Blue gravel (not sand, blue aquarium gravel)- he said it'd make the colors pop
the stuff to "instantly cycle" and tap water dechlorinator.
Plastic decor and plants (no rocks)
salt
and a yellow tang with a pair of clowns. all the same day.
he also told me tap water was OK to use. Mix with salt and instant cycle, check salinity then throw the fish in.
EDIT: This LFS is no longer in business. I wonder why.
What's funny, and sad, is that unfortunately, there's a balance that needs to be struck to appeal to the novices, and cater to the long-time hobbyists. It's not easy for many owners to balance the hobby with the business.
The best one near me probably appears to a newbie to be "bad" because they guy and his wife focus on corals and are very, very, very picky about the types of fish they sell and specimens of each type that they'll keep. They also make it clear (they have a big sign on the door and by the register) that they're hobbyists first and business people second. They say they will ask about your tank and they will refuse to sell you a fish, invert, or coral if they don't think you have the right setup.
To a newbie, it might appear that they are A) rude and unhelpful, and B) struggling to stay in business because they have so few fish. But to the people in the area who have been in the hobby for a while, it's the only place they shop because the livestock is perfect, and the knowledge of the owners can't be topped. They've been in business for 12 years, but it would be easy to see why a shop like theirs wouldn't make it.
On the flip side, there are a few places nearby that always have TONS of fish in their tanks and will sell any customer anything and do it with a smile. What the newbie sees is "good service!" "great selection!" "so helpful!" "doing a great business!" What the long-time hobbyist sees is "overcrowded tanks!" "sick fish!" "sleazy, unethical sales!" "pushing product just to stay in the black!"
When I started my first tank over 10 years ago, I was a sucker for the latter. I bought a lot of sick fish, took a lot of bad advice (cycle with damsels, crappy fake decor- some of which I still have and use along with actual live rock because it looks OK when covered in coralline, etc.). Coming back to the hobby, I'm still making mistakes (scraping my spaghetti worm's tentacles off the glass because I was convinced it was cyno), but I've at least learned to see through the B.S. to an extent (see my sand-sifting star story).
they know nothin but crap
