the_elvish_misfit
Aquarium Advice Activist
I went to my LFS yesterday to pick up some hardware for my 55g, the same one I've been going to for 17 years. The owner noticed the upgrade and asked what I had in the new tank. I told him that there wasn't anything in it yet because I wanted to follow the directions and cycle it properly, so there wouldn't be anything in it for about a month. Well that put him into a long rant about how I don't know anything about fish and if he had to wait a month to put fish in his store he'd be out of the job. Along with several 'Do my fish die on you? Have they ever not lasted years?' mixed in. He also said I wasted my money buying water and a fancy gravel cleaner. He said he only cleans his tanks once a year and just throws in this chemical that balances out the water (I didn't think that was very fair to the fish... something like keeping a person in their own waste and just spraying lysol around to help with the smell and some of the germs). He also said to stop listening to the internet as it's a highway of lies and to do it his way unless I thought I knew fish better than the guy who's been selling them for longer than I've been alive.
I mean in his defense he's never sold me something just for the money, all of his fish ARE basically indestructible and his tanks are always spotless. Even large scale pet stores tanks are somewhat dirty with a few dead fish here and there. He did a strip and a vial test and all the readings were perfect.
But like the tank cycling thing seems to be recycled the most when someone asks how to start a new tank. I was in the middle of it with my 55g but the chemicals I put in it yesterday make me worried. I don't want my fish to die obviously but now my tanks kind of half of the advice from here and half from him and is probably a wet pile of poison.
What should I do from here?
I mean in his defense he's never sold me something just for the money, all of his fish ARE basically indestructible and his tanks are always spotless. Even large scale pet stores tanks are somewhat dirty with a few dead fish here and there. He did a strip and a vial test and all the readings were perfect.
But like the tank cycling thing seems to be recycled the most when someone asks how to start a new tank. I was in the middle of it with my 55g but the chemicals I put in it yesterday make me worried. I don't want my fish to die obviously but now my tanks kind of half of the advice from here and half from him and is probably a wet pile of poison.
What should I do from here?