Good Lord! Are LFS employees Freind or Foe?

SumptnFishy

Two weeks ago my friend bought a new 30 gallon setup from Petsmart for her 9 year old daughter, along with fish and plants. Never did PS tell her she needed to cycle the tank or how to properly care for her plants. She set the tank up added the fish and plants the same day.
I went to visit her this weekend and admired her tank, which is beautiful, BUT, on the sad side I had to tell her not be alarmed if the fish die because of it needing to be cycled first. The fish were happily swimming and seemed to be healthy, but the water was cloudy and not one leaf was left on the plants.
The only advice the employee gave her was sand was the worst substrate to use, that only gravel would be benificial,AND, she needed to leave the lights on 24 hours a day! I thought I would pass out when she told me all this! I wanted to go to the Petsmart, find this employee and ring his neck! I gave her some advice, told her she should do a large water change, get a timer for a steady 12 hour photo period and purchase some plant food.
Why is it so hard for LFS to require their employees to have some kind of knowledge other than just knowing how to put a fish into a bag and sell some fish food? Now I know that it isnt entirely PS fault, she should have done some research first, but her baby girl wanted a fish tank and she bought it for her.
I guess I just want to say GGGRRRRRRRRRRR!And shame on pet stores just wanting to make a buck, because when the first fish die they know you have to come back to buy more.

Ramenuzumaki

yeah i know how that is

my ex-roommate bought a clownknife fish for 35$ at ThePetStore [thats what its called] and it was in a COMMUNITY tank, and they said it was a COMMUNITY fish. so of course he bought it, put it in his tank, and the next day all his fishies are gone :)

willow

it's such a shame when people are fed the wrong information,
if only we all thought to look up stuff first lol
they are out to make money,and the staff are often not trained,the ones who know what
they are doing,and we have some LFS staff here i think.....are very few and far between.
perhaps you coud help you friends tank by donation some media from
one of your filters,it would be such a great help to her fish.

MoneyMitch

the problem with most of the chain stores, there is most generally one or two people that actually KNOW what they are doing. i have been to stores before long before i started my 55 and was fed contridicting information. these chain stores hire in the high school kids looking for their first time job and tell them a little about the cycle then it gets twisted by the child they employed. i NEVER listen to anyone under 18 at a fish store, let me get one thing straight though 16yr olds that work in most chain stores and the ones on here are two diffrent breeds lol. it basically comes down to people making a impule buy and then getting screwed in the long run because they didnt research like everyone SHOULD before they buy. for example, when you go to buy a car you donbt buy the first thing you see do you? you research it find out common problems check warranty information and get the carfax, not to mention going to a reputable dealer. so to me its the persons fault who bought the tank on impulse, but at the same time it is also the stores fault for not FULLY training people on aquariums. but... that makes another problem, why would a chain spend all the time and money to properly educate someone on aquariums if they are obviously not going to make a carrear out of it. my advice on this is just research things and ask around about the store you buy from someone somewhere has had a experiance here. i mean heck check yahoo reviews or something.

sorry for my rant

Money

kelly528

I think of it like this: Through no fault of their own, the staff are often very unknowledgeable about fish, despite their best intentions. There's alot to know about fish for hobbyists, let alone retail employees!

Although they sometimes hit the nail on the head, I estimate about 30% of the info they give is actually correct (and that's being kind!). Would you trust a doctor who got 30% on his medical exam? Or a plane where only 30% of the parts were working? Always play it safe by never relying on a Fish Store Employee as your main source of information.