Disgusted with lfs

[DMan99]

Today i went to Tong Garden Centre with my family for coffee, family have just come up to where i live, leeds, from devon for christmas so it was something to do. I noticed that they had an impressive aquatic section...

They had marine, tropical and coldwater, probably close to 100 tanks including some very large hexagonal tanks with oscars in.

Whilst browing i saw some archer fish priced at 4.99, cheap i know. Thi was about to be a spontaneous purchase but Tong is a long way from my house so i decided to find out some information from some staff. Now, me not knowing anything about archer fish really would have taken their word for it. I explained my situation with my current tanks and he started telling me some stuff. I told him i had a couple of angels and might introduce them to that tank and he said fine! Blatantly knowing that an archer fish would nip at my angels fins. He also went on to tell me they grow to roughly 9 inches and i am still unaware if this is true. When i said i dont think i have the room he asked me about my other fish and when i told him he said 'well theyre all big fish so one more wont make a difference!' i was astonished and pointed out to him a 9inch fish can make a lot of difference! Needless to say i wont be going back there...

 

[Erised]

I think you made a wise choice there, because ... for one, archer fish are brackish People in fish stores often do surprise me at how little they know. Perhaps things will change one day

 

[WILDER]

So do I, some lfs just don't seem to care about the fish.

 

[Munch]

Ive bought all my fish from tong garden centre as i live in morley it is the closest one to me... I got 2 betta's from them on different dates and within a week they died, i got 3 rubber nosed pleco's aswell i was told that they would only grow to 3-4 inch i now know that isnt true cos they are now 6 inch from nose to tail tip other than that i havent had any problems with them but i have also seen them giving other people wrong advice but i have corrected them a few times aswell... tong garden centre think they know it all.... but in the end the customer is always right sometimes just wrongly informed

 

[DMan99]

Yeah, they had elephantnose fish in stock one at it was about 3 inches long they told me it had been bred in england and was fully grown. Now i know elephantnose can get to 9 inch and are all wild caught! Lol, they do have a great aquatic section if only the staff were more knowledgable.

 

[Fiddlesticks]

Somebody really needs to direct some of these lfs staff to a great forum like this. The problem is that most of the staff dont care to learn. I know in my occupation if I didnt bother to learn anything about the products we sell we would loose alot of business and I probably wouldnt have a job for very long. Maybe all the members of tff need to get jobs at fish stores.hehe. We could invade the fish stores of the world.

 

[plecoperson]

i got 3 rubber nosed pleco's aswell i was told that they would only grow to 3-4 inch i now know that isnt true cos they are now 6 inch from nose to tail tip

doesnt that tell you that you should have done your own research before buying the fish?

 

[DMan99]

Luckily, i do work at an LFS, called Waterscapes, it its Otley. Ive always found myself and our other staff to be knowledgable and helpful so im very proud of where i work! Lets hope others can do the same.

 

[daniodude]

sometime its not that the staff doesn't know(but, sometimes it is), its just that they really want to sell their product. from a buisiness aspect, the problem with that is that they lose a bunch of customers, and they could be killing the fish. If you find out that an employee is giving false information, knowingly tell the manager.

I'm lucky, most of the stores around me know what they are talking about.

DanioDude

 

[Paul_MTS]

I'm proud to say I work in a LFS that has good knowledge, and i like to think I give out good information to customers aswell

The only person you don't want to be served by in our shop is the weekend boy, although my age (17) he is a complete idiot and gives out alot of crap advice, he might be let off after x-mas though, so don't fear!!

 

[FrAnK3333]

my lfs knows what their doing. The head fish expert ahs a bunch of his own aquariums so i know he knows what he is talking about. Im thinking about working there. But always do your research!