:( mean fishyman at the fishstore

[ripvanrina]

rah! so i went to my lfs to ask for some gravel to seed my tank because I'm doing a fishless cycle. Understandably the guy wanted me to buy an overpriced product instead of giving me free things-even though i called last night and they said it would be fine if 'i only wanted a little'.

so I go across the street to Petco and ask someone there for some gravel. The guy gives me a dirty look and says they've never done that before and leaves. This other guy asks me what I've done to my tank so far and I told him I've had it up since Sunday and I've added ammonia to start the cycle-and he looks at me like I'm an idiot and tells me to never add ammonia to a fish tank. I said true-if you have fish in it, but i'm doing a FISHLESS cycle and I just want some of the bacteria they have to make it go faster-because instead of the fish creating the ammonia I just added it myself. He goes off on a spiel about cycling (as if i don't know) and gives me a free ammonia test strip and tells me if it turns green to take all my water out and start over.

Am I stupid or are these guys just mean and uninformed?
sorry this was long-
i wanted to ask people who wouldn't give me dirty looks (and none of you can see me )

 

[Jchillin]

Most people don't know about the fishless ammonia only cycle. Since I'm sure the people you spoke with didn't know about it..they must have thought you were slightly off your rocker.

 

[Quake2player]

forgive me if I offend anyone here with this statement... it is just my general observation and I hope I'm not off too much a tangent...

I've learned the best and most up-to-date information for my hobbies is shared by other experienced users on online forums:

Before I dived into converting to a planted tank, I spent some considerable time here and aquariacentral.com's forum gathering data... so over a month ago I started looking at a few LFS about buying better lighting for my 29gal, specifically asking for something in the 60+ watt range to give me at least 2WPG... this one guy at the LFS told me "NO, it's not more WATTS I want, but a broader light frequency range to help my plants grow"... yada yada... he then shows me a light fixture that was the same wattage as the 20 watt I already had....

ho hum.... who was I to believe??? People here like Malkore, Tankgirl and JChillin who have over a combined 10,000 posts here or some guy at the lfs who had no clue about WPG requirements for plants?? He'd prolly let me buy 10 fancy goldfish to put in a 1 gallon bowl too. I feel your pain.... for relief, surf around here and one actually learns quite a bit.

I relate this to my computer hobby as I build my own pcs... I think 90% of the retail PC sales people (Bestbuy, Circuit City) have no clue beyond the basic specs of a pc... I never go retail buying any pc hardware anymore too. The DIY PC community online is tremendous, much like it is here.

 

[Jchillin]

ho hum.... who was I to believe??? People here like Malkore, Tankgirl and JChillin who have over a combined 10,000 posts here or some guy at the lfs who had no clue about WPG requirements for plants??

Believe me when I tell you...I learned nearly everything I know right here at AA. I learned absolutely nothing from my LFS.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[extremenewb]

gives me a free ammonia test strip and tells me if it turns green to take all my water out and start over.

NO NO and NO!!!!!!!!

its damn pathetic there are so many untrained sales reps out there because there is a living victim in all this: the fish

 

[SteveM]

You just have to remember, the people here are doing this for the love of it - the people at the fish shop are there for a paycheck (and a pretty small one I'd imagine).

They aren't mean - they just probably don't care any more about fishkeeping than someone at McDonalds cares about how hamburgers are made

 

[ripvanrina]

but is it really going to hurt them that much to give me a handful of gravel?

ya I've been a member here for what...3 days? It's incredible, I've learned so much and find such friendly advice and enthusiastic help. Plus i get people to complain to..


hey quake what kind of ram is that in your sig?

and i wasn't planning on changing the water. i should be seeing the nitrites any day now-even without their bacteria. whatever. I'll grow my own

 

[lyquidphyre]

If you really wanted to you could call and speak to the manager and tell them you went in and the fish department gave you false information and that someone needs to make them read up on the fishless cycle before they make their customers feel like idiots *nod*

 

[BASSNMAN]

Remember, places like Petco don't pay much and you get what you pay for. The guy was probably working at McDonalds last week.

 

[megladonsharky]

I have taught some since coming here... I asked about another fish for my 9 gal the guy told me a bala shark.. 8O ... I nearly fainted... his other recommendations were equally off.... and he was the certified animal person....

