ATTN: LFS employees

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Wow, this thread is still around!

A customer got very angry with me today because I wouldn't sell her a blue damsel for her 5.5 gallon goldfish tank. I politely explained that SW fish are different than SW fish and have different needs (i.e. saltwater). Well, she was adamant that I was just feeding her a line and trying to sell her something she didn't really need (salt mix).

It's normal for people to ask if a SW fish is a FW fish or vice-versa, but I never had anyone get irate after I explained that they weren't compatible.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13215860#post13215860 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gawain1974
Wow, this thread is still around!
Click to expand...

Are you kidding me?

I never let this thread die!!:D
 
again

alot of these "idiots" arnt just asking us once if this is a fw fish

its a weekly thing for them!! i think they hope the sw fish are now fw or some bs

what sad.. is one of the ppl i trusted most... would come in STONED ( you knew it when he entered the store) and pick out fish based on how they looked ( manderin ext) but would listen when you told him bad idea

infact.. he bough 50 lbs of lr so he could buy a manderin in a few months lol
 
When I was first starting my tank I really wanted a Springer's Dottyback, Lawnmower Blenny, & a Watchman Goby.

My tank is towards the tail end of it cycling & I'm bored so I go to the LFS to look around.

They had just gotten in a shipment & I see they have a few fish they normally don't carry. I see a couple of Neon Dottybacks & some others I haven't seen yet. Then I notice a fish that's black with a blue head. I go up to the guy & ask "Is that a Springer's Dottyback?"

"No, it's a Pseudochromis."

"Hmm. He looks damn similar to the Dottyback I want. Can I get him & a Lawnmower Blenny?"

"Sure." *Bags them up*

"Now, are you sure this isn't a Springer's Dottyback?"

"No. It's a Pseudochromis."

"Alright."
---

I go home & do a google image search for Springer's Dottyback. I get pictures of fish identical to mine. I read an article & I find the scientific name... Pseudochromis Springeri. :hammer:
 
Yeah pseudochromis, dottyback, and basslets all get thrown around a lot.
I'm surprised they didn't have the scientific name on the sale tag though.
 
That's why I always recommend people get Scott Micheal's Marine Fishes book. You may look like a nerd carrying it around (even though it is "pocket size"), but you have a better chance of properly IDing the fish with it (assuming that your LFS employees aren't trust worthy).
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13219196#post13219196 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by D to the P
Yeah pseudochromis, dottyback, and basslets all get thrown around a lot.
I'm surprised they didn't have the scientific name on the sale tag though.
Click to expand...

No tags. I'd say 1 in 10 tanks is marked w/ the price of 1 of the types fish that's kept in it.
 
Funny thread, I'll have to finish it later and add some more, but I'll only give you two for now to remind you that ignorance is not always what it seems.

1)
Woman: Where do you keep your....oh, what are they called... fish cages?
Me: *the sound of new brain synapses forming*

2)
Man: Is this where you keep your live rock?
Me: Yes sir it is.
Man: Man! Ya'll have some big pieces here, how long does it take to grow that big?

That was either the dumbest...or the smartest question I've ever heard...think about it.

Cheers.
 
haha, I like that second one :) indeed true when you consider most limestone rock was created by some kind of calcifying organism!

I was at petsmart today getting some bones for my two dogs. While my wife was off looking for a new collar or something, I took a quick stroll down their FW fish isle. An employee was selling a customer and his family a new setup and some african chichlids... the customer even asked if the tank would need to cycle, but the employee just said "those fish are pretty hardy they should survive the cycle". I couldn't believe it, I was on the verge of jumping in and making a fuss but somehow restrained myself.....
 
I'm still up so I'll tell you the dumbest thing my coworkers and I have done.

We got in a small blue hippo and put in into a 125g with some other fish and tangs, including a huma that ended up taking a rather large chunk out its side. Well, our QT was down at the moment so we just left him in there to die. But he didn't, he wouldn't, he hung on, and for about a week everyone that came in the store...

"You know you have a sick fish over here?!?! etc..."

Knowing that nobody was going to be buying him for a long time we put him into a fishless 125G coral sale tank. Where he healed up, and apparently turned into the most beautiful hippo in the world. Every customer..every...one...has asked for THAT hippo tang...the one with 100lbs of live rock and $3000 worth of corals between it and our nets...the one 10 feet away from bigger ones, yellow belly one, fatter ones, prettier ones etc...And people get MAD...REAL mad.

But that was not bad enough.

Somebody brought back a percula clown that they swear up and down killed all their fish in a 55g. Not being ones to argue we took the fish back...and not being ones to chance selling it again we put it where...of all places...in with the hippo...where it became the most beautiful clownfish known to man. Jacques Cousteau would have weeped at the sight of this fish, Calfo would get down on his knees, Rob wants it for his breeding program. And guess who this clownfish's best friend is...who he swims right next to like they could share an anemone...the most perfect hippo in the world.

