Dumb things you've overheard customers say at the LFS

I was at the LFS last week and another couple was there talking to one of the employee's wondering why all their newly purchased fish from the week before were all dead. Apparently the folks at the store had them bring in a sample of their tank water and they did, in a small baggie. As always, the ole salinity read 0. The LFS employee then told them that they bought salt water fish. They both looked back at him with this blank look, then asked "What's a salt water fish?"

I asked my buddy at the lfs about how many they get like that, and apperently a lot! People have no clue what salt water is all about... Very scary!
 
petergillett said:
I would have read it! I wasn't going to part with money (read fish, coral, cool stuff!) for a book (read boring, can do this later when stuff goes wrong).

URLs means having to do something. I'm on a computer 9-5 everyday, self employed, can read the net all day if I want, but had never looked up anything to do with fish until I started my last tank, even then, only started when I was having difficulties.

I would have really welcomed a 10 most frequently asked questions, how to get started, what will go wrong if you don't stop for a moment.

Noobs are like children with no parents, no schools, and money in there hands! Nobody teaches them about fish. Most go to the shop, buy something and are left on their own. We all won a goldfish in the past, so it must be easy.

Not knocking anyone here, but there are far too many LFSs with no morals. It takes time to find one that actual stops you and tells you whats going wrong. I felt this [ ] big when I got a telling off in my 3rd store. Problem is, when store 1 and store 2 have let you do what you like, it's very easy to think that store 3 is just "being awkward"!!
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Perhaps part of a hobby is learning something about it. No one ever said saltwater was easy, it takes effort. You can't honestly expect someone to hand you everything you need in life. I really doubt this is the reality of the situation. I honestly believe that there are some people who are permenantly ignorant and then there are some people who care enough about the animals to learn how to provide a good and proper enviroment for them.

As for the funniest thing i've ever heard:


My old manager told me this one:

A man points to a tank with fish in it and says "What do you give the fish to make them swim around like that?"

He says: "water"
 
Jeremy Blaze said:
I have gone into LFS wearing work clothes from other job, that say AutoZOne or DNR (depending on which job)

And have people come up to me, and ask " do you have any dogs?" or just the other day, " how much would a 40 gallon set up cost?"

It amazes me how some people can go through life so stupid.
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I had the same problem, tho it was easier to allow the customer made an easy mistake "back when". Used to be most employees at stores wore ties & dressed nice (remember those days?).
So I would have a tie on & be in K-Mart, Sear, whatever. I had learned to ignore people who would try to get my attention - as if I worked there.
I was looking up something (auto part I think) & didn't pay any attention to a lady who was getting upset that I wouldn't answer her questions
She went get a manager to "have me fired"
They come over, he gets my attention, she explains how rude I've been
and I say "I don't freekin work here!!"
Funniest thing....I got fired from a job I never had......:lol:
 
i was just at a LFS this saturday and i overheard this (kinda long...)

Guy: "so is this trigger (Picasso Trigger) 'reef safe'?"
LFS:"do you have corals or invertebrates?
Guy:" snails and crabs and a shrimp, no corals yet"
LFS: "no, they will eat all of your snails and hermit crabs and shrimp."
Guy:" i used to have a trigger and it didn't eat any of my crabs or snails.."
LFS:"well, that's what they eat."

-obviously caught in a lie, the guy proceeds to tell the clerk about the 'grouper' he must've just bought the day before from the store..-

Guy: "I just let the grouper in the tank and he was swimming sideways and upsidedown towards the bottom for like three hours.. ha ha ha!" (he actually laughed! jerk!)

LFS employee: Did you acclimate him?

Guy: "..... well yeah.... i mean i let him swim out of the bag himself..."

LFS employee: " you need to let him get used to the tank paramters first, then release him.."

Guy: "i've had fish before and i just let them swim in and they're fine the next day".