 

[Meredith]

If you really wanted to you could call and speak to the manager and tell them you went in and the fish department gave you false information and that someone needs to make them read up on the fishless cycle before they make their customers feel like idiots *nod*

I would totally do that. Better yet, print out some info on fishless cycling, and hand it to the manager

 

[megladonsharky]

That is a great idea... 8)

 

[wishbone]

pet stores are in the business to make money, they want to sell you product regardless of what they know and they can be very forceful about it. =( There's a really nice shop here I wont' go back to because of how forcefull the salespeople are. =T

 

[pltrbill]

Remember, places like Petco don't pay much and you get what you pay for. The guy was probably working at McDonalds last week.

Don't judge them by what they earn for a living............some may have never worked retail a day in their lives before working there. The training they get is minimal at BEST. No, I don't work there......I work at the other hated outlet (yes, first time working retail in my life) . BUT......I keep my tanks clean and visit this site often and can honestly say I now know 10 times more than my compadres that have been there several years. Do I know it all?, Hell no......that's why I'm still here, still learning. If I don't know the answer.......I simply tell the customer so, .......then I mention this cool forum for great advise. Feel out 'the fish guy' by asking one or two questions he should know to get an idea if you can trust his recommendations.

but is it really going to hurt them that much to give me a handful of gravel?

Don't trust the substrate (or water) at ANY LFS. As you have gathered, I work in a pet dept. and I trust the fish....if they don't have anything wrong with them. But the tanks HAVE been infected at one time or another with a fungus or Ick. I just wouldn't trust it in MY tank, or the customer's. Don't get me wrong, we treat and clean the tanks every week but I wouldn't want to take that chance.....better safe than sorry.

 

[Felf]

the masses will learn but it just takes time, most of them are just local kids trying to earn a buck.

 

[dr_girlfriend]

don't feel bad, I went ot petsmart to ask for a sponge filter and the girl looked at me like I was insane. She had to get the department manager who also had no idea what I was talking about and had this "I obviously know more than you, because I'm the fish department manager" attitude.
Don't go to petsmart looking for "out of the norm" things or advice. You have to realize that probably 90% of the people who come in there have no idea about fish husbandry and are blank slates that are eager to eat up the petsmart/co fish care/compatability advice and have nothing to compare it to and have no reason not to trust the nice person who should obviously know something about fish.
If I don't see it there I don't bother asking because half the time the people working in mass pet stores know nothing. Find an LFS that is friendly and helpful, most are because they want to keep a good customer base to compete with the big boys. There are a few stores run by jerks, but most are usually willing to help you.

 

[Quake2player]

btw... I forgot it it was a Petco or Petsmart.... but years ago, the staff of one of my LFS used to "not recommend" Mollies cause they said they "carry ICH"... so 2 things came to mind:
1. I've never read that anywhere in either fish books nor online so I highly doubted this.
2. If you're talking your customers "out" of buying mollies, then why they heck are you stocking and selling 'em?

and they weren't just saying "their particular" mollies, but mollies in general. Has anyone ever heard of this?

 

[extremenewb]

I went ot petsmart to ask for a sponge filter and the girl looked at me like I was insane. She had to get the department manager who also had no idea what I was talking about

You should've looked back at them with an incredulous look and asked them in a dumbfounded manner "You're a fish department and you haven't heard of a sponge filter????" lol

 

[cplawrence]

btw... I forgot it it was a Petco or Petsmart.... but years ago, the staff of one of my LFS used to "not recommend" Mollies cause they said they "carry ICH"... so 2 things came to mind:
1. I've never read that anywhere in either fish books nor online so I highly doubted this.
2. If you're talking your customers "out" of buying mollies, then why they heck are you stocking and selling 'em?

and they weren't just saying "their particular" mollies, but mollies in general. Has anyone ever heard of this?

I think the issue is that since mollies really do require salt to be healthy, but are not sold as such, they tend to be very susceptible to ich. Someone with more experience may be able to answer this with more authority though.

 

[TomK2]

and they weren't just saying "their particular" mollies, but mollies in general. Has anyone ever heard of this?

there is a general perception that the mollies are somewhat more susceptible to Ich than other fish. This may be simply because the Black ones will always be the first ones you will notice it on, making it seem that they are the ones that started it all. But mollies aren't carriers of Ich, they get it the same way other fish do.