Sick Of It!

[Amavi]

I am totally sick of going to fish shops ready to spend money and them giving me duff advice. I recently re-homed all my live bearers and just kept my bottom feeders and started again. My tank got a huge clean out and the levels well all correct and I was really excited of adding new additions to the tank.
I went to my LFS and explained that I was there to make sure I put the right fish in my tank this time, get the numbers right and the species right to fit the size of the tank. I was made up and took the ones we discussed home to then find out that no they were not right. Frustrating and annoyed I have managed to figure it all out with help from an old work colleague and I now feel happy.

Anyone else experienced this? I am all for putting money into local shops because in this climate the shops need it but it almost ruined my fishy experience , I don't want to get to the point where I am miserable with my tank and having continuous problems with it. Least I sorted it and know how to handle it now.

Rant over

 

[Staxx]

i find its the employees and not the actual shop. i found out in my local pets at home that most of the staff dont even own a fish tank! then another local shop i found out one of the employees owned 3 tanks but STILL gave me wrong advice(i was testing him. i shouldnt have really)

its down the the person in most cases.

 

[CausticKat]

Honestly, I work at a pet store and I hate it when people test me. I have a tank and I answer all their questions as accuretly as possible. When I don't know I say so. So I feel it is a tiny bit rude when customers ask me a question they think I don't have the answer to on purpose. I had one lady ask me to get a man to answer her question. He gave her the same answer as I did! Sorry it just happens a lot because I am younger and I sometimes come off flaky.

But I do understand your frustration, Amavi. I often tell my co-workers without a tank to ask me if they are confused about something. Sometimes I stop them mid sale if I think what they recommended is harmful to the fish. So I think it is just a store to store experience.

 

[Gilli]

Best not to rely on the shop but do your own research on the net before you buy.

 

[RossC]

Great advise from Gilli, always do your own research before you go to the shop. Unfortunately even the most experienced staff at LFS don't always give the best advice. It's easy and quick enough to quickly Google the species name or even ask about it on here.
I've been in exactly the same position as you, I went into a LFS and was sold a dwarf and a three spot gourami to go into a 95 litre community. The dwarf was fine, but only until I took back the three-spot as I later found out it would get way to big and was bullying the other fish, especially the dwarf gourami. When I took it back I asked the staff again and she still thought it would have been fine to keep. This is whats called learning the hard way LOL
Research...research...research...then buy!
Good luck

 

[Staxx]

normally i just google the fish name or product name on my phone in the store! get some funny looks when your standing there reading a phone infront of a tank but its probs the best thing to do!

 

[Bugdozer]

Why is it that people who have to work with and keep fish professionally (and therefore rely on their stock being in good condition) seem to be so frequently clueless? Simply by the law of averages you'd expect LFS staff to have a better understanding of fishkeeping than the layman. For example, say I got a job in a pet store (I don't, I actually work in a hospital!) If that pet store stocked fish, and parrots, and rabbits, I'd go do my homework about looking after fish, parrots and rabbits simply to be able to do my job well, because at some point you ARE going to get a customer asking advice on housing/feeding/looking after the pets and I'd like to be able to give them sensible advice. Maybe I have more professional pride than most people though.
The customer is buying the animal anyway, so there is no advantage in giving out duff information. If their fish die, they are quite likely to think "hmmm, that shop sells fish that die easily" and go elsewhere. Sure, I can forgive them for not knowing every characteristic of every species - it would be unreasonable to grill them on "what's the optimum water temperature for a rosy barb?" but basic stuff about the sizes they grow to, what likes to live in a shoal or singly etc should be par for the course.

 

[drobbyb]

I can't speak for stores across the pond, but for stores here in my area of the US, they pay the employees almost nothing. So this attracts mostly people who really don't know much to begin with. The store trains them for about 2 hours from a manual and puts up stickers on the tanks on what is compatible. The employees go off of this and what is on the label of products. Gone are the days of real for the hobby shops with knowledgeable staff (at least in my area.)

 

[Easy]

The answer is simple.... How much does a pet store pay a floor associate? Answer is next to nothing , therefore nearly everyone you talk to is going to be incompetent or probably more likey ,just don't give a flying you know what. This will never change. This is what makes the Internet so incredible. Knowledge at your fingertip.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

When I started out I assumed that pet shops knew the basics about fish keeping... lead me to two months of heartbreak... then I found various forums and the help made an ENORMOUS difference and I now keep fish with no major mishaps.

I do go into only one pet shop from time to time as the fish I have previously bought have all been in fabulous condition... and it surprises me all the incorrect information they give me WITHOUT me asking for it. But, am also impressed by the one girl there that is spot on with what she says.

 

[Gilli]

I can understand shop assistants not knowing about every fish as there are so many, but they should know the basics of fish keeping such as cycling water quality etc to keep them alive!!.

 

[Amavi]

I've decided to go privately to get my fish and supplies, which is through an old work colleague who is brilliant and has given me perfect advice for the issues I have had since getting my new fishes. You know I didn't even think to use my phone to look up the information on the fish and I have an iPhone! Lesson learnt to be honest.

 

[FishBlast]

The problem with the internet is that you need to KNOW what you must be looking for beforehand.
Simply searching "Betta fish care" might yield info on compatibility issues and feeding, but will they say that you need to cycle its tank? Will it say that there are diseases such as fin rot or dropsy?

Had I not joined this forum, I would have never known about those diseases or even cycling anyway (and I've been keeping fish for 17 years but without a filter until I found this forum, so I was in the bliss of ignorance till I decided to come here asking for a stupid question that shouldn't even have been my main concern at that time, but instead should have asked about the space required for the fish and about filtration needed and such).

 

[Zante]

I must say I consider myself VERY lucky to have a LFS shop I trust.
I have been given good advice and very good stock.

After buying from them from a while I do rely on the regular staff there and I do trust them.
I do wish this didn't have to be the exception...

 

[[email protected]]

normally i just google the fish name or product name on my phone in the store! get some funny looks when your standing there reading a phone infront of a tank but its probs the best thing to do!

this is what im going to be doing in the future if i see something i havent seen b4 and like... even if the sales person has a tank they cant fit in all fish and will probs only know for sure about the fish they keep... u can expect them to know everything... what i would like to see in theses stores is along with the name of the fish a better idea of what size tank they will need... not hard is it heres what i mean

CLOWN LOACH 75 to 120 gallon (283 to 454 litre) aquarium should be the minimum size used.

i got those figures from wiki so easy to get.... and they could have green labels for comunity fish orange for mediumly aggressive and red for very aggressive so the stores arnt helping us enough in the first place... none of theses sugestions would be hard to put in place... they are just letting the staff get shot at which is unfair...