If anybody wants a decent lfs in the uk where you can trust the staff try us at fish inc, follow either links for info + stocklists etc... its where i work
www.fishinc.co.uk
www.cichlidmania.net
www.fishinc.co.uk
www.cichlidmania.net
Favorite LFS "CUSTOMER" STORIES ...
- Thread starter Miles
- Start date
Well, I have a pretty good new one today. Right as I was getting ready to leave work today, I was bagging up some crickets and tetras for myself and a customer who was being helped by someone else just said he had one question for me: did we ever carry "snake eaters." I thought for a minute about what fish he could have possibly made up that name for. He said that he took my confusion as a "no." Then it clicked-snakeheads? So I asked him it he could mean snakeheads. He said that he had never heard of them and had only heard them called "snake eaters." He then described them as fast, growing to 4' long, and "one of the most deadliest fish." By the end of his description, I knew he meant snakeheads (and also that he watches too many sci-fi channel movies on them). I told him that I thought what he was referring to were snakeheads, but that they've been banned in the US for several years. He said, "yeah, that's them...I heard about that" etc. and I was left there wondering why this guy would even ask if we had fish that he knew full well were illegal for us to carry...
I remember being a noob.
I actually tried to do research. As much as a 9-year-old could do. Only problem, I really liked red tailed sharks, and had a 10 gallon. And my only fish book was REALLY old.
So I comprised a list of the following for my 10 gallon:
2 neon tetras.
2 zebra danios.
2 otos
1 pleco
1 red-tail shark
2 clown loaches.
I remember being conserned about the red-tailed shark, I even had my parents drive me to petsmart to ask an employee. (My book also labeled fish store employees as expert fishkeepers, which I'm sure there were at one point.) I dunno what I was thinking, didn't have the slightest concern about the clown loaches.
THE GAL AT PETSMART SAID THEY WOULD BE FINE, GREAT TOGETHER!!!!!
BTW was stopped by a vetran fishkeeper, don't have the book anymore.
That could of been ugly. And unfortunately, I probably would have gone crying back to get replacements.
Sometimes I wonder: do the dumb retailers actually know what it going on, and are simply selling inappropriate fish so that people will come back to buy more, or are they just dumb.
I actually tried to do research. As much as a 9-year-old could do. Only problem, I really liked red tailed sharks, and had a 10 gallon. And my only fish book was REALLY old.
So I comprised a list of the following for my 10 gallon:
2 neon tetras.
2 zebra danios.
2 otos
1 pleco
1 red-tail shark
2 clown loaches.
I remember being conserned about the red-tailed shark, I even had my parents drive me to petsmart to ask an employee. (My book also labeled fish store employees as expert fishkeepers, which I'm sure there were at one point.) I dunno what I was thinking, didn't have the slightest concern about the clown loaches.
THE GAL AT PETSMART SAID THEY WOULD BE FINE, GREAT TOGETHER!!!!!
BTW was stopped by a vetran fishkeeper, don't have the book anymore.
That could of been ugly. And unfortunately, I probably would have gone crying back to get replacements.
Sometimes I wonder: do the dumb retailers actually know what it going on, and are simply selling inappropriate fish so that people will come back to buy more, or are they just dumb.
its probably a huge dose of prime or some thing similar that detoxifies ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates.. as a kid i used to use it to keep a bunch of goldies in a 10 gallon when there 55 broke.. id still feel bad for keeping them in that for 7 years tho.. mine got moved into a 90 gallon horse trough after the 10gdragonfish;2983218; said:
btw i think all these stories have turned me off from applying at any fish store ever.
zacjeff;3170118; said:
usualy both, in my experiences a lot of employees do know some of their stuff....or enough to know better on most things....BUT still sell because well in easiest terms money talks.
that and unless you've worked in a store you have no idea how tiring it gets doing the right thing when explaining to the 9th customer/customer's kids in a row why they can't/shouldn't put ____ fish in with ___ fish even though it worked for their relative/friend in a 10gal.
and yes that happens daily and sometimes it just isn't worth the argument because the customer always believes they're right (usually it's easy to pick these types out).
