The Aquarium Fish Store in Livonia Mi (BLAH!!!)

I went to check out a new LFS that just opened in Livonia Mi. They kept posting ads on craigslist for all of their sale items. So I thought, lets have a look then shall we?
I walked in at the same time a family of two sons and mother did. The son asked if he could get another clown for his 20gal tank to accompany his other false perc. The woman hurriedly grabbed a specimen cup and dunked a large clown in there. The boy asked "Is it ok if this one is big? I read online that one has to be smaller because the big ones are girls and they fight" She told him "Oh no! They love having lots of friends, you may actually want to get two more, How about a black one? Or these pretty red ones?" He shook his head no.
She asked him if he wanted to get some Chromis and he just shrugged. She scooped up three and said "There ya go! How about an anomone? Nemos need anemone to be healthy or they might die" He shook his head and told her he thought five fish and an anemone would be too much, besides his tank had just crashed not too long ago and he was trying to build it back up.
She pressed the anemone on him and told him they would all die without it. Luckily the kid didn't have enough money on him. I told him you don't really need one and if he's new, try to learn a bit more and give himself some more time to find what he really wanted. I told him to check out 3reef and scope out the internet to learn as much as possible.
The woman then turned to me and said "Do you need something?" I said not at the moment thank you. She then turned to the boy who was staring at a foot long shark baby with a white film on its back and she pressed on, "You like that one? You can keep him with Nemos too you know. They only eat gold fish" He shook his head and said "I only got 20 gallons". "Oh that's plenty!!! He wont get very big in a small tank! We've got a great deal going on!"
I told the kids mom to get him out of the store and help him do some research and she quickly did so. The woman then come to me and asked if there was something I wanted. I asked if they had any base rock and she said no, only dead live rock....
****GUH****
How much??......$5 per lb.....ok.....
"And?????" She taps her foot. "Do you even have a fish tank" I told her Im starting a 55 gal from my 30 gal. "Let me guesss....FRESH water?" I tell her no, saltwater....
"OH!!! Well then!!! We have some GREAT deals for you!!!! You like SHARKS?!"
"I'm just setting up, so no thank you" I didnt even feel like going over how inappropriate it would be for a shark to be in my small tank.
"You are putting the old water from your little tank into your big one right? You wont have any bacteria if you dont"
"No, Im starting with new water and base rock and seeding with my live rock and aragonite"
"Aragonite? That wont have bacteria...we have some bags of live sand if you want..."
"No thank you...."
"You must be new to this then"
"Been almost two years..."
"Oh....Well....um....So you might want to use the old water because thats where the bacteria is, they dont live in the rocks ya know"
"I'll be fine with what I've got for now."
"What kind of canister filter you got?"
"Oh, I don't. I have a sump"
"A SUMP?! On a 55 GALLON tank??? Thats WAAAAAY tooo much!!! Why would you want a sump??? You don't need one of those until you have a 100 Gallon tank!!! You're gonna kill your stuff!!! You ever have fish before???"
"Ever hear of 3reef.com? Good site...might wanna look it up..."
The door buzzer rings as I leave...

Makes me mad how she pushed that kid to make a sale!!!

 

Kind of like reading a book. LOL None the less though it doesn't sound like she knew a darn thing.

 

: I know, sorry for the long post, I was just soooooo mad!!!
I have never seen such....ARGH! I feel bad for that poor kid tho, I hope all of his fish get on fine.

 

Wow...that is ridiculous. Did this lady own the store or just work there?

 

Unfortunately she was the proud new owner.
Fortunately most of the fish looked healthy with the exception of the baby shark with white film, and a few other fish that were a little thin, pale and sluggish.

 

What's sad is that if someone who doesn't know much about saltwater walks in wanting to get started that person is going to be doomed by all the false information.

 

I know! And the thought of her telling some one else that a 12"+ shark would be happy in a 20 gal tank makes me shudder. I feel bad for all the poor lil critter in there!

 

Sounds like the store here. They recommended that someone put a tang in their 10 gallon to help with algae.

 

its a sad day in detroit. damn.

 

Wow...3reef should start it's own LFS we would have the most knowledgeable staff around.