Newbie Argues With Lfs About Fishless Cycle

[HappyGeorge]

Ok so I am setting up my first tank but been reading up for about 8 months as my project was on hold with a house move in the pipeline.

Now looking to start my cycle and went on the search for Ammonia, tried Boots, Superdrug and 2 small chemists on the Isle of Sheppey, with no luck

I then decided to try the fish shops -

Shop 1) Said he would try and track some down if I had no luck, but did hint towards the usual practise of supplying cheap fish to people a couple of days after buying a new tank.

Shop 2) When I asked for Ammonia the guy here said "Why do you want to put Ammonia in your tank", when I said I was trying to start a fishless cycle I may as well have said I was trying to breed Ammonia Fairies for the look I got. "No no no" he said, "You don't want to put that in, it's poisonous, you mean this" he then showed me bottles of bacterial tank starters. I then mentioned the Nitrogen cycle and got some more blank looks. I'm afraid I wasn't very polite and laughed at him and thanked him for telling me all I needed to know to ensure I never bought anything fish related from him.

On the other hand I did go and buy my filter media and some pipe for my filter from another larger shop earlier in the day and was very impressed, the girl who claimed not to know much about Malawis gave all the right answers, advice which was in line with things I have read on here and even suggested buying sheets of pond filter sponge and cutting to size as a cheaper alternative to the Fluval pads.

Don't know whether it is considered bad form to promote/slate LFS's on here?

 

[toshapetriji]

Many members find ammonia at Homebase and Robert Dyas stores if you get really stuck I have some I could let you have for the price of postage.

Good Luck

 

[sjolliff]

LOL,

I got my Ammonia from Boots £1.75 for a 500ml bottle

white bottle red cap with like a faint blue cross on the front

Not all LFS are bad Rabbut on here works in one, and he is spot on, he is a repected member on here

but some are

 

[boost]

dunno if you have a warehouse clearance shop your way, but they selling jays kleen off for a quid a bottle

 

[arobinson1984]

Which shop does rabbut work in Sjolliff?

I live in Leeds and am always looking for new different shops to visit.

Andy

 

[sjolliff]

Paws for thought on the A64 near the irish centre,
not a bad little shop, im going to get my fish from there coz its clean and tidy and a good choice

 

[arobinson1984]

I think I've been their.

Is that the one where the fish are downstairs?

Andy

 

[sjolliff]

Yeah downstairs and it joins a room with snakes and reptiles

 

[three-fingers]

Shop 2) When I asked for Ammonia the guy here said "Why do you want to put Ammonia in your tank", when I said I was trying to start a fishless cycle I may as well have said I was trying to breed Ammonia Fairies for the look I got. "No no no" he said, "You don't want to put that in, it's poisonous, you mean this" he then showed me bottles of bacterial tank starters. I then mentioned the Nitrogen cycle and got some more blank looks. I'm afraid I wasn't very polite and laughed at him and thanked him for telling me all I needed to know to ensure I never bought anything fish related from him.

Tbh you sound like a very rude narrow minded person.

You could have A ) explained to him that you are using a new method to start off a tank that you found on the internet, and are convinced that the evidence points to bottled bacteria products being inferior, or B ) simply walked away without being a smartass about it.

 

[Curiosity101]

Disagree with you three fingers.

The guy told the OP that ammonia was poisonous...when there are no fish in the tank.

Told the OP that they were wrong without asking more questions. (I've had this happen to me many a time...and I HAVE tried explaining. Just to get laughed at)

Had clearly never heard of fishless cycling.

I don't mind if a fish shop decides they don't want to promote fishless cycling. But if I was selling and caring for fish on a daily basis then I'd make sure I knew what I was talking about.

I do agree they OP didn't have to be a smart about it...but if you're in the business of selling and caring for fish. And you don't know about fishless cycling...it's a poor showing to say the least.

 

[three-fingers]

The OP made no mention of trying to explain whatsoever.

The guy works at an LFS, and probably has a basic understanding of what fish go with wha and about all the products on the shelf. For the wages he's being probably being paid, I wouldn't expect more.

Be realistic, not everyone is interested enough in the hobby to spend hours reading on here, some people work at the LFS for a living. Or maybe he is interested and just doesnt have internet access.

Bottom line, OP was very rude to the poor guy.

 

[HappyGeorge]

The OP made no mention of trying to explain whatsoever.

The guy works at an LFS, and probably has a basic understanding of what fish go with wha and about all the products on the shelf. For the wages he's being probably being paid, I wouldn't expect more.

Be realistic, not everyone is interested enough in the hobby to spend hours reading on here, some people work at the LFS for a living. Or maybe he is interested and just doesnt have internet access.

Bottom line, OP was very rude to the poor guy.

Yeah thanks three-fingers but to be honest wasn't after your judgement mate, don't remember you being there? Already said I was not polite and that being the opposite of rude, you didn't really need to comment unless it was something constructive rather than just flaming.

Guy was the owner of the fish shop and put himself forward as being a specialist, I didn't quote the whole conversation but the guy was treating me like the idiot. Given that fishless cycling has been around for 10 years and is discussed at length in all the books I have bought (some of which he had on his shelves) I would consider his ability to access the internet a fairly mute point, I don't think it is unreasonable for him to have a pretty thorough understanding of the Nitrogen cycle.

Never argue with an idiot they won't understand what you're trying to say and in the end will beat you with years of experience.

Also if you read my post what I was really after was advice on where to get Ammonia and whether or not it was ok to promote LFS's by name, not a personal attack.

Thanks to those people who gave me the answers - did try Boots but to no avail, apparently they don't stock it any longer but will try Homebase this weekend.

I also find it a little disappointing that people on here would consider that someone who owns/works in a shop and is prepared to send what must be thousands of fish per year to a dramatically shortened life full of stress in an uncycled tank is worthy of any kind of respect!

 

[yasinullah]

My lfs didn't seem to know about fishless cycling either, I went to ask for some mature media, he directed me the filter starter products, and said I needed to add some fish to create some "dirt" to get the filter going lol. I left it at that.

anyway boots have ammonia in stock online [URL="http/www.boots.com/en/Boots-Household-ammonia-500ml_923908/"]http/www.boots.com/en/Boots-Household-am...a-500ml_923908/[/URL] I think you get free delivery to a store for collection.

 

[Jonathangerous]

"The guy told the OP that ammonia was poisonous...when there are no fish in the tank."

It is poisonous. To you.

 

[three-fingers]

Yeah thanks three-fingers but to be honest wasn't after your judgement mate, don't remember you being there? Already said I was not polite and that being the opposite of rude, you didn't really need to comment unless it was something constructive rather than just flaming.

If you think that was flaming, lrn2internet .