Imagine, the most beautiful Nemo in the world, right next to the most beautiful Dori in the world...and you can't have them, nobody can...oh they will swim up the glass to say "HI!!," even eat out of your fingers...but so much as walk past the tank with a net in your hands and they are gone.

We finaly did start telling people that, yes, they were for sale...they are free even...you just have to buy all the coral in the tank first :)

Same thing with the other coral systems...only THOSE chromis, and THAT pipefish, and THAT hectorii etc... are fit for purchase...certainly NOT the ones 10 feet away with the price tags on them.

I will regret the day we put any fish in a coral sale tank...for the rest of my life.

fin
 
Related the stoy above:

We have a live rock vat that can hold about 1000lbs of LR at time at full capacity, and we we do not sell mean damsels but we have collected a few over the years to keep them from getting flushed, and they all end up in the LR vat.

Now imagine you are a particularly hard-headed sort of ignorant reefer, and upon asking for damsels to cycle your tank you are told that we don't have many and are instead pointed to some LR, kupangs,alleniis, three kinds of chromis, clownfish, grammas etc, you are told that with some good cured LR you probably will not have a cycle anyway...you start buying into our way of doing things, and then you go to pick out your LR...and you see damsels...lots of them, darting in and out of the soon-to-be-yours LR, 4 stripes, 3 stripes, figi blue devils, jewels, neons, every kind of damsel you could want, certified murderers all of them, but you don't care...we are liars...we said we don't have many damsels...and yet here they are...how much are they you ask, getting annoyed.

"Well...sir...we didn't pay anything for them, so it would be unfair of us to make any money off of them...so they are free."
"FREE!!!, why are these free and those kupangs are $8??!"
"Becuase kupangs are small and nice, and these get big and mean, and are certified killers, and...BUM BUM BUM...they are impossible to catch."
"Well heck, I can catch them you retard, look they are biting your hand!! Give me a net you idiot."
"Here you are sir, I'll set this bucket right here for all the ones you catch."

30 minutes to an hour later the man leaves...with some LR.

This happens once a month or so, sometimes the same guy will come back the next day to try his luck again. By the way, the record that a man can stand completely motionless, with a net in his hands, is about 10 minutes. The record that a man can root around hundreds of pounds of live rock with every size net, complaining that the previous size was too big or too small, is about 4 hours...yes...4 hours.

Nobody has ever gotten a free damsel I'm sad to say.
 
yh im only 14 had my reef set up for a year now, and i hate it when you walk in to an lfs, and they go have you got a skimmer, i go yes, have you got filtration, yes, did you add salt to your tank, yes. I came here to buy a fish. And they are like OK, but not sure if we can sell you it ,your not old enough and we know nothing about your tank, and im like your tanks are covered in algae and you can barely keep the corals alive, yes of course im the one who can't keep marines.( i think sarcastically)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13222103#post13222103 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by espocrespo
and im like your tanks are covered in algae and you can barely keep the corals alive, yes of course im the one who can't keep marines.( i think sarcastically)
Click to expand...

Don't think it, say it! It's ok to be young but it's NOT ok to be an ignorant fish guy. The reaction would probably be priceless and this thread is lacking in actual video footage ;)

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13221750#post13221750 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RyanBrucks
I couldn't believe it, I was on the verge of jumping in and making a fuss but somehow restrained myself.....
Click to expand...

It wouldn't matter anyways, clearly you are some random hobbiest while the person helping them is a payed profesional... I mean common we all know discuss are the damsel of FW. ;)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13221806#post13221806 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by grimmjohn
I'm still up so I'll tell you the dumbest thing my coworkers and I have done.

We got in a small blue hippo and put in into a 125g with some other fish and tangs, including a huma that ended up taking a rather large chunk out its side. Well, our QT was down at the moment so we just left him in there to die. But he didn't, he wouldn't, he hung on, and for about a week everyone that came in the store...

"You know you have a sick fish over here?!?! etc..."

Knowing that nobody was going to be buying him for a long time we put him into a fishless 125G coral sale tank. Where he healed up, and apparently turned into the most beautiful hippo in the world. Every customer..every...one...has asked for THAT hippo tang...the one with 100lbs of live rock and $3000 worth of corals between it and our nets...the one 10 feet away from bigger ones, yellow belly one, fatter ones, prettier ones etc...And people get MAD...REAL mad.

But that was not bad enough.

Somebody brought back a percula clown that they swear up and down killed all their fish in a 55g. Not being ones to argue we took the fish back...and not being ones to chance selling it again we put it where...of all places...in with the hippo...where it became the most beautiful clownfish known to man. Jacques Cousteau would have weeped at the sight of this fish, Calfo would get down on his knees, Rob wants it for his breeding program. And guess who this clownfish's best friend is...who he swims right next to like they could share an anemone...the most perfect hippo in the world.

