Favorite LFS "CUSTOMER" STORIES ...

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So a new Petland "aquarium adventure" opened by my house and i decided to check it out. They had some sweet display tanks and nice quality fish. Then i saw what was the probably sadist thing in my life. 4 8in rtcs crammed what looked like a 29g. I was stunned. Then a employee walks up and says do you want one? and i say "Well seeing as i know the proper care of this fish and it gets to 3ft, i don't have the correct tank sizes to keep. But i guess that doesn't stop you guys. Then i threw in a few words... I was so heart broken. Not a funny story but a lfs story. :(
 
I went into Petsmart today to get the hood for my 50g tank and I was looking at the fish. Major ick problem in the tanks. As I was looking at the fish a man was asking about an oscar. The employee asked him what size tank he had and the man told him a 55g. So the employee told him he could have one oscar in that tank, maybe two. Then he told the man that he couldn't have ANY other fish in a tank with an oscar at all because the oscar would eat everything else in the tank. He said if the man wanted an oscar he could keep it in a 55g with no problem because the fish would only grow to the size of it's tank! I just had to shake my head and walk away. I mean I couldn't very well put the employee down in front of so many customers standing around. And I wanted to tell the man not to purchase a fish there because of the ick problem too. I don't know if I did the right thing by walking away but it was the only thing I could do at the time.
 
Midas Madness;2912179; said:
So a new Petland "aquarium adventure" opened by my house and i decided to check it out. They had some sweet display tanks and nice quality fish. Then i saw what was the probably sadist thing in my life. 4 8in rtcs crammed what looked like a 29g. I was stunned. Then a employee walks up and says do you want one? and i say "Well seeing as i know the proper care of this fish and it gets to 3ft, i don't have the correct tank sizes to keep. But i guess that doesn't stop you guys. Then i threw in a few words... I was so heart broken. Not a funny story but a lfs story. :(
Thats terrible :(
 
Hey guy,

I own a LFS in montclair,ca. im fairly knowledgable on fresh fish, but my manager has forgotten more than i know. anyway, the most asked dumb question is, ''will these barbs and guppies go with that cute oscar?'' Holly smokes. Then we have to explain the whole 2'' oscar growing to 10-12 inches will eat your other fish. THEN THEY BUY IT ANYWAY. Jesus. '' oh, i have a big tank,,its a 20 gallon'' we just shake our head and beg them, but the ''customer is always right''.
 
ok, ill throw my newest one in the ring.

i have a small fish store down the street from me. the owner and i get along very well and we help each other out alot. and if i have nothing better to do, ill go down and help out in the store.

well, a while ago, he needed to go away for a few days so he asked me to watch the store for him when his son wasnt there. so of course i said yes.

the shop sells some small animals as well as fish. stuff like hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, ferrets, etc. on the second afternoon of my stint, a woman comes in to buy the ferret there. she was very nice, polite, and sweet. asked questions about what to feed and how to take care of it. she obviously didnt know much, but wanted to learn. so i felt good about selling her the ferret.

i got everything together, the ferret, food, cage, accessories, toys. the whole nine yards. she asks me if the ferret has to stay in the cage 24 hrs a day. i tell her that my gf has 2 and they are hardly ever in the cage. they spend most of their time meandering through the house. she says thats awesome and she cant wait to play with it. she pays and leaves.

the next morning, she comes in about a 1/2 hour after opening. she is looking pretty upset. so i ask her if the ferret is ok (assuming that that is the reason she is in so early). she asks me if i have seen it. i say no, why would i have? she then tells me that when she let it out to do its business, it never came back in. she has heard that dogs will find their way back home, so she thought maybe it came back to the store. i had no intelligent response.
 
drizzt04;2917614; said:
ok, ill throw my newest one in the ring.

i have a small fish store down the street from me. the owner and i get along very well and we help each other out alot. and if i have nothing better to do, ill go down and help out in the store.

well, a while ago, he needed to go away for a few days so he asked me to watch the store for him when his son wasnt there. so of course i said yes.

the shop sells some small animals as well as fish. stuff like hamsters, gerbils, chinchillas, ferrets, etc. on the second afternoon of my stint, a woman comes in to buy the ferret there. she was very nice, polite, and sweet. asked questions about what to feed and how to take care of it. she obviously didnt know much, but wanted to learn. so i felt good about selling her the ferret.

i got everything together, the ferret, food, cage, accessories, toys. the whole nine yards. she asks me if the ferret has to stay in the cage 24 hrs a day. i tell her that my gf has 2 and they are hardly ever in the cage. they spend most of their time meandering through the house. she says thats awesome and she cant wait to play with it. she pays and leaves.

the next morning, she comes in about a 1/2 hour after opening. she is looking pretty upset. so i ask her if the ferret is ok (assuming that that is the reason she is in so early). she asks me if i have seen it. i say no, why would i have? she then tells me that when she let it out to do its business, it never came back in. she has heard that dogs will find their way back home, so she thought maybe it came back to the store. i had no intelligent response.

You have to feel bad for people like that... They do try, but sometimes common sense just slips past them.

Poor woman, it sounded like she was excited about it too. :(
 
ok i have a couple

i called my local pecto to see if the tire track eel i orderd was in. she told me no, and that there was never a tire track eel ordered because tire track eels dont exist. i went into the store that day and pointed out the tank clearly labled tire track eel


another is that i went in to get some food, and an employee was informing a customer that she could not get a anglefish with her oscar because the anglefish would eat the oscar.

when i first started fishkeeping, i did not know anything about fish. so the employee sold me a blood parrot, 2 oscars, a green terror, a pleco, and a pike cichlid. for a 29. i got home and put them in my tank, and imediatly the pike killed one of the Os. I looked at all those fish and thought this cant be right, thats way to small so i looked it up on the internet and saw how big all those fish get and went in and returned all of them that day.
 
the ferret story is sad she was realy trying not like she saw and went hey i want that and iwill feed it bacon
 
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