Oh The Shame

[Cossie1111]

Ah fish shops...

I remember when I went to my lfs to buy two bronze corys..

I was standing in front of the tank that said "assorted corydoras" waiting for service, when the attendant asked me I asked for two bronze corys, he then said "which ones are those?" I had to tell him.

Anyway, on topic, thats a bronze cory.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I made similar mistakes the first time I let an employee handle our fate with fish. I ended up with the wrong gender ratios and had some really stressed out female platys. I took responsibility as quickly as you did lurch1000, but all the blame is not yours!!! Fish are living beings as much as dogs or cats, etc. and the stores should be more responsible. I have been told so many crazy things so far by LFS employees that I have quit asking altogether. Just lucky you didn't take home a Bala Shark like we almost did. We were actually told they LIKE small tanks. Don't be beaten up and hope you sort it out and love your aquarium!!!

I think everyone was a touch hard on you about PAH. Maybe they have stock.

 

[Malawi MaD]

How long has the tank been running for?

 

[soybean]

I can't fault one of my local pahs. There you go, there's some praise.

I didn't mean to start a big debate here, I just failed to see why they were so to blame. You asked for two corys, you got two corys. Without checking yourself before and after, you didnt know what you were buying. Maybe if you'd asked for a male hamster and got a female gerbil, I can see the problem there.

Anyway, get some more, bronzes are more fun than pandas imo

 

[lurch1000]

Tthe tank has been stocked for two weeks now, and all seems to be happy now. Ammonia is under control by twice daily monitoring and water changes where needed.

I've contacted PAH to see what they have to say about the situation. I'm sure that there are some stores and employees that are superb, but wasn't the case on the day I went!!

Anyway, let's hope that people in my situation read this and take away the lesson I've had to learn the unfortunate way - that is to research better than I did, and not to just take the information from ANY shop at face value.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Ime mis-labelling is common even in much better shops than PAH. As for PAH very few stores have staff that are actually experts in aquatics.

From an aquarist pov, yes it is your fault for not researching etc etc. But from a Trades Description pov, if they have overcharged you for a product which is not what it was said to be, then they need to be pulled up on it. A jeweller who sells me stainless steel as silver is not exempt from blame because I ought to know the difference.

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

Just in defence of the poor guy: I frequently walk into any of the 4 LFS's in my area and find they have mislabelled the fish in the tanks. Just yesterday, I walked into the one near me and saw they had White Cloud Minnows. They were in the Tetra tank. All the tetra's were labelled on the glass of the tank along with their prices - $3.95 ea. I asked how much the WCMs were. He pointed to the tetra prices and explained that they are Tetras. I explained they're not tetras, originate from China and need cooler water than Tetras. I asked the price of them because I knew what they were and could not see the corresponding label and price. He insisted they are tetras and so are priced @ $3.95 ea. I bought all five because a brief inspection indicated they were 3 males and 2 females and I felt sorry for them. What if I hadn't already known what they were?
Today I visited another LFS (some 40 min drive away and an epic trek in itself with 2 kids and a bus timetable ) which supplies marine fish/corals as well. I wanted some more female WCMs and was delighted to see some in the tank (he charged me $4.20 ea until I reminded him they were actually priced $2.40 ea). I asked the guy (who knows me quite well) to catch me 3 females.
He knows how to sex them, yes?
No, he says. They're not easy to sex.
Actually, I tell him, its no harder than sexing danios and you use the same method.
Oh , he says.
I catch the fish I want - because he said he'd rather I get the ones I think are female (and I was correct in sexing them because my boys began displaying as soon as they saw them). This shop also regularly misnames, mislabels and completely fails to identify its marine species. Today I filmed a marine fish that I have never, in a lifetime of intense interest in all life forms, ever seen. And I have a photographic memory. The LFS labelled it "Excelsior". That was it. No added identifier like "damsel" or "goby" or "fish", even. Just "Excelsior". Of course googling the name brought up nothing useful. I've uploaded a vid in another thread in case someone can ID it. You would think, wouldn't you, that if someone has bought stock to sell for profit, they would make it their business to know something about its origin, name, habits - feeding, even, just so they can keep it alive. Nup. Apparently not. I mean, if you, an expert on fish care, went into a mechanic's shop, you have to trust he knows what he's on about when you ask for tyres that will grip well in snow. You don't shoot people down for trusting what the mechanic says, do you? Or the hairdresser who insists that this product will be best for your hair. Or the grocer who says "trust me, these peaches are superb!!". You only find out later and for most people with no experience in fish or any pets, their first point of reference is the place they go to buy the goods/pets.
My point is, stop being so bloody harsh on people who come on here looking for assistance, support and maybe friendship. They have already learnt the hard way that you simply cannot trust what Joe Blow at Pets n Peeps tells you (sorry if someone has a shop called that, it was just what I came up with off the top of my head). They now know they need to research - thats why they came here. Rapping their knuckles over something they already know and are embarressed about, isn't helpful, it just makes some of us sound snotty and clique-ish.

