More horror stories from a LFS

[Talvari]

I do have some good stories... I had a younger couple come in and that had had a bad experience with another local fish store. Heres the story...

They had a 20 gallon (tall) fish tank. They got the tank set up, waited a few days, started adding fish. They had guppies, zebra danio, and what they think might have been black skirt tetra. The gentlemen they talked to at the other store told them they could easily fit a bala shark in there, but they were hesitant to try. They were told to change out the filter pad every two weeks, and that water changes "werent as important" and they could do one every two or three MONTHS.

Their ammonia was over 80 ppms. Their Nitrite was at like 30, and their nitrate was off the chart- over 200 ppm.

Of course, most of there fish are dead now. I walked them through the tank set up process, let them ask their questions, walked them through cleaning and maintenance, told them they should only add a few fish at any given time, and then showed them some good, hearty fish to start off with.

They thanked me profusely, went home, did a 75% water change on their tank, and will be coming back next week to retest their water and see about starting off with some guppies.

And then I have the gentlemen whos kids just left the house for college and he bought a 46 gallon tank. Ive been helping him get it planted and stocked... Its been two months now, hes got anubias and java fern, wisteria, java moss, driftwood.. And has slowly been adding in tetras and just added a school of cory cats. In a few weeks, he'll be coming back to add a bristlenose pleco.

 

[lovemyreef]

I do have some good stories... I had a younger couple come in and that had had a bad experience with another local fish store. Heres the story...

They had a 20 gallon (tall) fish tank. They got the tank set up, waited a few days, started adding fish. They had guppies, zebra danio, and what they think might have been black skirt tetra. The gentlemen they talked to at the other store told them they could easily fit a bala shark in there, but they were hesitant to try. They were told to change out the filter pad every two weeks, and that water changes "werent as important" and they could do one every two or three MONTHS.

Their ammonia was over 80 ppms. Their Nitrite was at like 30, and their nitrate was off the chart- over 200 ppm.

Of course, most of there fish are dead now. I walked them through the tank set up process, let them ask their questions, walked them through cleaning and maintenance, told them they should only add a few fish at any given time, and then showed them some good, hearty fish to start off with.

They thanked me profusely, went home, did a 75% water change on their tank, and will be coming back next week to retest their water and see about starting off with some guppies.

And then I have the gentlemen whos kids just left the house for college and he bought a 46 gallon tank. Ive been helping him get it planted and stocked... Its been two months now, hes got anubias and java fern, wisteria, java moss, driftwood.. And has slowly been adding in tetras and just added a school of cory cats. In a few weeks, he'll be coming back to add a bristlenose pleco.

My husband and I would have killed everything if it weren't for the wonderful folks at our LFS. We are very lucky to have 3 privately owned shops in our area. Each one offers something a little different. Everyone is always so helpful and eager to share their knowledge. Never let the stubborn folks discourage you from sharing your honest opinion. We spent many many hours between our shops in the first few months, you guys are fantastic!

 

[Talvari]

UGH... Gotta love people who treat fish and other animals as if they weren't living things.

I had a man come in who wanted a ID Shark for a 20 gallon tank. I told him that it wouldnt live for very long in that tank, it gets too big, yadda yadda yadda. He said "whatever" and got the fish anyways...

Another older man comes in who, last month, in a 30 gallon tank, had a tiger oscar, two jack dempseys, a firemouth and a convicts. This month.... he is down to the tiger oscar, one jack, and the firemouth. He hasnt done any water changes on the tank in the three months he has had the tank. Hes asking all these questions about what products he can add to the tank that will get rid of his high nitrates (over 100 ppm...)... I kept trying to explain that he has too many fish of the wrong type in too small of an aquarium and that he needs to do AT LEAST 50% every two weeks... And he kept rolling his eyes and saying how much WORK that was and couldnt he just add some chemical to the tank to fix it...? And its SO expensive to buy a bigger tank... **** just keep replacing the fish as they die.

SERIOUSLY?

 

[savage]

I suppose what amazes me the most is that we are in the internet era. There's really no reason to go into ANYTHING without gaining a little bit of knowledge first. I guess the fact that people were improperly keeping fish for so many years before the net makes it harder for them to understand? It's crazy. The last thing I want in this hobby is to lose a fish!

I wonder if they treat their dogs and cats the same way? Scary, huh?

 

[Talvari]

Unfortunately, we get alot of people who don't treat their dogs or cats properly, either.

I could go on and on about the "tough guys" who come in with pitbulls that have the ridiculously large, spiked collars on their necks, or the guy who came in with a female pitbull who was only two and was already on her second litter... The woman who brings in her little pomeranian that she only feeds cat food, or the other woman who feeds her dog only human food. The poor dachshund is so fat, its stomach almost hits the ground. It has diabetes because of "bad breeding"- not because the owner gives it CUPCAKES for its birthday!

No wonder I like animals better than I like most people...

