I NEED ONE OF THOSE CLEANER FISH

[Mystix212]

This was last weeks favorite..


"Will you test all my water, all my fish keep dying.."

(hands me a Petco bag)

pH-4, gH-0, kH-0, Ammonia .5ppm, Nitrite .5ppm, Nitrate 300ppm..

"Petco told me to add chlorine to the water.."



I pondered for a second, and then realize this lady was a complete dolt. I sent her back to the competitors. The loss of business was horrible.

 

[ewurm]

I find it amazing that everything Miles posts is verbatim of what i experience while at work.

Me too. I send 90% of the fish I sell to their deaths.

 

[Miles]

As funny as all of this is...not to mention saddly true...I'm afraid that I have to point out that all of these people LEARNED this crap from someplace...I'm sure that 85% of where they learned it rhyms with 'dart'

Good chance they learned it at a LFS or another pet store..

When I first started keeping fish, I had absorbed and repeated alot of 'fish mythology', and I had acquired all of that from a 'Credible Local Fish Store'..

You will also find alot of corporate pet stores with some knowledgable people.. But most 'fish people' are too damn stuck up or snobby to find out who the fish experts are in a certain store.. They see the evening high school girl who dosn't know jack about fish, and assume the whole store is ran by idiots. They Assume that their intense internet knowledge would dwarf that of any corporate pet store employee, so why even bother making conversation. These are the type of fish snobs that I harass when I have the chance.


"Don't try to help those customers, they do saltwater.. they know more than us."

"Hey man he keeps Oscars, he probably know's more than we do.."

"That guy dosn't need help, obviously he knows what he's doing with that huge carton of Ammo-Carb in his hand."


If only that fish snob would have taken the time they could of found out stuff like.. The guy making fun of you has a 400g tank with rays in it.. or the store manager has a reef tank with halides and corals.. Hrm.

 

[Wolf3101]

Wurm...I've worked in animal rescue for over 30 years (wolf and wolfdog along with largebreed domestics.) And from time to time I feel the same way....

 

[seamus]

Although these people had to learn it somewhere how many change after being told something opposite? Most people are lazy fish keepers and really don't care to put the work in. You tell them thier tank requires alot more work and the other pet store guy tells them everything is fine, they are going with the advice that will be cheaper and easier.

 

[Onion01]

I like mystery snails better than cleaner fish

 

[Eupterus]

I'm guessing this would be why there are so many stupid pet store employees. The good ones get frustrated and leave.

 

[mcox3]

wait... whats a waterchange?

 

[cenecker]

The tank isn't brand new..

My grandpa had it in storage for 3 years before I set it up last week..

I can't get new tank syndrome.. the tank is like 10 years old.

LOfreakinL yeah I really love this one - "yeah the tank is brand new but I used water from my old tank so it's already cycled"

To be fair though a lot of "knowledgable" old-school fish keepers really truly believe that the "water" has to be "matured" for it to be safe for fish. I don't really understand where this mentality that most people who kept fish back in the day have that the "older" water is the better it is for fish, and that you can only "safely" change 10% of your water once a month.

Yeah this thread cracks me up...I've heard ALLLLL this before. My plea to all you chain store employees - be gentle and helpful with these confused customers...many of them aren't idiots or fish abusers they just made the mistake of listening to thier stupid friends or taking the advice of stupid LFS employees. If you explain how thier tank works to them polietely and supportively (don't talk down to people like a fish snob), many of them will realize that you know what you are talking about and be very grateful to you for starting them down the right path. Lets face it most people WANT to have a beautiful successful fish tank...other wise they wouldn't be at your store...they've generally just gotten a lot of bad advice (well, yeah they should have done thier own research but...). So be supportive and helpful, most confused fish keepers respond to it and we can help DISPELL all those persistant myths that drive us all nuts!

 

[cenecker]

of course there are those people who don't want to listen...thats the only thing that really drives me up the freaking wall. Customers who come in and ask my advice...and then stand there are argue with me about it!

"I've had my tank for five years I never had to change water before! I just add some every week...it's crystal clear!"

Seriously...why did you come all the way here to ask me questions if you're not going to believe me? I just don't get it!