ATTN: LFS employees
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Phillybean
New member
I fit a 75 gallon in the back of an Accent 
kathainbowen
New member
Lol. No lie, a friend of mine had the police REPEATEDLY called on them because a neighbor was convinced they were growing marijuana in their living room. After a while, he started to invite the dispatched officers into his home to show them the reef tank with the simple statement of, "So, I guess you're here to see the pot farm, too."
I've heard of members of the New Jersey Reefer's Club having a similar problem which probably isn't helped by the club name being printed just like that on the bumper stickers (although, I would think "Saving the world's reefs one living room at a time" beneath that would give it away).
D to the P
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13807582#post13807582 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Phillybean
I fit a 75 gallon in the back of an Accent
:lol: that's quite the accomplishment. The problem we had was that the 90 was too tall, it wouldn't make the turn through the back door because the car door wouldn't open wide enough, and we can't send home tanks if they're sitting on their side. Store policy.
I also had a customer think we'd be willing to slide a 125 through the window of his trunk door of his small SUV. It was like a bronco or a jimmy. He claimed that the trunk had rusted shut. We would of had to lift the tank up on our shoulders, turn it side ways, and stuff it in. I simply looked at him and said "no". They had to go get a truck.
docalatamu
In Memoriam
i like my LFS that has the word clownfish written on the tank, and all it has in there is blue devil damsels. I had a freind tell me they saw blue nemo's!!! I said, there is no such thing, so they had to prove me wrong!
hoosierpat
New member
I got to page 23 and had to stop so I could post here. I worked at a LFS for years. We also had a huge reptile section and a bird section. We would frequently get in large reptiles that had gotten too big for their owners to take care of. One of the most common species was sulcata tortoises(African Spur Thighed). They get big. We had one once that was about 3 feet long and weighed about 75 pounds. We would occasionally let him roam around the stores to get some exercise since we didn't really have an adequate enclosure for him. He would just cruise around the stores, eat bird food from the floor, and people loved him.
I was in the fish store on the invert side rearranging some corals and there was a guy on the fish side looking around. All of the sudden I heard him say, in a very nervous voice, "Uh, uh, help!" and I just kind of shouted over the tank row, "What's up?" His next words were absolutely frantic, "It's coming right at me! (pause) And it's got its mouth wide open!" I go running around the tanks and lo and behold the tortoise is slowly lumbering down the aisle. This guy is backed right up to the wall at the end of the aisle. I start chuckling and pick the tortoise up and walk it over the reptile side at which point I die laughing. It was the most panicked thing I have every heard anyone say. I don't know if he thought it was a snapping turtle or what but it definitely would take the tortoise like 2 minutes to get down the aisle at full speed. I had to go back to the guy and tell him he wasn't in any danger unless he was a piece of lettuce.
Funny stuff. I have heard so many of these stories before and it just cracks me up that it happens everywhere.
I was in the fish store on the invert side rearranging some corals and there was a guy on the fish side looking around. All of the sudden I heard him say, in a very nervous voice, "Uh, uh, help!" and I just kind of shouted over the tank row, "What's up?" His next words were absolutely frantic, "It's coming right at me! (pause) And it's got its mouth wide open!" I go running around the tanks and lo and behold the tortoise is slowly lumbering down the aisle. This guy is backed right up to the wall at the end of the aisle. I start chuckling and pick the tortoise up and walk it over the reptile side at which point I die laughing. It was the most panicked thing I have every heard anyone say. I don't know if he thought it was a snapping turtle or what but it definitely would take the tortoise like 2 minutes to get down the aisle at full speed. I had to go back to the guy and tell him he wasn't in any danger unless he was a piece of lettuce.
Funny stuff. I have heard so many of these stories before and it just cracks me up that it happens everywhere.
D to the P
New member
Haha, that's like the seen from Austin Powers where the guy doesn't get out of the way of the steam roller.
