Alessa

Ok... I went to Petidiot yesterday to get new fishies with my boyfriend and while we were drooling at the fancy guppies a lady that was buying a live plant pointed at the hatchet fish and told the employee:

"oh... I got a tank one week ago with some fishes and two of these... now one of them is dead. Is there something I should do for my tank? Should I get another one of these to replace the dead one?"

then, the employee replied:

"Oh? the hatchet fish you say? i wouldnt worry about it too much, it just happened... and they arent schooling fish anyways."

for what I heard that tank wasnt probably even cycled... and the hatchetfish are schooling fish...

I tried to talk to the lady but she just left too fast... then, I went to the employee and told him "can I get please a male platy from this tank?" he attempted to catch a platy from the mixed tank and while I looked for some prime my bf got the bag with the platy. As we were walking out I looked at the bag and stared at the big bellied "male" platy. Then I told my bf "this is a no-gonopodium pregnant "male" platy...."

we went back and I told the employee: "ehem... excuse me, I think you gave me a female platy..." and he said "no, no... it is a male!" Then i was like "Listen, this is a pregnant platy and there is no gonopodium there!" and then he was like "What"

he didnt even know what a gonopodium was :,(


Now, this situation made me curious... and I figured why not ask the fishlore people what sorts of crazy things they have heard in different fish stores around the globe!

Lucy

A few weeks ago the lady at the store told me snails don't contribute at all to the bio load and I could add as many as I wanted to my tetra tank!

Butterfly

How about... You only have to feed goldfish once a week because they don't digest their food well and they just eat their poo over and over until they get all the food out of it. nope I don't shop there any more
Carol

RiffDawg15

A guy at Walmart told me that I could put 5 male betta's in a 10 gallon tank... I laughed and told him straight to his face that he was an idiot and had no clue what he was talking about.

Tom

What about...'Overstocking? you don't need to worry about that if you have a filter in the tank. So you can get that beautiful oscar for the 36 gallon of yours. And you don't need to worry about it out growing the tank, it will only grow another inch before it is fully grown. I know books and websites say it can grow too 14", but those are just misprints, they only get to 5", so no need to worry.'
Tom

rileyrk190

I've heard.. "a goldfish will only grow to the size of the tank you have"
and once, i was sold three silver dollars with about eight dollars worth of plants. The man told me that they only eat the tasty plants like swords. Less than an hour later i was pulling all the plants out..or at least what was left of them..

Alessa

OMG... and I thought I had heard bad things....

COBettaCouple

I heard the manager of the Petco back home tell a customer who's male betta was bloated that "maybe it's pregnant".

Richard

I don't even give them a chance to show their ignorance.. I have limited patience, so on several occasions I've snatched the net from their hand, and while getting the fish I want (and not what some doofus wants to give me), I've given them 'the look' and schooled them!


I know the average clerk in any LFS anywhere in the world, is no bright spark when it comes to fish ( it's always cool when you do find one who knows though!).. and I've come to realise there are those who want to learn but have bosses who are fixed on profit and give a 'pwefen' about the condition and after-care of the fish they sell.. and then there are those clerks who bring the 'know it all' attitude and are doing the job so they can hold some cash at the end of the month.. I flame that kind occasionally when I've had a bad day, and get away with it because I'm a regular monthly paying customer.

Perks of living in the Caribbean and being a DJ at a pretty popular station?.. maybe.. but if I was living anywhere else on this planet, as long as I'm spending what I am on a monthly basis, and have to deal with deliberately dense LFS clerks, I'll flame them too.. or excercise my power of choice and shop elsewhere.

Butterfly

Since we have moved and don't have access to Dino and CWCs fish as easily(thanks for being good fish guys ) we have finally found a LFS that has the motto "Run by Hobbyist for Hobbyist" all the employees have aquatic creatures either freshwater or salt. We really enjoy going in there, but this kind of store is few and far between.
Carol

Alessa

I know! I finally found a place in chicago called "old town aquarium" and the people there are AWESOME! They dont let you take fish home unless you bring them a sample of your water so that they can test it to confirm is cycled! they have all kinds of awesome things you wouldnt find anywhere else and im happy that there is finally a responsible fish store out there...