Imagine, the most beautiful Nemo in the world, right next to the most beautiful Dori in the world...and you can't have them, nobody can...oh they will swim up the glass to say "HI!!," even eat out of your fingers...but so much as walk past the tank with a net in your hands and they are gone.

We finaly did start telling people that, yes, they were for sale...they are free even...you just have to buy all the coral in the tank first :)

Same thing with the other coral systems...only THOSE chromis, and THAT pipefish, and THAT hectorii etc... are fit for purchase...certainly NOT the ones 10 feet away with the price tags on them.

I will regret the day we put any fish in a coral sale tank...for the rest of my life.

fin
Click to expand...
We did the same thing where I used to work. We had 30 gallon tanks filled with tank raised clowns, but the two that a customer brought in a long time ago that were swimming in the largest tank in the store filled with coral that would always catch the net were the ones that they NEEDED to have.
I made the mistake of taking my falco's hawkfish to the store temporarily while I wasn't around to take care of my tank (along with some corals and other fish). Try getting a 3 inch falco's hawkfish out of a 180 gallon tank with 200 pounds of live rock. Not happening till the tank gets taken down. I feel bad for leaving him there (not that he was going to die or anything) cause he was one of my favorite fish. But he would always catch someones attention out of the corner of their eye (usually when our tanks were pretty empty in between fish shipments) and they really wanted it. What's funny is we also told customers they'd have to buy all the live rock (I know you said coral but this tank didn't have any) if they wanted the fish.
 
Just happened here at work and I couldn't wait.

Customer: How many fish do you have?
Me: Excuse me?
Customer: Ok let me ask you this: Do you have manatees?
Me: Huh? Uhhh, no I don't even think you can buy those.
Customer: Well I have one
Me: Oh...OK
Customer: So you don't sell manatees or walruses?
Me: No, we're a...we're a pet store...we wouldn't handle things like that...
Customer: Do you know anywhere where you can get one aside from the ocean?
Me: No...No I don't.
Customer: (big sigh) thanks for the help -click


Although I must admit it would be boss to have a walrus.
 
A guy brings his glass versa top and says he didn't get a part. Me and another manager happen to be at the counter when he came in so we took a look at it. I open the box and everything seems in order but he says the plastic piece that goes on the back doesn't have the groove the light sits in. We are like "What are you talking about? The light just sits on the glass." Then he pulls out an instruction manual that clearly shows the plastic piece that goes on the back has a grove that the light sits in. We are like "Wow. We never seen that piece with a grove in it but we assure you it will work perfectly well sitting on the glass."

He walks away satisfied with our answer but what got me wondering was who the hell needs an instruction manual to a glass top? And if you do need instructions what are the chances you can even read? I was unaware they even put them in the boxes. I have no idea where he got it from.
 
Here's a few.

1. Five years ago while in PetSmart this guy decides to buy a 55, filter, rock, few starter fish, etc. (Fresh Water obviously). All in all it comes out to around $250. Well I'm behind him in line and he gets up to the cashier station and after they ring him up, he starts giving the cashier coupons.....LOTS and LOTS of coupons....2$, 3$, 5$ off coupons. However.......these coupons are NOT for aquarium items......They were for VARIOUS DOG FOODS !!!! The guy didn't have any dog food. The cashier tells him he can't use the coupons for aquarium stuff because they are for dog food. Well the guy throws a fit.......the store manager comes over.....and get this crap. HE LETS THE MAN PAY WITH DOG FOOD COUPONS!!!!!!

I later found out from a friend who was an employee there that this guy had tried it previously and been denied by the manager. The guy called corporate and corporate told the store manager to let him use the coupons!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

2. I worked at a LFS back from 98-2003 while in college. And some of the stories include

a. A man telling his daughter that the fish was wiping its fins because they were dirty (clown in a carpet Anem).

b. customers asking us if they could have a "live rock" for a pet and how do you take care of it?

c. A man had a 40g fresh tank. Newly set up as in he got it two days previously. He came in and began to purchase various Rainbows and other Fish. All in all it came out to around 30 fish that he was wanting. When I refused to sell them, the man began yelling and punched a beam (4x6) by accident in his rage that was holding up a huge rack of tanks. Needless to say....he left.....crying.

d. There was also a guy who bought a 75g to set up a reef. He got all of the stuff, sand, skimmers, pumps, live rock which he would pick up later that day, stand, sump, etc. He seemed to be doing things the right way. Well he comes back a few hours later and is FURIOUS. He says that he was setting up his tank and the bottom of the tank "exploded"..........I try to calm him down and we go over what happened. Thats when he tells me he didn't like the look of all the tubes and pipes so he decided to DRILL the bottom of the tank to put in a bulkhead so he could hide tubes. UGHHHH!!!!!!

Ok just my multiple cents although not nearly as good as mot of yours.

John
 
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