Noooooooooooo! :lol:
Noooooooooooo! :lol:
93292_FishGuy
New member
Last week i was working cleaning tanks when a guy walked in and said his tank was cloudy. So i usually ask a few questions to get to the root of the problem!
me:How big is your tank
him:30 gallons
me:how many fish do u have and what kind
him:i have 2 oscars, 3 goldfish, a koi, a shark and some guppies. but the guppies disappeared yesterday.
Me:Well the guppys probably got eaten by the oscars.
him:The lady at walmart said they would be ok when i bought the tank and fish yesterday.
me: Have u ever heard of the nitrogen cycle?
him:no whats that
I start to explain the whole process and the cycling of the tank when another customer comes up and says that she has been breeding fish forever and that he doesnt need to know it. He belives her and starts talking to her and ignores me so i just sit back and listen to them talk. When they both ask to get some fishi tell them that i cannot sell them the fish. They both get really mad and ask to speak to a manager. When my manager comes over he listens to what they have to say and then coninues to tell them that they cannot be sold any fish until they bring in a passing water sample and that they will not have any type of guarantee. Needless to say they were very mad and left with a few choice words.
me:How big is your tank
him:30 gallons
me:how many fish do u have and what kind
him:i have 2 oscars, 3 goldfish, a koi, a shark and some guppies. but the guppies disappeared yesterday.
Me:Well the guppys probably got eaten by the oscars.
him:The lady at walmart said they would be ok when i bought the tank and fish yesterday.
me: Have u ever heard of the nitrogen cycle?
him:no whats that
I start to explain the whole process and the cycling of the tank when another customer comes up and says that she has been breeding fish forever and that he doesnt need to know it. He belives her and starts talking to her and ignores me so i just sit back and listen to them talk. When they both ask to get some fishi tell them that i cannot sell them the fish. They both get really mad and ask to speak to a manager. When my manager comes over he listens to what they have to say and then coninues to tell them that they cannot be sold any fish until they bring in a passing water sample and that they will not have any type of guarantee. Needless to say they were very mad and left with a few choice words.
Reefski's
Active member
now that is integrity. good job.
my LFS has usually got a sign in the window for help wanted and i have thought about it, not that i shouldn't just spend the time on my tank but it could be interesting working there. except i would only want to do the sales and talk to people to educate them, not the grunt work that i already have to do on my tanks.
they have offered a job. but i would probably refuse to sell a lot of fish and corals to idiots, not that they are that bad overall.
i think i would just be too stressed.
here is one not quite related to LFS but...
a friend of my wifes has a 1500 gallon koi pond with about 15 12-18" koi and at least 20 babies 3-5".
i have been trying to get her to thin out her pond. her pond maintenance guy, the expert, tells her she is fine with the number of fish but she could catch a few babies and put them in her 50 gallon hex tank in the house, no problem...arrrrgh
my wife just told me about this yesterday. i haven't had a chance to talk to her about it yet but she won't listen to me anyway. after all her expert tells her it is ok. maybe i should call him myself and tell him that he is an idiot.
i will be there one day to tell her "i told you so" and i will.
Carl
my LFS has usually got a sign in the window for help wanted and i have thought about it, not that i shouldn't just spend the time on my tank but it could be interesting working there. except i would only want to do the sales and talk to people to educate them, not the grunt work that i already have to do on my tanks.
they have offered a job. but i would probably refuse to sell a lot of fish and corals to idiots, not that they are that bad overall.
i think i would just be too stressed.
here is one not quite related to LFS but...
a friend of my wifes has a 1500 gallon koi pond with about 15 12-18" koi and at least 20 babies 3-5".
i have been trying to get her to thin out her pond. her pond maintenance guy, the expert, tells her she is fine with the number of fish but she could catch a few babies and put them in her 50 gallon hex tank in the house, no problem...arrrrgh
my wife just told me about this yesterday. i haven't had a chance to talk to her about it yet but she won't listen to me anyway. after all her expert tells her it is ok. maybe i should call him myself and tell him that he is an idiot.
i will be there one day to tell her "i told you so" and i will.