Then the guy proceeded to ask about the anemones:

Guy: "i'd like to get one, but i used to have a big yellow fish... it had a blue eye..."
LFS: "was it a lemonpeel?"
Guy" Yes! a lemonpeel... I came in the next day and it was IN the aneomone.. the anemone ate it! so i don't think i'll get another."
LFS: (skeptical) "....what kind of anemone was it??"
Guy:" oh you know, the $5 atlantic ones..."
LFS:" you mean the $15 haitian anemones?"
Guy:" yeah those!"
Guy's wife (looking at haitian anemones): "i really like this pink-y one!"
Guy: "well honey, pick one out if you want"
LFS guy just looked at him.

the thing i found disturbing, and it didn't hit me until after, was this store uses copper in their fish only side... this guy let the grouper swim out into the tank, so obviously copper meds got into his tank and he just bought a anemone and has hermits and snails and shrimp..... ah well.... i need to speak up more!
 
The only thing i hate about finding nemo is that after that movie came out people started buying "NEMO'S" and where putting them in freshwater fish bowls. My brothers friend at the local fish store said he sold over 15 in one day and they all came back the next day with them dead.
Joe
 
The Yellow Longnose said:
My brothers friend at the local fish store said he sold over 15 in one day and they all came back the next day with them dead.
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That was what I was referring to when talking about morals. It's obvious that many of those will be sold to people who haven't got a clue, but they still sold them.

If you buy a car, it comes with a manual, but it doesn't tell you how to drive. But we all know that driving has to be learnt and if you just bought one, got in it, and drove off, your 99% likely to have a crash. Problem is when you start you don't know fish are anything more than tank/water/fish until someone tells you (or you read a book)!
 
petergillet,

It is an uphill battle for us. The fish store I work at used to print out badges like you described. What happens?

"Hey, what's this fish"
point to badge "It's a rosey barb"
Same tank, different fish
"Hey.. what's this fish?"

Some people want to be spoonfed info and won't take it any other way.

Another example, two weeks ago I had a lady come in with 3 goldfish in a 5 gallon tank, she said they were about 4 inches long apiece (fancy's) and couldn't figure out where her guppies were going. (umm goldfish are omnivores). She also stated that her tank always had brown stuff growing on the side.

I patiently talked to her, explaining the difference between a temperate fish and a tropical, that she either needed to exchange the goldfish for small tropicals, or upgrade her tank, so on and so forth. i also explain that no matter how good your filter is, you MUST change the media, and you can not ignore water changes. After 30 minutes of this conversation she asks "Can I get an algae eater to eat the algae?" SYMPTOM NOT PROBLEM LADY! I told her know, that plecos would grow to big, and ottos would be to small, and probably be eaten, not to mention temp incompatibilities... I then went off to help someone who wanted a fish bagged up, when I turned around, she had found another employee who had no idea what I had told her, who wasn't just bagging up a pleco, but a gold bushynose pleco.

A beautiful fish, condemned to death.

That is the difference of course between fish and organs, a bad purchase in a fish tank kills a living organism. A misunderstanding of how a pipe organ works doesn't hurt anyone. (except maybe their ears.)
 
What I would love to see is a fish store offer a 10%, 20% or even larger discount to customers who can tell them about the fish they are buying, and demonstrate that they know how to look after them. Or at least have some 'fact sheets' behind the counter for all of the fish they sell regularly to be given with the customer when they purchase the fish...
 
I guess there are two forms of the uneducated.

1. The ones that don't realise it's not easy, dive straight in, but will make mistakes until taught (as I was).

2. The real stupid ones that will never listen or get it.

Just don't let group 1 down!
 
I got another one. Still not saltwater, but getting closer :D (brackish).

A woman came in looking to buy a few green spot puffers. I asked if she had an aquarium setup specifically for them (brackish, min. tank size, cycled, etc.) She said she had it all ready. She had some already, but she went away for a weekend and, as she put it, "needless to say...they died." How is that "needless to say?!?" :confused: One weekend shouldn't affect them so much that they'd die, unless the params were already out of whack before then.

