Why doesn't every LFS ???

[chesterthehero]

This has always made me wonder. They sell so much chemical crap that "instantly cycles" a tank, I have to wonder why I have never seen one sell ESTABLISHED media? Pot Scrubbies, bio-balls etc... People sell SW live rock and live sand all the time.

If I owned an LFS, I would set up a pond with a large wet/dry sump and sell people cycled media. IMO I would rather pay $20 for media from a disease free/properly cycled tank I can watch them test the levels from than the same $20 for a bottle of "it could work". I have used cycled media from other tanks to set up new tanks quickly and never had a chemical product come close to the same results. I won't touch the chemicals for that very reason...

Have any of you ever seen a freshwater LFS do this?
Would you buy the cycled media if it were an LFS you trusted?

i did not read the whole thread so my guess is this is covered but.. different bioloads would be the first issue... the second i made yellow.. even from the stores i "trust" i still quarantine the heck out of everything..

 

[rnocera]

As a pet store employee, I'm going to say that the pet stores who don't care about your animals and are out to make a buck are one of two things- 1) large chain stores that people go to because they believe they'll get a better deal and because if it comes from a "reputable" chain it must be better/more correct, or 2) not in business long.

The store I work in has the policy that we actually try to NOT sell something to someone if we think it will just die. We actually try to talk people out of things we think they'll kill. We try to not sell bogus products for the same reason. If someone goes into a store and buys an animal that dies, or wastes money on a product then learns about the fact that they wasted the money, they get mad. They won't come back to that store, and will take their business elsewhere. On the other hand, the customer who goes away happy and has animals for a long time comes back. The buy more animals/setups, and they buy supplies for all of their animals there. That is where stores make the real money- selling feeders and supplies. The actual animals themselves aren't very profitable, even with the markup on them. Sure, fish are marked up a lot from their wholesale costs, but if they weren't, they'd actually lose money on them because of the number of fish that die. Ever notice how many pet stores offer guarantees on their fish? I just bought some fish from PetSmart and the employee pointed out the 14 day guarantee on fish. 14 days! That's unbelievable in my eyes. They have to be losing money on that. But, buy your fish there & know that you can go back if you have a problem, and you're more likely to buy your lights, filters (and media), and food there.

Also, every pet store does carry junk and tons of bogus products. Most definitely. Because as was already pointed out- people insist they need it. I've tried to convince people they don't need certain things (specific brands of additives, specific additives, all that jazz) and they say, "Oh, that's OK, I'll go down to Petco tomorrow and get it." They don't believe me when I say it's unnecessary because some idiot at a big chain told them they need it.


And finally- Stress Zyme does seem to work somewhat for me. I clean aquariums in doctors offices, nursing homes & such, and I add Stress Zyme to all of those. I haven't seen the effects first hand, but the lady who did the tanks before me said she saw a definite difference. These are tanks that only get a water change & cleaning once a month, and when we go in once a month we generally do a large water change and bleach most decorations & plastic plants in the tank, and this is hard on the fish. She said when she started using Stress Zyme, people started losing FAR fewer fish. Now we add it to every tank we do maintenance on. Starting to use Stress Zyme was the only change she made in what she was doing as aquarium maintenance. I've never done any experimenting on tanks with or without it, but it apparently made a difference in these tanks. Maybe it was a fluke, or just a coincidence, but it does something to help here. Maybe I'll start using it on a tank at home and let you know what I think first hand.

 

[bubble_box15]

great idea! i could see that being a good way to make some money