Carl
ILoveReefer
Premium Member
Your post got me laughing when I read it. I was thinking of austin powers and the steam roller too.
A.T.T.R
Active member
oh i love the tank maintance guy experts..
get alot of ppl who always say "my fish guy said"
congrats teh guy who scrubs your tank said somthing and the guy with rooms full of homebuilt systems says somthing else.. who should you trust.. the guy who knows it all or the guy who will say "im not that big on the non reef fish /wrasses let me look it up"
of course they trust the know it all :/
its even worse when a customer helps another customer folloed by them asking you somthing REALLY dumb later.
had a guy come in on monday with a 1 gallon tank and 4 large goldfish.. after the other guy spent 40 minutes with him we got him out of there with a 10 gallon and a air powered sponge filter...better then nothing :/
get alot of ppl who always say "my fish guy said"
congrats teh guy who scrubs your tank said somthing and the guy with rooms full of homebuilt systems says somthing else.. who should you trust.. the guy who knows it all or the guy who will say "im not that big on the non reef fish /wrasses let me look it up"
of course they trust the know it all :/
its even worse when a customer helps another customer folloed by them asking you somthing REALLY dumb later.
had a guy come in on monday with a 1 gallon tank and 4 large goldfish.. after the other guy spent 40 minutes with him we got him out of there with a 10 gallon and a air powered sponge filter...better then nothing :/
PogoMonogo
New member
Far and away, the most common "special" question i get is:
"Can ya eat that?"
I once had a man walk in and point to a rather large open brain and ask that question. I just looked at him and asked "Probably, but does it look like it would taste good?" He kinda shrugged and just continued to wander.
Also, I once had a customer come in the store saying he needed various supplies. I asked him how big the tank was and his response was "oh its big, its like 200 gallons". Something about this just didn't seem right, he didn't really strike me as a big fish tank guy. So i walked him into our tank room and began to show him tanks, starting with a 265. He said "oh no thats way too big". We ended at the 10g, which he said was his tank. He said "oh a 10g tank, huh". I said "Well, do you think you could poor 200 jugs of milk into this?". He gave me a blank stare and just said "Oh, its the same kind of gallons".
I wanted to cry.
"Can ya eat that?"
I once had a man walk in and point to a rather large open brain and ask that question. I just looked at him and asked "Probably, but does it look like it would taste good?" He kinda shrugged and just continued to wander.
Also, I once had a customer come in the store saying he needed various supplies. I asked him how big the tank was and his response was "oh its big, its like 200 gallons". Something about this just didn't seem right, he didn't really strike me as a big fish tank guy. So i walked him into our tank room and began to show him tanks, starting with a 265. He said "oh no thats way too big". We ended at the 10g, which he said was his tank. He said "oh a 10g tank, huh". I said "Well, do you think you could poor 200 jugs of milk into this?". He gave me a blank stare and just said "Oh, its the same kind of gallons".
I wanted to cry.
i was given the role of aquatics specialist at the petco i worked for because they needed someone to scrub algae. so there i was, the specialist, never having had a tank, and not knowing what the nitrogen cycle was.
so one of many stories: i'm standing in front of the petco tanks, feeding my fish. a guy walks up and says in a d-bag way:
Guy - So are any of your fish healthy this time!?
Me - Yeah we have some really nice fish who are doing pretty well, but we do have a couple who aren't doin' so hot (our RO filter has been broken for 12 straight weeks at this point, since labor day)
Guy - WELL, last time i was in here i bought a fish, and it gave all my fish ich, and i lost 'em all!
Me - Oh really, what kind of fish did you buy?
Guy - I think it was called a sailfin something.
Me - And how big is your tank?
Guy - Thirty gallons i think.
So i explain to him all the obvious stuff about how a tang can't go in a 30g and that his tank should be like 5 times the size, he doesn't know his salinity, or any of that stuff, and claims a kid who works for him takes care of it. i laughed at him, and told him it was his fault, and not mine. (i had already given my two weeks. lol)
so one of many stories: i'm standing in front of the petco tanks, feeding my fish. a guy walks up and says in a d-bag way:
Guy - So are any of your fish healthy this time!?