 

[savage]

I do feel for you. Customer service is my specialty, so I feel for you. Irrationality is really hard to stomach. I'm not close to retirement, but I've always thought that a pet store would be a great retirement job. That, McDonalds drive through or Walmart greeter. I'll have to think about that now. I have a tough time controlling my right of free speech now.

Ya know. Maybe this will actually motivate me more to do it? I hear that people are capable of learning. I can't prove it, but I've heard it's true! LOL

 

[Talvari]

Four Stories this evening...

1 -Had another gentleman in today... He has a thirty gallon tank and apparently, a few months ago, his son decided that he was tired of his tropical community tank. So they bought an OSCAR, which promptly killed all of the mollies/guppies/tetra in his tank (which the son described, laughing, as the oscar biting off parts of the fish and leaving them to die...). Seriously? Why would you find that amusing?



2- Second guy... 15 gallon column tank. I told him his best bet was guppies/neon tetra/glowlight tetra, etc...

What he wanted to get, but I convinced him otherwise: 2 Angelfish, 1 pictus catfish, 1 tin foil barb, and 1 common pleco.

He still got the two angelfish, which I wasnt happy about, but then he picked up three cory catfish. Next week he'll be getting a school of neon tetra.


3- Next... A woman who couldnt seem to understand that a fancy goldfish does not belong in a five gallon tank and she seemed appalled and outraged when I told her she'd need to do a 75% water change at least once a week in a tank that small... She also could not seem to understand that she is going to need to upgrade ASAP if that fish is going to live more than a few months..


4- Lastly... A woman said she couldnt keep algae eaters alive in her goldfish tank, so I asked the two basic questions, tank size and maintenance. 55 Gallon tank, okay.... "how often do you do water changes? Ammonia builds up quick in goldfish tanks unless you do alot of water changes..."

Her response? "oh ammonia shouldnt be a problem then. I do alot of water changes... Almost 50% every THREE MONTHS!"

When I told her she should be doing a 50-75% water change once a week, she told me that that was FAR too much work and obviously I didnt know anything about goldfish... they are clean animals... They arent much maintenance, etc...

...Time for a glass of wine, I think...

 

[Mumma.of.two]

You are a very patient person! Never could I do that! I would go off at the customers and get fired! Lol

 

[Talvari]

Two more stories this evening... Thankfully I have three days off starting tomorrow, so I can relax and refill my cheerful tolerance of schmucks.

1- Guy wanted to know if koi could live with oscars. I told him no, that oscars get too large and too aggressive, that they prefer warmer waters while the koi prefer cooler, and the koi would need a really large tank.

His response was "But how long would the koi last in a 10 gallon?"
My reply was "Not even a month or two. (The koi in question were six inches long...) Is that what you have the two oscars in?!"

"Yeah.. They only grow to the size of their tank, though, so its fine..."

Que face palm.

2- A college kid who admited to never having fish before told his girlfriend that she could buy a Yellow Lab, an Auratus, and a pleco in a 5 gallon aquarium and they would be fine in that "for at least a year" after I told them flat out the only things they could really keep in there were betta fish, shrimp, and MAYBE some guppies.

 

[George9]

Two more stories this evening... Thankfully I have three days off starting tomorrow, so I can relax and refill my cheerful tolerance of schmucks.

1- Guy wanted to know if koi could live with oscars. I told him no, that oscars get too large and too aggressive, that they prefer warmer waters while the koi prefer cooler, and the koi would need a really large tank.

His response was "But how long would the koi last in a 10 gallon?"
My reply was "Not even a month or two. (The koi in question were six inches long...) Is that what you have the two oscars in?!"

"Yeah.. They only grow to the size of their tank, though, so its fine..."

Que face palm.

2- A college kid who admited to never having fish before told his girlfriend that she could buy a Yellow Lab, an Auratus, and a pleco in a 5 gallon aquarium and they would be fine in that "for at least a year" after I told them flat out the only things they could really keep in there were betta fish, shrimp, and MAYBE some guppies.

My gosh! What kind of store do you work in lol? Are there any customers that seen to know what they're doing? Or at least hide their stupidity

 

[Talvari]

I work at a large chain store... One main competitor is petco.

We do get people who know what they are doing, and are intrested in doing what is right.. But they are boring to hear about! lol

When I work 8 hour shifts, which is what ive been doing alot of even though im only part time, I may help forty or fifty people on a busy day. Id say.. 20% of them know what they are doing. Another 20% are doing something wrong and genuinely want my help to fix it. Another 30% are people that are just starting up and want the basics... The rest just dont give a rats patootie about the actual fish as long as their tanks look "cool".

 

[nathey6]

I was in Petsmart just this afternoon and a little girl bought 5 Red Clawed Crabs FOR A 5 GALLON!!!!! I was Horrified! I almost screamed!

 

[Hholly]

A lot of people buy animals for their kids as if they were disposable, inanimate objects instead of living things to be responsible for. When one dies, buy another. So sad.

 

[Talvari]

It does get irritating, particularly when you blatantly tell a person that the fish is going to die because they do not have the right tank for it... But they buy it anyways and then come back a week later and blame it dying on YOU!