Ignorant People Buying Fish

[savvy]

When I'm at petco or Walmart, I generally wander through the fish section just to admire.

Yesterday, there was a lady at Wally world with her kids. She was purchasing a 1.5 gallon tank and her kids were dying to get some goldfish. They were asking her for 3 and since she appeared to be considering their request, I mentioned that goldfish wouldn't work so well in that tank. She said "I know, I'm only going to get them one, if we get goldfish." I suggested that even one would probably get too big for that tank. At that point she made some noncommital sounds and I figured she was going to ignore me. She then started looking at the smaller fish and decided they should get 2 glofish. I couldn't help myself...I mentioned they were schooling fish and she should get 5 minimum. She made a few more "uh huh" sounds and did not converse with me after that. The fish section worker decided to do his job at that point, and attempted to tell her the same thing. Advice falling on deaf ears...she ended up buying a goldfish (because it was cheaper), which who should have been going into a 10 gallon minimum.

Ever since I started figuring out how to take proper care of fish, I've been noticing tons of similar instances and these people refuse to listen to the workers who try to convince them not to buy inappropriate fish or to other aquarium owners who try to make suggestions.

Although I'm still fairly new at fishkeeping, I try to take advice from people with more experience...

 

[scotty]

although i agree with you,until you find a website like this one we all can make mistakes when buying fish when we first start out.

 

[Jman14698]

It is even worse when the sales people are ignorant as well as the person buying the fish. I over heard a conversation between a lady at my lfs and the sales person about getting oscars for her 55 gallon tank. She was asking how many she could get and the sales clerk said that she could have 6 in the talk for at least a year before they got to big. I decided to mention a few things, first of all oscar can be very territorial, even six little ones could have some bad results. then i told her that six oscar will eat tons of food and produce alot of waste that most filters and water changes cannot handle (She looked at me like she didnt know she had to do water changes). And finally i told her that i personally had an oscar that was already 8inch after about 6 month and a fight with camalanus. 6 oscars in a 55 would result in stunted growth and very unheathy fish. She bought the oscars anyways...

 

[Man of fish]

All 6?!!!?!!!!?
I overheard a sales guy at a local petstore tell some guy he could get 2 clown loaches for his gravel filled 15 gallon tank for probably 7-8 years or longer because they grow slow. Then he said corys would go good too. I also chimed in and said, clown loaches really need a 75 gallon tank I'm afraid and should be in groups of 6+ and them as well as corys need either very fine gravel but prefer sand. He went home with 3! Clown loaches and 6-8 Cory cats.

 

[soybean]

Advice falling on deaf ears...she ended up buying a goldfish (because it was cheaper), which who should have been going into a 10 gallon minimum.

Try 30-50 gallons minimum, depending on species.

 

[Skittle13]

Wish you were there when i bought my fish >.< I was told to get three oranda goldfish for my 25 litre tank...
Thankfully i went for a Betta =/ and they still told me i could put him in with various fin nippers and no heater because you see "they live in small muddy puddles..."

He also seemed proud of the fact that there are going to start putting them in what seemed to be betta cups soon at my local pet store.

And what's even better they lost track of how many they had and when i asked the sales assistant she just shrugged. She told me they did a clear out and they must have died..they thought they had six and there was only three (one was not moving..)

 

[Fiwi.x]

