Talvari
Aquarium Advice FINatic
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2011
- Messages
- 732
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.
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.
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