(sigh) but going back to reality, I was at work today and some of my co-workers saw my fish pics in my cell phone. They were like "I'd rather keep goldfish if i were you... they are way easy to keep! just toss them on a bowl with water and youre done!" then I asked: "where did you hear that from?" -"the pet store employee... thats why i got me a bowl with three!"

ThisGuy

unfortunately fish will never get the same respect that furry pets do people don't see them like cats and dogs.

Chief_waterchanger

I had a Wal-Mart cashier try to tell me that the betta I was buying was not safe to put in with any other fish, that it would kill them. She continued by saying, "Look at the price of the fish. If the price ends in blah blah number it is compatible with blah blah number, but not with this other number." If that were the case the pacu were compatible with guppies and mollies.

Annabelle

How about "There is a Mollie stuck to your filter." (me) the clerk replied "dont worry, it is just cleaning the side of it."

Also, when asking for a cory I had the same clerk point to a tiger barb and a danio before getting it right (there were only the 3 species in that tank).

Or how about "you need to put fish in the tank or it will never cycle. The only way you can start the cycle is by putting some fish in there."

I just dont ask them for advice ne more. I look it up on the net.

hockeyref88

You know I can't stand the lack of knowledge at these places either, however its no different than say a homedepot or lowes. They hire these people for minimum wage or close to it, do a lousy job of training and thats it. Most of these people are there to pick up a paycheck and don't have the passion we do for animal life. They are usually young and probably thinking of what time they get off so they can get to there girlfriend or boyfriend or anything but fish. We are lucky, in that we do have a few fish store's locally run by hobbist. However my wife went off on a LFS guy yesterday about the betta's they had and the water quality and she was right. Of course his response was ridiculous and we just had to get out or I'd be buying 50 bookshelf tanks and saving hundreds of betta's. I guess my point is, for the $7.00 an hour they pay 9 times out of ten you'll get an undertrained person and that is unfortunate.

Barbrella

You're exactly right. Businesses don't want to pay people who have experience and knowledge. The main difference is that the stock at Home Depot isn't living.

Plus, petstores don't want employees giving knowledgeable advice to people. That might stop a sale and they want them to sell fish to anyone who has the money. You want a cute baby Oscar to put into a 10 gal tank? Sure, that'll be fine! Pay now please.

In 25 years of fishkeeping, I've had ONE employee who knew something. I had gone to buy 2 rasboras to add to my school of 5. This woman started asking me how big my tank is, what else is in there, and that I shouldn't keep just 2 rasboras. I was smiling the whole time I listened to her.

I had the distinct feeling that had my answers been wrong she wouldn't give me the fish. Never saw her again. A manager must have overheard her, or a customer complained, and she was given the boot.

Lonely Angel

The only time I talk to the workers at petco is when I need to ask where something is, then I hurry off before they can share their "expertise" on the subject of fish.

Although when I was checking out with three male bettas and a 5 gallon tank (I already had two tanks at home), the man at the register said "Yup, that tank will be plenty big for all of those." I just stared at him in shock - I couldn't even bring myself to say something to him.

The other LPS here is owned by a husband and wife that are very nice and know quite a bit about fish. I have asked them questions before about suggesting food for my picky betta Ianto or which plant substrate they recommend and they've been helpful. It's a small store so they run it themselves which means I don't have to deal with an idiot clerk who's only there for the paycheck!

Lucy

I mentioned the snails being the worst, but really, the worst has to be the garbage they tell you about bettas or when I see someone buying a brand new aquarium and standing at the tanks saying I'll take 4 of those, 2 of those, 1 of these with the clerk standing there just nodding their head and scooping the fish out.

JasperII

Almost everytime I go into the Petco near me the Betta bowls are stacked so that their air holes are covered. The person in the fish dept. always blames it on someone else. I've gone to the Mgr. several times. They probably hate seeing me, but I hope they are learning. My Petsmart has people that all have fishtanks and are very caring. One is from the Petco store, they had left it.