I used to work in a store which sold fish, I always did my best to correctly inform people, however people seem to think goldfish are easy to keep, and grow to the size of the tank, also if the goldfish lives more than a couple of years before dying then it lived a long time!!! Goldfish are difficult to keep, they eat alot and poop alot and disturb the gravel and plants alot!! Their growth stunts very easily causing them many problems and probably alot of pain, goldfish can live a hell of a long time!!!! I also used to hate the tiny little tanks we sold for goldfish, customers never understood these were a VERY short term solution to fish keeping and it would work out cheaper to purchase a large tank in the first place than constantly be upgrading! (which most people didn't do!) I also used to get angry with customers who came in because their goldfish had died and they wanted to replace it, without investigating why twit fish had died!!! Many novice fishkeepers are very ignorant and seem to think sales people just make things up so u can't have a certain fish or to spend more money! Admittedly some sales persons do not know what they are talking about but fishkeepers who have been incorrectly keeping fish for years do not help, the sales person is taught something and refuses a fish sale and all u get is ' I've been keeping fish for 20 years blah blah blah'
And going back to trops and cichlids, I'm sick of people not caring about fishy whiskers and i Once overeard a sales person in another shop highly recommending a baby Oscar for a 30l biorb, I love oscars, I left one with my mum in a 600l + tank, he got so spoilt!!! Sorry for the rant, just wish people would listen to advice instead of thinking they know best when they don't always, it upsets me to think of all the fish that have been poorly kept or the novelty had worn off and literally been left to die!!! I heard stories of people getting bored of their fish and flushing them live!!!! :'( so sad.x

 

[XeroTolerance]

I also hate it how people think they know what their talking about. " I have been keeping fish since I was a kid!" I wonder how many they lost.

 

[Fiwi.x]

Yh and I understand people make mistakes but learn from them!! Don't continually repeat them!!! Once a man went absolutely crazy at me because I wouldn't replace a fish he had bought that died, we asked him for a water sample and his ammonia was off the scale!! No idea how the other fish were alive but he was ademant we should replace the fish, there was nothing wrong with his fish at home apparently. He also didn't understand we were required to keep the fish at optimum conditions so they were used to no ammonia in their water at all meaning the fish would have pretty much gone into shock from the difference really.... I did not replace his fish, he left an angry man but hopefully I saved another fishes life!x

 

[XeroTolerance]

Think about the lives you save everyday!

 

[Cazgar]

People tend to have the attitude of "it's only a fish" unfortunately
I'm lucky as my 2 Lfs, even though they are chains seem to have knowledgable staff, & I have heard them on several occasions refuse to sell people unsuitable fish.
I wish they were all as good

 

[Fiwi.x]

I think the shop I worked for gets slated a hell of alot, and yes I'm sure there is people selling fish to unsuitable homes and not informing people of adult size and adult requirements but there are also people who work in the chain who regularly put up with the 'I've kept fish all my life' and 'it's only a fish' people who genuinely care about the fish and research them in spare time (like me) however us goodies regularly get moaned and shouted at by customers and staff ( if we refuse a fish sale and the customer complains ) altho it seems the companies solution to complaints to customers who have had a fish sale refused is gift vouchers not the right answer!!!
I have kept fish since I was a very young child and I am the first to admit I kept them SO poorly as a child! I didn't know any better but that is no excuse really, however I have learnt so much over the years, always been open to advice that I hope when I set up my tank in the new year everything will go smoothly and my fish will lead happy and healthy lives ..... Also this shop I worked for sold mammals aswell, people didn't mind being asked questions about cages etc but when u ask about their tank it's a chore and too much effort! In both cases questions were asked to ensure the animal went to the correct home but unfortunately people think fish are less important and when u asked customers everytime they came in for fish they would get mad and say I did this last time, but ur tank and fish stocking has xhanged

*changed oops, makes me SO mad!
Bet everyone is fed up of me going on haha can't help being passionate I guess.x

I also think novices over feeding massively contributes to high ammonia levels but is unintentional! Some customers coulnt understand y Their fish kept dying, 6 danios being fed a large pinch 3 times a day in a smallish tank .x

 

[mark2109111]

I was at my lfs today and was admiring their planted discus show tank. And someone came up and looked at the price of the discus and said "who is stupid enough to pay 50$ for one fish" at which point i could not help myself and chimed in "i would" i explained to him why these fish were 50$ and he politely listened and then explained that they were not for him. I proceeded to tell him that i have over 200$ worth of fish in my 55 gallon and he just looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. I always find it funny that people underestimate the knowledge of a 15yr old with a passion for fish.

 

[Man of fish]

Lol. Discus aren't for me either. It's really just the price and their requirements that put me off.

 

[XeroTolerance]

Discus look cool but they arent for me.