Me - Yeah we have some really nice fish who are doing pretty well, but we do have a couple who aren't doin' so hot (our RO filter has been broken for 12 straight weeks at this point, since labor day)
Guy - WELL, last time i was in here i bought a fish, and it gave all my fish ich, and i lost 'em all!
Me - Oh really, what kind of fish did you buy?
Guy - I think it was called a sailfin something.
Me - And how big is your tank?
Guy - Thirty gallons i think.
So i explain to him all the obvious stuff about how a tang can't go in a 30g and that his tank should be like 5 times the size, he doesn't know his salinity, or any of that stuff, and claims a kid who works for him takes care of it. i laughed at him, and told him it was his fault, and not mine. (i had already given my two weeks. lol)
D to the P
New member
That sounds pretty typical of a petco. Hiring someone with little experience to run a whole section. I wonder if he actually had a sailfin molly, or if it was a salt water tank.
Sailfin tang- shame on him
Sailfin molly- shame on you
D to the P
New member
I had this one guy come in and he started checking out our medications.
Now, whenever I have ich, one of the treatments I consider using is copper (of course I know about hospital tanks and certain fish being sensitive to it and yada yada yada). Cupramine always worked for me, and has always cured any ich problem I've encountered where I used it.
So, I went over to ask him if he needed help. He said he was looking for copper (pretty sure he had ich, but he never really said. In fact there was a lot of information he wasn't giving me even when asked). I showed him cupramine, said it worked good for me. He said " I need something stronger"
me: "Stronger than cupramine? I don't think we have a copper based medication stronger than that...why do you need it stronger?"
Him: "It's not powerful enough, too diluted. Do you sell like concentrated Copper Hydroxide (I'm pretty sure that's what he said, but if not than it was some other copper compound)"
Me:"No..uh, I don't know where'd you get that. I don't even know if it's safe to put that in your tank. Copper is kind of a harsh medication."
Him: "No no, (muffled speech)
So I pretty much just walked away. And, if you're sitting there imagining this scene in your mind... he looked like Matisyahu. I'm not being anti-Semitic or anything... I'm just saying dude looked just like Matisyahu.
So, since this threads filled with LFS employees, have any of you ever heard of using concentrated Copper Hydroxide as a medication?
Now, whenever I have ich, one of the treatments I consider using is copper (of course I know about hospital tanks and certain fish being sensitive to it and yada yada yada). Cupramine always worked for me, and has always cured any ich problem I've encountered where I used it.
So, I went over to ask him if he needed help. He said he was looking for copper (pretty sure he had ich, but he never really said. In fact there was a lot of information he wasn't giving me even when asked). I showed him cupramine, said it worked good for me. He said " I need something stronger"
me: "Stronger than cupramine? I don't think we have a copper based medication stronger than that...why do you need it stronger?"
Him: "It's not powerful enough, too diluted. Do you sell like concentrated Copper Hydroxide (I'm pretty sure that's what he said, but if not than it was some other copper compound)"
Me:"No..uh, I don't know where'd you get that. I don't even know if it's safe to put that in your tank. Copper is kind of a harsh medication."
Him: "No no, (muffled speech)
So I pretty much just walked away. And, if you're sitting there imagining this scene in your mind... he looked like Matisyahu. I'm not being anti-Semitic or anything... I'm just saying dude looked just like Matisyahu.
So, since this threads filled with LFS employees, have any of you ever heard of using concentrated Copper Hydroxide as a medication?
mat167
New member
You might want to run it by Randy in the chem section, but from what I've gathered through my chem courses I would expect Cu(OH)2 to make a violent reaction. At the very least, I'm pretty positive it would generate heat. Nonetheless, cupramine is plenty strong, I don't see why you would need anything stronger as long as you follow the directions. A lot of people don't seem to want to remove their carbon when treating, for whatever reason. Anyway don't take my word about the copper hydroxide, I never really got into inorganic chem. I suggest asking the chem forum.
atwinparadox2
New member
Ok this is no joke and just adds insult to injury on who local fish stores hire as there employees.