ThisGuy

Speaking of bettas i was visiting my mother-in-law yesterday so i took that opportunity to check out a LFS and they were keeping their bettas in the glass juice containers... That was a new one for me but with such a small opening i don't want to know how they shoved all of those betta into them.

krazykid933

I went to Wal-Mart today (don't buy fish at Wal-Mart... Wal-Mart has cheap shoes, clothes, food, etc... just not the fish...). Anyway, I went to check out their fish and I looked around and got to the Rosy Reds (a type of goldfish) their was about forty dead/dying fish in that tank. There was a pile... a pile now of them. It was sick and inhumane. I went to gardening to get assistance to clean up that sick mess. Of course, no one ever came. But that's not all. A few of their fish looked dyed. One fish was picking at another's bones. Their tanks were mismatched. Each tank had at least one fish. And the little bowls of bettas... there was two bettas in one of them! I will never come to Wal-Mart even to look at fish again.

The Petsmart I go to has extremely caring employees (most of the time).

goggles

ther is a large fs near me called watermarque and they keep there bettas in ting sealed bags that are not mush bigger than the betta and just float them on top of the water. i did complain and thay said that the betta didn't like their system. god i nearly punched the bloke

Lucy

I've complained to Walmart about how they keep they're fish.
I watched in horror one day as other fish picked at those goldfish that have like big bubbles over their eyes..sorry I don't know the proper name for them.
I was in tears seeing other fish pop the bubble eyes.
I went straight to customer service and told them I'd be waiting at the tanks until someone came and separated them.
When no one showed, I marched back to customer service and made a scene and told them I was going to do it myself. You better believe by the time I got back to the tanks, someone was separating them, giving me dirty looks the whole time.

hockeyref88

Geez......Reading the LFS stories is like watching "Faces of Death"...........I keep reading and wanting to look away at the same time. I hate that this goes on. Its hard to understand the lack of compassion. I guess for some it comes natural and others its nonexsistent.

mlinden84

After reading these posts I realized how lucky I am! I usually on go to 2 fish stores where I know the employees and trust what they say. One is Petland (i know! a chain store! but they have 2 guys in the fish department who have probably 10 tanks each at home). The other is a small mom and pop joint that is, unfortunately, under water at the moment. But I really, really hope that they will come back after the flood and re-open. They have such a beautiful store and very awesome fish for a good price.

Butterfly

of course their compatible- they will soon fit right into his mouth

Mom and Pop stores are disappearing rapidly because of competition from chain stores. Please if you find a mom and pop store that does a good job tell them so and give them as much of your business as you can. We need them and they need us to help them stay in business.
Carol

Alessa

There was a mom and pop store when that i discovered by accident when I began my fishkeeping carrier. Unfortunately, it was already in the 60% off -closing stage

I talked to the lady who helped me a lot and gave me good advice like not to put cycle because I would need it forever... she also helped me choose good foods for my fishies.
I tried to tell her not to close, but she said it was already too late...

so bad it closed

FishFolk

I love "Bettas like living in small bowls.No they don't need a filter or a heater, they like it that way." And the other one that REALLY griped me was " I don't take time to catch the one kids want. They tell me 'I want that one' and I block their view and give them whatever ends up in the net." You can bet we eagled eyed him as he netted our fish. Funny thing is that a child is more likely to spot the uniqueness of the fish (or other pet) and truly know the difference than a Mom or Dad with no experience.

Isn't it great when you find people you can trust for good, healthy fish (thanks Dino and CWC!)

ThisGuy

Thats to bad you lost your LFS for the moment at least is your house ok?

pamd

Well, it's true that PetCo actively spreads the myth that bettas in the wild live in mud puddles, so therefore the bettas in the horrid little cups in their stores are just fine, and that a betta can live happily in a tiny little bowl. I heard it myself. Two PetCo employees on different occasions told me this. They were talking about the sad little bettas in their sad little cups, no doubt hundreds or even thousands of years' generations from their wild ancestors. But these people had no idea what they were talking about. Does PetCo spread this myth in some sort of official paper to new employees?

I might take the dubious prize for receiving the least informed, cruelest advice. Of course, I knew better, and was just there to see if I could get some Garlic Guard or whatever. But a guy at the locally owned fish-reptile-bird store was puffing about all he knows about fish, and told me, "Bettas need almost no care. You can keep them in a small bowl and you hardly ever need to feed them. I recently experimented with a Betta to see how it would live without food and in a cup. It lived for three months." After I finished banning myself from the store forever and finished puking in the parking lot ...