Irresponsible fish owners

I love my LFS the husband and wife are both marine biologists and they have tons of knowledge. Whats best is when you get to become a regular they tend to remember what you have in your tank and even the history of the problems you made. An if they are feeling that your tank or knowledge isnt ready then they will suggest to hold off on certain things.

 

Great thread. I've noticed this before at Petco and a LFS aswell. I think for selling reef creatures there should be some sort of liability.

The saltwater area at Petco here is just nasty. All the water is clowdy and the fish are scikly looking. Im sure they have no idea wtf they are doing. I see dead fish there all the time. :inquisiti

One of the LFS here is probably the worst fish stores i've ever seen. Everything in the whole store is rusting and dirty and everything is poorly maintained not to mention the stink.:inquisiti

I'll try to get a video of both and post the youtube video here. You guys should try to do the same. I'll try to use the camera phone

 

It is tempting just to go in and ask management if the staff needs training. And then do it myself. I am far from calling myself an expert, but I can say there is very good chance I have a knowledge base that exceeds theirs (Petco employee). A possibility for all of us actually. Even if it just teaching one person and having them pass it on. Usually, there is one dude that manages the fish section and does the purchasing. I don't know what the answer is here. But this is the best solution I can come up with.

 

This reminds me of when I went into my Fave LFS, I was going to buy my first fish!!! a Valentini Puffer, and the guy practically gave me 20 questions... "Do u have such and such clams? This is a Saltwater tank isnt it? Make sure you dont treat disease with copper, acclimatize him like this", etc etc etc. He did assume I was stupid and didnt know what I was doing, but Im glad they dont just bag them up and send them on their way!!!

 

Maybe I should apply for a management position there.. and take over the store with my easily accessed kick-ass saltwater skillz.. that's one store's stock of fish saved! I may actually do this.. has to pay more than selling Oreck Vacuums...

 

I bought a small Coral Beauty Angel from Petco recently. My tank is a little small for it but I will be sizing up soon enough. I figured the fish had a much better chance of survival with me than with most anybody else that would have wandered in there to buy it. It is sad to see how many Damsels bite the dust at a place like that. I wish I could buy them all just to save them.

 

I used to breed Persians {CFA}--I had regional and national winners----I would not sell a kitten to someone without checking them out. This meant they needed to know what went into pet ownership. Unfortunately this doesn't happen with fish too often--I believe that most of the responsibility is with the seller, if they informed the customer there would be less dead fish, and other unwanted pets.

 

I have intervened at one of my lfs a few times to try and give the buyer some information when he/she is being taken advantage of. I no longer go to that fish store because I was so impressed with the owner at the other lfs. One time I was browsing around and I heard the owner telling a couple that he couldn't sell them a sabae anemone because it would die in their tank because it was new. The girl kept arguing that it would live because they had metal halides but the owner wasn't going for it. This is the only lfs I go to now. Some people just don't have any integrity and it really frustrates me. If I see someone being taken advantage of I feel obligated to help them out. I agree with 1sttime that most of the responsibility is with the seller.

 

I agree! i have a 3 -4 month old tank and trusted my lfs and all they have done from the word go is lie! I think its wrong and there should be laws to stop them from selling fish and things to unsutible tank set-ups!
I ended up with a carpet anemone in a 3 month old tank and was told i was being stupid when i took it back! (i only have 4 T-8) Many are only in it for money not the care off the fish!
K

 

Think of it this way- people have children with no prior training! I guess pets are the same way unfortunately. At least to drive a car you have to take some kind of classes. (Sorry, done ranting...)
I do like the idea of "fish school". I wish my LFS did something like that, but that's what the internet is for! I've never been a big forum participator, but 3reef helped me more than once from killing everything in my tank.