Girlfight at the LFS!!!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Spaul302

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
13
I am always amazed at some of the information you can obtain at a LFS.....

Today I needed a bottle of Prime, so I stopped by an LFS that is close, usually has very good fish, but their prices are sky high. I had a coupon for 25% off supplies so I figured it was worth it to throw them some business. I go to get a 250ml bottle and they are out. I ask one of the girls working if they have any in the back. She goes and looks for it. While I am waiting, another girl asks me if I need any help. I told her that I was waiting for a bottle of prime from the back, and she proceeds to delve into a crash course in water chemistry with me. I figure that its icy outside, and I'm kinda bored, so what the heck, lets see how much she knows. She gets into water changes, and she asks me how much water I change (My answer is 50% weekly). She then becomes very agitated and tells me that I am killing my fish, and that they will not be alive in a month if I continue to change that much every week. Funny they have survived as long as they have, I guess it is a Christmas miracle! She then tells me that there is absolutely no reason that I should change more than 15% every two weeks to a month, for the good of the fish, as it would not be stressed out from the water changes. Another bullet point of hers was that by far the worst way to do a water change, resulting is sure death is right out of the tap with a python. Naturally, I then told her I dosed the whole tank then added water straight from the tap with MY python, and the fishies did not seem too bothered by the whole deal, especially since they try to swim up the python tube. I guess it is the fish version of a water park!

About this time the employee is ready to report me to PETA for the way I treat my fish, then the girl returns with my bottle of Prime. She somehow becomes engaged in the conversation and becomes equally as agitated- but at the OTHER EMPLOYEE. Oh yeah, did I mention my wife is standing one aisle over, giving me the "are you happy with yourself, look what you started now" look, lol. They become engaged in a heated debate that I think is going to end up in blows being thrown any second! I walked over and paid for my prime, walked over to the door, and the two were so engaged in their debate they had not even realized we had walked off! Note to self: make the trip across town to the other LFS next time!
 
What a great story!
I have had a political lecture from the owner of one of my LFS's.
LFS folks are an interesting breed.
 
Another LFS employee in need of a remedial of "Retail Rule number 2" (if you're certain that the customer is wrong, reread rule #1)
 
so, I was at my lfs big box store about a month ago with my oldest son. There were a lot of people waiting in line, so he and I were talking about fish. I told him how I'm thinking about discus for big tank I'm going to put into my basement once it's finished this summer. One of the employees heard me say discuss and came over and the conversation went something like this:

Her: oh, you're going to get discus?
me: yep
her: they're amazing fish.
me: yep
her: you know they're brackish fish, right?
me: umm
her: yeah, when I first got mine, I had them in fresh water. Then I acclimated them to brackish. But we really wanted a salt water tank, so we slowly acclimated them to the salt water.
me: wow, I thought they would die in that environment
her: well, they're all sick now. Actually, most of them died when we went brackish and we lost some more when we went salt water, but I expected some losses.
me: yikes
her: yeah, all of the ones that are left are very sick now. I think they picked up some kind of salt water fish bourne disease.
me: yeah, sure sounds like it. Say, aren't they pretty expensive to be experimenting like that?
her: yeah, but you know, my dad bought them all for me, so I'm not too worried.

argh!
 
I am so disappointed, I can not believe that any of my fish are still alive, all the good people here have been letting me do my 50% everyweek, when all I needed to do was 15% a month.LMAO
 
I have a coworker who has a 55G tank and he INSISTS that a 50% water change every 6 months is all that is needed, anything more frequent will cause the water parameters to get all messed up and harm the fish.

Now, this is a case where nature has levelled itself out. I think he has 4 or 5 fish left in that tank (swordtails, small plec, etc).
 
my new favorite LFS told me that I didnt need to dose carbon to grow my plants, but then ordered me a bottle of excell anyway.

Just make me feel good about my purchase, and make sure I am not killing anything and keep the rest to yourself.
 
It would be nice to figure out where the person got the idea that a larger % water change is a bad thing.

If it was from personal experience I am sure you could determine what happened to make her think it.

Putting water in the tank that is of the wrong temp or colder than your tank could stress the fish. We assume that everyone knows to have the correct temp and correct amount of water treatment.

But a 'girlfight' would make a trip to the LFS twice as fun!

Mooose
 
I LOVE listening to LFS employees give "sound" advice. Sometimes I just hang around when I see newbies oohing and aahhing to see what the employees are going to tell them. Yesterday when I was at the LFS this is what I saw....
There were kids in the SW section and they asked a girl what LR was. She said "That's LR...and someday it will turn into this." (and pointed at the corals). Whoa!
I can't wait till my LR magically turns into corals!! LOL! :)
 
wow- its sad to know these employees own animals- its almost aniaml cruelty! that discus story si just plain pathetic- that employee should have his head examined for stupidity
 
Wow, People like the discus girl should not be allowed to have fish, let alone advise people how to keep fish. Usually when animals start dying, that a sign that something is wrong. :roll:

Love the employee fight. At least one of them knew what she was talking about! (or at least more than the other girl)
 
"That's LR...and someday it will turn into this." (and pointed at the corals). Whoa!
I can't wait till my LR magically turns into corals!!

Thought everyone knew this. I can't wait until the sunflower seeds I added to the tank grow into big beautiful sunflowers. :wink:

I'm sure we can write a book of LFS anecdotes but this one is the best I've heard in a long time. LOL.
 
what is more scarey is that not only do these people have fish, but someday, they may even be parents.......
 
Back
Top Bottom