After she left, my coworker told me she's seen her come in quite a few times buying some puffers, so apparently this wasn't her first weekend away. :(
 
I don't know whether this counts but one of my LFS sold me a Green Spotted Puffer by telling me a 8 gallon tank was big enough to hold a 3" puffer.

I was stupid enough to believe her. But it all worked out ok in the end, it now lives in a 50gallon saltwater!
 
I should share this anecdote from a friend who used to work in pet retail.. He and his buddy were working the fish room (his buddy owned the store at this point, I think) and "that lady" came in. You've all seen her. Wearing a jacket too heavy for the season, short, out of breath, and a look on her face like she just ate feces. And, of course, the Ziploc bag with a dead neon tetra in it. She comes stamping up to his buddy and, shaking the bag at him, says "It DIED. I want another fish.. And this time.. I want a fish.. That WILL. NOT. DIE!".
Without missing a beat, his buddy looks over at him and says loudly, "Hey Al, do we have any of those immortal fish left in stock?"
Somehow he managed to shake his head and say they were all out of those.
His buddy apologized to the lady and said they didn't have any of the kind she should try. She left in a snit, but not because she realized she was being made fun of.
 
Ribbon said:
What I would love to see is a fish store offer a 10%, 20% or even larger discount to customers who can tell them about the fish they are buying, and demonstrate that they know how to look after them. Or at least have some 'fact sheets' behind the counter for all of the fish they sell regularly to be given with the customer when they purchase the fish...
Click to expand...


My LFS offers a 10% discount for members of the local aquarium society. Not exactly the same thing, but if you're a member of the local society the chances of you knowing your butt from breakfast about aquariums are pretty good. Not that we're all "expert reefers," but we're almost surely way beyond the "let's put Nemo in a goldfish bowl!" stage.
 
The other day I overheard an LFS employee telling a customer that "saltwater fish put out twice the amount of waste than freshwater fish..." I started trying to figure out how one would even come to this sort of conclusion, and then heard the employee continue by saying, "...so you need this filtration setup to keep the water clean." (employee shows customer gobs of filters that are all more than she needs for a tank, yet still inadequate for the job.)

Then it made perfect sense: $$$
 
can i put that nemo fish in my fish bowl with my gold fish?

"Smack up the back of the head"..........errrrrrr......shaking my head
 
I really hope that you have all interjected and offered sound advice in a none condensending way to these people who haven't done the research and just need some basic information.. which is what most complaints of "dumb" people are.... i find similiar threads on other forums talking about noobies to anything..

now some of these have been about geniune jerks and people who should know better.... btw, petergillett, i have only seen some small rundown looking LFSs in the U.S. that don't have the tags that have a pic of the fish with care guides.. any store (even wal-marts, petsmarts) have those..

Anyway.. just gonna add although amusing these may be, just keep in mind that we should probably help these people whenever possible... because most people when talked to properly and given the easiest explanation you can fathom will be much happier and may want to learn more.

fathom.. get it.. its a water pun.. MMMmmm :smokin:
 
Sis used to work in Petsmart running the register ( they have freshwater fish ).

Dude brings in a fish floating upside down at the top of the bag and wants to know whats wrong with his fish. Won't believe its dead no matter how many ways she explains it to him.

The guy wants to talk to the dude in the fish section so wraps it up with, "Where's the fat man ? He'll know what I mean."
 
For reasons still unknown I walked into Petco a few weeks ago. They apparently now have a few salt tanks too.

Out front was an 46 bowfront with water but no livestock. It had a sand bed and a couple beautiful coralline encrusted live rock pieces under a single 30-40W NO flourescent hood.

I didn't even bother to ask them any questions.

I did point out to them that in the freshwater sections they had a dead fish stuck to the outside of one of their tanks.
 
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