My take on store bought feeders + predatory fish at LFS: A symbiotic relationship...

[justonemoretank]

LOL snyder if they were, there wouldn't be so many homeless cats or dogs, or people backyard-breeding pitbulls (aren't there enough already?)... don't get me started, please. Plenty of people ask, "Can I keep an arowana in a 125 gallon tank?" that would never ask, "Can I keep my aunt in my bathroom?" Well, sure, I guess you could, but how would that work out for your aunt?

 

[Retuks]

wow a 1k indoor pond??? was that cheaper than a 1k tank?

 

[snyder810]

haha a great way to put it.... this is why i love reading ppl's sigs, haha only a true mfk'er uses a 110 for a community tank...the rest of the world think's man, i could put anything in that it's huge.

 

[justonemoretank]

You know, I'm not sure it was cheaper than a tank (now). Of course, it's a little too late. However, I know it's more sturdy than a tank (made of cinder blocks, with rebar actually sunken into the concrete slab underneath our house) and I know it's a shape I probably couldn't have found pre-made in a tank (11x9x3.5). So I'm happy with it. I already mentioned this in another post, but I can't get over it: My husband said, "NO MORE TANKS!" I'm flabbergasted. I feel like I should write a country song.

 

[justonemoretank]

In fact, maybe I should make a whole thread about sad spouses who have heard the words, "NO MORE TANKS!" Wait-- that's probably all of MFK.

 

[coeus]

mom okd my plan to buy a 350 for the basement as long as it was my last tank... so im buying her a beta tank for her birth day... its her tank right?

 

[myles]

I work in a lfs, and belive me most of the people dont ask me antything they jsut tell me what they want, and its hard to ask people questiosn when u have soo menay people comming in through the day. most of the time i jsut get "do u have feeders?'" and i say yes because lots of people keep them as pets too and i fina large majority dont care it makes me sick selling thigns you kno that wont work out but im jsut a fish guy im not able to turn down sales if the custermers want soemthing, my boss would kick my ass. all i cna do is tell them whats what and advise against it but belive me you guys, unless ur in out position u really have no idea abotu the mojority of custemers we see. and its very sad I never recomend feeders as a food source and if so to qurantine them or breed them ursefl but it amazes me how rare it is to fidn soemoen who will acualy do it. I dotn B.S. peope, around becuase i make my money with the dedicated custemers. I kno most lfs have fools hired, but were not ALL bad. it sure frusterates me how emnay ignorant fish keepeers there are and u cant tteach them anything haha it blowz my mind.

 

[justonemoretank]

If you give the right advice, and stick to it, you'd never sell anything. If a customer comes in and you tell them that they can't put goldfish in a bowl, they'll just go to another LFS and buy the goldfish and the bowl. It's a horrible situation, but the LFS has to make money, otherwise, there wouldn't be any LFS's. The customer is going to do what he or she wants, no matter what advice you try to give. You can't ask everyone who comes in to buy feeders, "Are you QT'ing them?" And then what if they're not? You kick them out of the store? It's sad, but there's no way around the situation.

 

[snyder810]

i agree completely, it's easy for knowledgable hobbiests to trash lfs and their staff, especially if they've never worked at a store. but working at a store really changes one's views a lot because it gives you an understanding of what employees have to go through daily.

and about educating and asking customers questions it's a double edged sword because half of knowledeable people buying get irritated by the "how big is your tank, what do you have in it, etc" so it's really a can't win with everyone situation.

 

[Tongue33]

Yes, a symbiotic relationship, but NOT FOR YOU AND YOUR FISH.

It is a symbiotic relationship between your fish's death, and the money from LFS feeders and the LFS itself.

Though not all LFS consciously sell the deadly combo on purpose (mostly cause they are merely following other LFS examples), i do see a cunning design for profit.

They sell pacu and oscars, usually without any info other than "they are aggressive". They don't tell you to quarantine feeders, rather they silently want you to just feed them to your fish straight off the bat.

they take the chance that most people will put these fish in smaller tanks, and/or keep poisoning their fish with feeders from LFS. all the while raking in money. Fish make big diarrhea = more money when amature fish keepers replace filters as they stop off to buy even more feeders to poison their fish with. the fish will die alot quicker (if not from an undersized tank), and more pacus and oscars will be purchased with the amature fish keeper ignorantly thinking "wow, i had that pacu for a good 3 years... fish must not live very long"

the reason i have them in the 30 breeder is because my step dad has catfish in the main tank (500g cubical) that will happily take the oscars life at its current size. don't worry about my fish, their fine. i don't consider his tank as my stock since they're his fish.

and his tank is just my last resort if i can't get myself a bigger tank by the time it outgrows this one. i want a tank of my own and don't want to go to his house to look at my fish all the time. they're my fish after all.

justonemoretank, i hope you read all of my post. i said they're my fish because i knew that and i do have a sound plan for them already. im neither ignorant nor irresponsible and my fish will live to their biggest sizes and maximum lifespan that fate intended them to. just wanna imply that.

my main focus for this post was supposed to be the deadly strategy LFS set up for like you said; the uneducated and the careless.

I think maybe you should re read your posts.. And see the Huge conflicts; in YOU, using the words Responsible buying... And Ignorance..


I mean that in the kindest of ways to possibly concieve it