New local fish store. Have a little of everything pet. Small selection of SW, but really nice stuff.
Me going in to just check it out, the usual, prices, stock, health of corals...fish...etc...
Owner...very knowledgeable in the SW hobby, fortunately for me and the post to this forum, he was helping another customer and i got to experience his employee.
To set this up, I am creating a Zoa garden on one section of my tank.
I proceed to ask this employee if they have selections of Zoanthids. He says yes they have a lot of them in 2 or 3 tanks for relatively cheap.
Me: Cool show me.
Him: Ok here you go.
Me: Uh, those aren't Zoos they are star polyps.
Him: No those are Zoos, I assure you.
Me: No disrespect but I would bet my life they are star polyps. ( I proceed to show him the actual Zoanthinds in the other tanks.)
Him: I have been working with salt water tanks for 2 months now, and I know what zoanthids look like.
Me: I have been keeping tanks for years now and those aren't Zoos. Those there are Zoos.( I am starting to chuckle at this point)
Him: No those are button polyps.
Me: Yeah Zoos.
Him: Listen, if you are going to come in here and tell me how to do my job then maybe you shouldn't come in here anymore.
Me: Ok buddy, you obviously know waaaaaaaay more than me about this stuff.
Here is the kicker and the icing on the cake. As I was walking away, there was a sign above the one tank that said, and I quote..." Selected star polyp frags, 15$" HA!
Owner approaches me as I am leaving.
Him: Did you find everything you were looking for.
Me: Yeah thanks, you have a great selection of Zoos in your star polyp tank!
Moral of this story...if you own a local fish store, be sure your employees can identify the stock before you throw him to the wolves...so to speak.
Great thread, all the stories were great and I am sure we all can add plenty of more!
New local fish store. Have a little of everything pet. Small selection of SW, but really nice stuff.
Me going in to just check it out, the usual, prices, stock, health of corals...fish...etc...
Owner...very knowledgeable in the SW hobby, fortunately for me and the post to this forum, he was helping another customer and i got to experience his employee.
To set this up, I am creating a Zoa garden on one section of my tank.
I proceed to ask this employee if they have selections of Zoanthids. He says yes they have a lot of them in 2 or 3 tanks for relatively cheap.
Me: Cool show me.
Him: Ok here you go.
Me: Uh, those aren't Zoos they are star polyps.
Him: No those are Zoos, I assure you.
Me: No disrespect but I would bet my life they are star polyps. ( I proceed to show him the actual Zoanthinds in the other tanks.)
Him: I have been working with salt water tanks for 2 months now, and I know what zoanthids look like.
Me: I have been keeping tanks for years now and those aren't Zoos. Those there are Zoos.( I am starting to chuckle at this point)
Him: No those are button polyps.
Me: Yeah Zoos.
Him: Listen, if you are going to come in here and tell me how to do my job then maybe you shouldn't come in here anymore.
Me: Ok buddy, you obviously know waaaaaaaay more than me about this stuff.
Here is the kicker and the icing on the cake. As I was walking away, there was a sign above the one tank that said, and I quote..." Selected star polyp frags, 15$" HA!
Owner approaches me as I am leaving.
Him: Did you find everything you were looking for.
Me: Yeah thanks, you have a great selection of Zoos in your star polyp tank!
Moral of this story...if you own a local fish store, be sure your employees can identify the stock before you throw him to the wolves...so to speak.
Great thread, all the stories were great and I am sure we all can add plenty of more!
I have only been at an lfs for a few weeks so I dont have any great stories but I have had people come in and try to tell me I was wrong about the coral they were pointing at. Many times people have left with favias convinced that they had just gotten a great deal on a chalice. I try to help but no one listens to the guy that works in the fish department.
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