When you are as clueless as I am, how can I tell who's telling me good info & who's just saying what they have to to make a sale?
That's why research is so important. The internet makes this very easy to do, so you can read writeups that have been done and also talk to other hobbyists about it beforehand. It's very important to get multiple opinions because if you rely on one person they could be someone who doesn't even own a fish tank for all you know. There are no qualifications needed to give out advice here so it's best to get a general consensus on things for the sake of accuracy.
eco23 said:
As to the other comments, I'll happily change my phrasing to "virtually all", or "pretty much most of them" if it fits your ear better. The fact through my personal experience of both chains and lfs's from VA to NY that i have visited is that the vast majority of their advice is geared towards business decisions and levels of being uneducated.
It's not about fitting my ear, its about being accurate. Just because they tend to have different methodology does not mean we should advise everyone to ignore them. Heck, most LFS owners have decades of experience on most of us including myself, that's something invaluable that is being shrugged off.
Sure, you can find some guy who's owned the store for 20 years who has great knowledge...but that doesn't mean his employees are taught the same, or that his knowledge even extends to the welfare of the fish due to old habits being ingrained in the hobby. I've even talked to employees at both chains and lfs's where they know about...but are not allowed to mention topics like fishless cycles or pwc's during the process.
There is some misinformation out there, that's for sure, but its rampant in forums as much as it is in fish stores. A good business will have knowledgeable employees, thats the bottom line.
Most people do not buy into fishless cycling, so expecting them to talk to people about it and drive away sales would be silly.
Every store whether it's a major chain or a mom 'n pop lfs has one purpose...$. I'm in sales, I have a degree in marketing, and I have a pretty good idea of how sucessful businesses both large and small operate (if they want to be successful), that is repeat customers and add ons are a driving part of every business. A store that sells healthy fish, Prime, test kits and a small section for meds is not a successful business.
Seriously? There are plenty of successful businesses that sell Prime and healthy fish. Since you are in sales you know that having a good product is the backbone of keeping a business going in the long term. It's true that they make money off of add ons, meds, etc, but I'd have to question the ethics of any business that intentionally sells sick fish with the intention of selling more product.
We have a section on the forum to review general merchandisers and lfs's...I've not seen many positive reviews...and I myself wouldn't be able to give one on any of the stores within 50 miles of where I live.
As i said earlier, people tend to post when they are complaining (i.e. venting) more than they do when they are satisfied, so using the forum for that is a moot point.
I completely agree with you that there are a lot of sub-par LFS out there, but there are good ones as well, at least to my standards. I go out of my way to visit LFS when i am traveling, and I have not been to tons, but I have been to many.
Maybe we should do a thread poll and see what everyone's experience is, I'm geniunely curious.
