem.
Oh, and my favorite was when a woman came in with a three year old girl and insisted on buying 3 Glofish (genetically modified danios) to put in a 1.5 gallon tank. "I just want something pretty for her to look at, it doesn't matter if they die."
Its disheartening to know that even though my manager defends our right to deny any customer the sale of any animal if we feel they won't treat it right (which I exercise often enough), most other employees won't ask, care, or know enough to judge correctly.

Fish Addict

Man! I'm lucky that I haven't had anything bad like that, but I couldn't hide from the bad fishkeeping ideas forever (though luckily this wasn't from a fish store)!

Today I was coming home from school, this girl who I carpool with was talking about a "personal shrine" she had to do as part of a project. She said she's going to make a shrine with 3 goldfish, that she would keep 2 in a tank that sounded like it could have been at the biggest a 10g, and the other one being in a plain fishbowl. Then she was considering having 3 bettas. I was getting ready to lecture her about how they can't go together, when luckily her mom reminded her that they couldn't. Very close call.. She said she didn't want a goldfish because her last one just sat there then died... I sure wonder why that would have happened...

Minnow

When I got Alpha, my betta, the other day, I had the following conversation at the counter:

Employee (in a rude voice): Do you know anything about bettas?
Me: Yes, actually, I know a lot about bettas.
Employee: Are you putting him in that 10g right away?
Me: Yes, I know I should cycle it first, but he'll be better off with the heater and filter than he is in this little cup.
Employee: You should leave him in the cup until it cycles. We can't guarantee the fish unless you cycle it first.
Me: But a month is a long time for him to be in a cup.
Employee: Just plug everything in and let it cycle for 48 hours, then you can put him in. And, you know, bettas like small spaces better, anyways.

Right.

She wrote "fish not garanteed" on our receipt because we wouldn't leave him in the cold, tiny cup, and apparantly he will die in a heated 10g! We ended up putting him in a 3.5 bucket with all the equipment, because the stand for the tank hasn't arrived yet.

fishlover78

oh, I have seen some pretty sketchy pet stores in my time. (dead and diseased fish, disgusting tanks, birds in cages with an inch of crap in the bottom of the cage etc.) and at pet smart I watched an employee sell someone 4 bala sharks, 6 tiger barbs, and 2 juvenile blood parrots cichlids for a 15 gallon tan! ridiculous. I have a friend who works at a small local pet shop everything is clean and neat. they have been given a bad rep because the tanks are "dirty" is what someone has said just because there is minimal algae growth in some tanks they are all called dirty. why? I guess those who know nada about fish consider a tank with algae on the back wall dirty. that's stupid. they also keep everything else clean too. I buy everything there, never at petsmart or walmart!

fishlover78

here's the place I go to, the people are amazingly nice and know their stuff. it is nice and small, they have different people who run different areas of the store (reptiles, fish, bunnies, birds etc.) I highly recommend it. they take you thorugh the whole cycling process, and they explain which fish can go with fish. they are a very good pet shop. here's the link: http://www.animalcrackersnj.com/aboutus.php I am pretty lucky to not have to puke every time I enter petco or petsmart (which I never do!). and the bettas there are kept in clean 10 gallon tanks with plants, filters, and heaters. A+ place.

Lucy

CHoffman

I was recently at a Walmart and I noticed that their Molly tank had fry in it..I said ohhh wow...You have fry in this tank...He said..."HUH, what's fry??".

Red1313

I do my best not to talk to the LFS people. Mostly I just go in there to browse and they're busy since I don't have any small LFS near me anymore.

robz

My girlfriend works at a local pet store, and she's their "fish specialist". She has worked there over a year and knows VERY little about cycling a tank. But she knows which fish are able to be kept with eachother, feeding info, mating info, she knows FISH. These local stores only focus on FISH, they do not care about a TANK. That is their problem....

The sad thing is, she doesn't want to learn anything about fish that she doesn't have to, its just a high school job for her. And her managers don't care about it either. Their employees don't know much about the fish, and I can guarantee they know nothing of cycling tanks. Local stores need to educate their managers in order to have the information trickle down to all their employees.

But, no one working at these stores seems to care.... It doesnt make sense... Any other specialty store you go to, such as Lowes, Home Depot, Carpeting/Tiling stores, Electronic stores, most of the employees know their stuff, or have a good idea at least. As my girlfriend as a prime example, being the "fish specialist" for over a year, these stores just aren't training their employees or managers well enough. Just enough to sell their fish, then their job is done...How depressing
: (

sirdarksol

Minnow, where the heck did you get Alpha? There's another store that should be on the ballot for "worst fish store," and an incredibly rude employee. I've written to pet stores to complain about people like that. (I've also written to pet stores to praise people who have done a good job, but, sadly, that doesn't happen as often.)