To: ThatDarDragon

[dead_slade]

be mean to the people at the local pet store, or at least berate them for being ignorent. having a salt water tank is all about patientence. the store should have told you that putting fish, and that many into a 10 gallon tank on the same day as setting it up is a VERY bad idea. normally a store SHOULD recommend that you have the tank set up with gravel (crushed corals or otherwise) and live rock, about a pound per 2.5 gallons and let it run with the filter for at least two weeks before you add anything. then after that you should start with some damsel fish, they are cheap and fairly hardy fish. for a 10 gallon tw should suffice because they can be territorial. let them have run of the tank for another several weeks. after that you usually want to add a clean up crew consisting of hermit crabs and turbo grazers. and the sit for another while. THEN you can add the fish you want. some of the mentioned fish, though, have no place in a 10 gallon tank, such as the yellow tang. also, when acclimatizing salt water fish, at the store i work at we always spend a lot of time doing it like this: get a bucket and pour the fish and water into it, then every 5 or so min take a syphon and put some tank water into it. do it about 5 or 6 times andtest with hydrometer until srelinity in bucket is the same as the selinity of the tank. then add the fish to the tank. also your ph seemed fairly low so i would suggest getting something, gravel or chemical that will raise the ph to at least 8 i THINK i cant remember exactly but i think a good ph is around 8.3-8.3 or so.

good luck with that :\

p.s. corals and such need higher amounts of light. make sure you have adequite lighting.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

I'm not sure if you were aware of this, but you can send messages to other people in this forum. You can click on the members name and click on "send pm" on the left side.

Also, please abstain fromcomments like that. This is is directed towards "Kill the people at the local pet store". It is ok if you restrict it to pms, but please don't post such messages, even if it is not directed towards anyone on the forum.

 

[dead_slade]

sorry, i changed it, i didnt think that would insult anybody....

 

[Tempestuousfury]

It doesn't, not really. But attempts should be made to live up to our motto: "the friendliest forum around".

 

[dead_slade]

thats just the way it makes me feel, working in a store myself makes me mad that people can sell stuff to people and not inform them of anything. though i will also say it is partly up to the buyer to read up on things before plunging into them. it can save a lot of money and trial and error.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Agreed. I wasted $30 on fish that I stuffed into a 5 gallon. 14 of 17 fish died because the people at Walmart don't know what they are doing.

 

[dead_slade]

and thats why you never shop at wal mart, if you want fish, go to a fish store, they know what they are doing.

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

walmart is good for supplies, but not fish.

and I did scream at the petshop managers. Petco didnt know what they were doing. I literaly screamed at them, and tried to return those fish, but they refused. I even tried to see if they would care for it while I get the tank ready, and they said no.

I went to 4 petshops, and none of them were helpful, cept for a really small dinky one and they helped alot. They said they'd care for the fish if they had a free tank (They had just gotten a shipment in) so I know where to deposit my fish if I need someone to look after them for me.

Soon, I will get a bigger or at least another 10 gall tank and separate them. I have very limited space for a large 100 gall tank, so Im limited to at MOST 50 gall, not even.

 

[chkltcow]

I went to 4 petshops, and none of them were helpful, cept for a really small dinky one and they helped alot. They said they'd care for the fish if they had a free tank (They had just gotten a shipment in) so I know where to deposit my fish if I need someone to look after them for me.

That "dinky" pet store is your best hope. The store I go to is owned and run by one guy.... he's the only employee. It's in a little tiny old strip mall that looks run down on the outside, but is absolutely gorgeous on the outside. Unless I need something on one of the days he's closed, I try to go to him whenever possible. He loves fish and knows what he's doing and will help out however possible. If you can find a shop like that... you're set. It's rare, but sometimes you do find a place that cares more about their customers and education than they do turning a profit. It's nice to sell these fish and stuff, but not at the cost of their lives.

My tank right now has a blue damsel and a three stripe damsel. I told the guy I want to add a clown fish to it eventually, but I was concerned about the 3 stripe being far too aggressive. He said he would take the 3 stripe damsel back, and would even loan me a trap if I needed. I'd hate to see him go because he's a beautiful little fish with great personality..... but he's a mean little devil. I'd be scared to add the clown fish that my wife REALLY REALLY wants to the tank while he's still in it. As territorial as he is, he'd make the clown's life pure hell

 

[Navarre]

I dont see anything wrong with the comments mentioned here. Im sorry but the moto of the friendliest forum around is ok but I certainly do not beleive that we should put aside our passion for the welfare of our fish and allow shops like this to make money out of the unwary. Our most important responsibility on this forum is the welfare of the livestock in our care, be it marines, coral or freshwater. If we place politness over this then somewhere along the lines we have got our priorities wrong.
I didnt see any shop named so i dont see a problem with saying that the shop gave dismal advice and should not be even selling marines IMO.
At no time do i think anyone here has been impolite to Darnthatdragon, i think the members can see the larger picture and that this beginner had her trust abused.

Sorry, this is not ment to be a rant or anything but I do beleive that even though we try to be the friendliest around, we cannot hold our tongues when the welfare of these creatures are at risk. (And even then i feel that all members handled it in a very dipolmatic way).

 

[ThatDarnDragon]

I found another petshop that I am going to check out before work and see how it is. Im hoping one of these shops would make a trade, even though I didnt buy the fish from them.

And thanks Nav, its great to see open minded people here, even though my trust has been 'abused' and my excitement turned to fear and worry..

 

[dead_slade]

the big stores arnt always bad, i work in Big Al's Aquarium Services, a Canada wide chain, well only in the important provinces and at my store we always advise and which fish get along and how to keep them etc. before selling it to them. so big store can be good too if they know what they are doing.