A question of ethics

Ok I have a question of ethics for my fellow 3reefers. One of the local pet shops have just started to carry saltwater. I strongly advised to the owner to not do that. While I would love to have a a local source for supplies, however I feel that this is something that shouldn't just be jumped into by a supplier. I recently went in to visit him to see how everything was running and he had a set of corals up for sale. He had it labeled as Tree/Stick Polyps - Acrozoanthus species, However They were looking like aptasia and not like all of the other pictures that I have seen of stick polyps. Now I asked him where he got them from and he said that he got them from some of his suppliers but wouldn't tell me where. I also think that they are aptasia because of his pricing. 6.00 for a grouping of them, and no they were not on sticks. more like on finger type live rock. So my question is should I take him the information I have on the hobby? Or should I just let him flop in his salt water effort? Thanks in advance.

 

Oh that's a good one. You know you're in a rock and a hard place. If you go to them they may be offended at your help, they may see it as being high handed or then if you don't help, you have to live with knowing people may be buying bad livestock or the wrong kind. I would think if I owned a store I would do the most research I could on anything I carry. You could always do it discreetly. You could make copies of litrature and info on the hobby and mail it to them. This way the have the info but you don't have to go to them directly.

 

What I forgot to add to that Nemo is the fact that I am friends with the guy and the main reason he got into salt is because he has seen the 24+ tanks that I have helped people(with money) set up and he thought that he can assist in that way.

 

I say help the guy out. If he's a good/ethical businessman, he'll take your advice willingly. If he doesn't care, he'll let you know then I say let him flop.

 

Offer to help out and leave it up to him. I had the same situation here where a local petland store wanted to start carrying SW. I offered my advice and one person there welcomed it and another did not so I backed off. I was there recently and they had several fish with ich in with their 125g live rock tank.
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink!

 

It sounds like the LFS didnt know what it was, and ordered it cause it was cheap hence the reason he is selling it for $6. I would make a print out of what it is EXACTLY with info and take it to him.

Like raven said, you can lead a horse to water, but ya cant them drink.

If the store isn't going to do anything about the care of their stock, report them to the humane society. I had to do it to a death co (petco) here. I mentioned to the one of the employees about some seriously ich infested fish, and they told the manager, and the manager wouldnt do anything about it. The employee pleaded with the manager, and still nothing. There is a lot of LFS's out there that are in it to make a buck, and thats it. They buy in bulk so if they lose a few to error, or well, its a tax write off to them.

 

Oh now that I know you know the person my answer is different. I would advise the person on anything you can help them with. I would hope that someone I know would come forth and help me. Do unto others as you would like done to you. If the person doesn't want your help, at least you offered and tried.

 

^^I'm with all of them. Unfortunately he got into the hobby/sale too quickly, but fortunately it isn't too late to educate

Now go out and be the best d@mn helper you can be

 

Ok, so an update, I took him some of my lit. and he was open to accepting it. The funny thing was that when I walked in he said he needed to talk to me because he had an issue. His issue was that he had ordered in some peppermint shrimp and had placed them in that tank the night before I came in. He was concerned that he had an issue because the shrimp attacked his "corals" I showed him the stuff that I brought in and he laughed. Now I am working some with him to try tohelp him set the stuff up right. I plan on getting him hooked on 3reef as well. So thanks for the advice.

 

You never know you could be hired as an advisor or get some very good discounts. 8)