Ignorant people

[CichliditisExtremitis]

Hello Mr. Alghazi. Thank-you for sharing your story with us. Your story proves once again that unscrupulous and/or ignorant LFS -- Local Fish Store -- owners and employees are found the world over.

I can't believe that he told you to put 16 goldfish in a newly-set-up five gallon aquarium which hadn't even been properly cycled yet.

At the bare minimum, even experienced aquarists should keep a nitrate test kit on hand. That these store owners had never even heard of one is outrageous.

I'm glad to hear that your new tank is doing a lot better.

Research and study; that is definitely the key! If only more people would do it before purchasing their first fish.

 

[divedeep1689]

One of my petco actually has a pretty good employee he actually came to work for them from petland i have got alot of advice from him over the years and he has always been right but i agree some big companies out there dont know wat they are doing

 

[Barnature]

It's so sad. The people in my lfs only half understand what they are doing. 16 goldfish would happily live in a 160 gallon tank with a canister for 200g tanks

 

[bmg07]

ok ive got a little story. about 3 years ago i got my first tank and it was a 75 gal i was so exited . I go to petsmart and i see so many aswome fish and i saw some pacus and they were tiny and lokked cool so i asked the employee about them and he said that they wouldnt get a hole lot bigger than 5in .i also bout lots of coomunity fish cuz i believed that the pacu would be peaceful thats wat he told me.3 years later a 14in pacu 2 plecos nothin else. the pacu killed almost all my other fish. Back then i didnt research and stuff so i had no clue hed actually be that big and mean until it was 2 late. but im pretty sure that the person got fired .ever sense then i havent had any problems there

 

[CichliditisExtremitis]

Well, as I've pointed out in a number of threads, here, and on other boards, part of the problem lies with the companies themselves. You simply can't throw a minimum-wage, fresh-out-of-high-school, novice fishkeeper into the position of selling fish for you, and not expect to run into serious problems with your customers sooner or later. Dispensing that kind of wrong information is bound to get you in trouble.

You might also want to check out this related thread on this board:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...will-gasp-in-disbelief-117596.html#post996350

 

[bmg07]

i went to get some guppies the other day and i wanted 4 so i ask the guy to get me some on the 3rd guppy he drops it on the ground picks it up with his hands and puts back into the tank. i was going to say something but i decided not it was an accident but he needs to be more careful

 

[hacket]

The only thing I can say is stop going to 'big box' pet stores if you don't like them.

The only time I do is when I can't get to a good store.

 

[meegosh]

Yeah I would stay away from the chains and shop at local stores. The only time I go to petsmart or any of those is if they have something on sale or I have a coupon, but even then I NEVER buy livestock from there. I got ich in my tank years ago from petsmarts red-eyed tetras and it almost killed my whole tank. Live and learn.

 

[sieski]

Sorry I felt this was the best place to share my recent at work experience. You might be wondering what that has to do about fish, but let me explain.

I work at a grocery store and someone decided it was a good idea to buy a fish for the front end managers desk. They had / have no clue what they are doing. They bought a goldfish and its stuck in a large wine glass...

I talked to them about it and they wont return the fish. The poor thing is swimming in clouded water beyond belief. I don't know what I can do if anything to convince them not to have it. They don't see it being a big deal but as a pet lover I do!

We have something in the UK called the rspca. If an animal is being caused unnessacary suffering then they have the powers to remove the animal. Do you have anything like that? Failing that shoplift! the fish that is!

 

[Etunes]

Ok, i have i small story. I was standing at petsmart in my area. Looking at the fish (what else would i be looking at) and these 2 older people in there 50's it looked like. They sat there and told the guy they had a 40 gallon tank and asked what here could fit in the tank without upgrading. So he sat there and said everything in the store. The employee let them buy a clown knife, 2 pictus catfish, and a oscar. I was so mad, those fish were gonna leave that store and be cramped in a too small of a tank. And the worse thing is that the poeple didnt even know what they were getting into. I ended walking out of there with 2 upside down catfish. Me personally I shop at the chain stores as little as possible. I went there because i really like these catfish and i dont ever find them anymore so i went to go grab them before they were gone.

 

[Giannis86]

Tried explaining it, I used to work in customer service so I'm pretty good at keeping cool. I pointed out how the goldfish if it lives, has potential to grow much larger than the glass. How it's swimming in toxins, ammonia and nitrites and I let them know what they would need for a proper set up.

Also the reasoning for the glass, they said they don't have room for a tank. I was thinking of kidnapping the fish but I think they would just get another and there are security cameras too lol.

Edit: Added a photo. I didn't take this, I just took a screen shot from a video that one of the front end workers took and posted on facebook.

It is unbelievable how cruel some people are to goldfish...

Great topic by the way

@alghazi
Thats is insane! Did you go back to store to complain? (Although Im sure they would say it was your fault anyway)

Personally i have never had such an experience in an LFS. However i have had cases that they didnt know much about tanks.

A while ago i was looking for a CO2 kit and the guy at the LFS was constantly talking about it not existing because CO2 was "poisonous" to plants and fish
I tried explaining him that adding CO2 can promote plant growth but he wouldnt listen

 

[Jshaffer79]

I used to work at petco and you aare right there are alot of stupid people out there. I hated when someone would come in wanting to put a bunch of goldfish in a small tank let alone a filterless tank. whats worse is when someone else would just sell the people what they want and then a few days later they would come back wanting to know why all their fish were dead. Then they get mad at you when you tell them why. They get even madder because the person that sold them the fish didn't warn them.