 

[soybean]

I don't know how that was in defence of someone who didn't know what they were buying. It's an example of doing your research and knowing your stuff yourself because you can't rely on every shop - which was precisely my point all along.

 

[Greg_DS]

P@H are fine if you know what your looking for, the quality of the fish and condition of the tanks is decent, just don't ask for advice lol

 

[Fintastic!]

How are the bronzes coming along Lurch? Are you going to switch them for pandas or are you happy enough with them?
I must say, I love corys. They're oblivious to everything that goes on in the tank except feeding times!

 

[CezzaXV]

Just to throw my op[sub]inion in there with the debate - mechanics have to be qualified to do their job. There is no qualification you need to sell fish. You would hope that the seller would at least know a bit, but that isn't necessarily always the case. Imagine one of us got in charge of a fish shop. Although most of us have above average knowledge, none of us are experts in every area of fishkeeping.[/sub]
[sub]
[/sub]
[sub]I'm not defending Pets at Home as they should know what they're selling, but it seems the point of this thread was to tell us all how awful P@H are. W[/sub]e all already know that.

 

[lurch1000]

Fintastic - I really like these bronze Cory - as I mentioned earlier they have quite a character, and I won't swap them now. You're right - they're not bothered about anyting else in the tank, they barged past a Tetra while on the way to do something else once - funny ol' things!!

I'd love a bigger tank to rehouse them, and get plenty more, but not going to happen just yet...


Cezza - You think that guy on your car is a fully qualified mechanic? Not always! Often apprenticed are left to do work and some of it is shocking!! To keep the balanced view we've now established in this thread, some apprentices are superb, and some better than their mentors!!

The moral of this thread so far then is buyer beware, buyer be aware, and not all experiences at PAH are good, not all are bad, and at least one person on here can assure us that at least one store has an excellent member of staff and you can buy there with confidence!

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

I don't know how that was in defence of someone who didn't know what they were buying. It's an example of doing your research and knowing your stuff yourself because you can't rely on every shop - which was precisely my point all along.

You are exactly right. And MY point was simply that people new to the aquarium trade dont realise they HAVE to research until AFTER their unfortunate experience. They come here AFTER they discover their LFS is less than knowledgeable and have already concluded they need to research - hence joining an aquarium forum: to learn. Beating someone up about something they already know now isnt helpful. I wasnt specifically having a go at particular people in this thread, either. I have simply noticed, as a fairly new member and having read many many threads on this site, that some members can be pretty harsh toward newbies who are asking what are, to the old-hands, dumb questions.

 

[FishFanatic04]

It's also not as simple as just researching. You forget that all of your knowledge was learned. I DID research. I read 4 freshwater books {like novels}. I knew exactly what fish we wanted and the names of the different breeds. I knew within $3 how much everything would cost. Then we got to the store, got overwhelmed anyway and listen to the employee who we assumed knew about fish! You can't learn everything about fishkeeping in a few days of research. Often the best lessons are learned through mistakes...as sad as that is for the poor fish we start out with.

 

[iffles]

My family have always kept fish, so ive grown up with them. But we used to keep fish without REALLY knowing about them - the lfs employee said that a 20L plastic tank would be sufficient for 2 goldfish! and at the time, we totally believed them because we'd had no experience before and no other information to suggest otherwise - the shop assistant said that they had enough room to swim in the tank and that made the tank sufficient for them! I cant believe that I believed them then
And we didnt realise how much info there was to know.
And when several years later, i began to venture into the world of tropical fishkeeping because a friend had an unwanted tank with an inbuilt heater, the 60L hexagonal tank came with questionable undergravel filtration (which i now know was completely insufficient), and i accepted that because i didnt know what else to use I didnt use any ferts or special lighting and half of the plants werent even aquatic because id been missold them.
And only a few years ago when i really got stuck into fishkeeping that i did research into how to optimally maintain tanks, and what species are best, etc. i borrowed every one of the local library's 10 or so tropical fishkeeping books and read them all cover to cover in a week. And i still didnt know enough of the whole new world of aquatic technology, techniques and experience, etc. so i joined tff, and slowly began correcting my mistakes (while feeling awful about how id done things in the past! ).
This just shows the learning curve of many fish enthusiasts - I didnt KNOW i was going wrong, or that there were better ways. And then one day i uncovered all this information, and from there i quickly improved and learned. And im still learning every day.