lsf 10 Top Questions

[Terry]

I have put this together after being asked by Scottw68TN, Sinuhe and Snapcrackler, here are 10 questions that customers have ask me in the store. Some of them your find unbelievable, but they are true.

1. Does the light go above or under the water.

2. What is the easiest way to remove the gravel when doing my weekly water change.

3. my husband parahna keeps eating my guppys and mollies, what can i do to stop it.

4. I washed my filter sponge in washing-up liquid, but i still cant get it totally clean.

5. At the moment i cant afford a heater for my tank, but i have a kettle element can i use that instead.

6. Is there a cheaper way to filter my tank, i am changing my filter media every week and it is getting expensive.

7.I have heard you can use undergravel heating, when i put my heater under the gravel how do i adjust it.

8.I have had an undergravel filter in my tank since yesterday and it is not working, the bubbles haven't started yet. ( he had got an undergravel but not an air pump, he thought the bubbles come up from the gravel on there own)

9. My goldfish keeps swimming upside down, i see a picture in a book where a guy had put some corks around the fish to make it swim upright. Do i sell them.

10. This one hurts me........ This guy come in all happy with himself and said I have just got myself a £1000 aquarium from the lfs down the road, and i was wondering if you could give me some advice. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. my advice to this guy was " Don't eat yellow snow".

That is just some of the stupid questions i get asked on a day to day basis and they are all true and that doesn't include all of the silly fishy questions i get asked as well. Come on all you store owners/employees let us know your silly questions that people have asked you.

 

[Tigerlily]

Pretty scary! :censor: It makes me angry though... I may not be the most knowledgable person or the best fish-keeper, but at least I bought a book about keeping fish and try to get information so that I treat them right. These are living creatures! I guess some people don't think little fishy lives are worth the effort of a little background research... Hats off to you Terry for having the patience to keep at it!

 

[TankGirl]

"How do I get the background paper to stick to the back of the tank? When I put it in the water I can't get my tape to stick."

 

[Scottw68TN]

I got some wine corks looks like a million dollar idea. Swim bladder disease prostetics!

 

[Terry]

With some of the customers i get in, it is hard to tell what planet there from sometimes, thank god for the normal customer or i think i would crack up.

 

[webmoose]

Thanks for posting the list!

 

[Guest]

Jeez Terry, I dunnow how you put up with it! Pretty funny list, but not in your shoes!

 

[ostrichkiller]

wouldn't it be great if you could just slap the people that are asking these questions and tell them "you are a danger to your own life i am not going to allow you to danger a fishes too"

 

[Terry]

corvuscorax,
I'm glad you liked the list, i can put up with it basically because i love what i do. It is only a very small % of people that drive you crazy, the rest in joy the hobby and just want to learn.
If i can take someone who hasn't got a clue, and turn them into somebody that is willing to learn and enjoy the hobby then i have done my job. It can be frustrating sometimes, but it is like that no matter what job you do.

 

[ferret]

I've actually heard someone ask if they could get the fish and come back for the tank later.

 

[TankGirl]

I heard a guy tell the store clerk, "Cycle the tank? I have been keeping fish for 20 years and I never cycled a tank yet. That's a load of crap." He was really annoyed that he would be asked this question, as if only morons would cycle their tank! I wanted to tell him, "You HAVE been keeping cycled tanks, you just didn't KNOW they were cycled!" When I started nobody talked about cycling, so was doing the same thing, (and UGF were ALL the rage) but I was certainly willing to keep up with the science of it!

 

[myriam]

I think people think it's so easy to just set up an aquarium. Now that I have mine, I've had several friends come over and now they are thinking about having one, too, because "it looks like you can just set it up and leave it." AHHH! It's not a wall decoration! I've explained to them all that it takes quite a bit of time (water changes, water testing, etc etc) but I'm not sure they were listening. God I hope none of them end up at the LFS being the boneheaded customers you've had to deal with...

 

[Terry]

I have just had a guy phone me up, he want me to lease him an aquarium for his office and all that goes with it. But this is the annoying bit he said to me " i dont want anything to do with it " Now what is the point, i get so annoyed sometimes with people that want something and cant be bothered to look after it.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. :x

 

[TankGirl]

That is pretty big over here, anyway, especially in doctors' and dentists' offices. The tank is basically a piece of artwork, and the aquarium service comes in regularly to maintain the tank, with the office staff having nothing to do with the tank. I say, charge him an arm and a leg!

 

[Scottw68TN]

They do that here in my building. They did get 1 of the 2 good shops in town to do it. But They come out for 1 hour every 2 weeks! and charge 125. amonth.
Tank does look goos but I have never tested the water. Its a corner tank bow front w/ 3 cichlids a sevrum a blood parrot and some other fairly peaceful cichlid maybe a jewel. They use a canister I think a rena.

 

[An t-iasg]

I agree with TankGirl and Scottw68tn about the "leasing" of tanks. That is common here. My grandma's retirement home has a huge tank -- not sure how many gallons, but I'd say about 70) and actually my favorite lfs maintains it for them. They showed one employee how to feed, and they come and do the rest. I'm sure it's profitable for the lfs. I'm never there when they come to do the maintenance; I would like to watch!

Terry, I liked #4 in your list -- washing-up liquid to clean the filters. I guess the poor fish died? My dad used to live in Scotland, so "washing-up liquid" was a bit of a trip down memory lane!

 

[Terry]

yes, all the fish died.
The good thing that has come from that customer is that with a little bit of tuition she has turned out to be a very good fish keeper now and has a lovely community set-up.
I'm glad you understood the washing-up liquid, i was worried no-one would understand what it was outside of the UK.