Paul B
Premium Member
So I go into this LFS and it happens to be one of the largest and oldest stores in NY, I actually helped start their tanks many years ago, anyway I am looking at the fish and there was this guy there with his young Daughter and I hear her say "Daddy, I want that gobi" I looked at the "gobi" and it was a mandarin alone in a tank of anemones. I kept shopping and I heard him say that they just set up the tank yesterday.
So the salesman comes over to them and is telling them what fish to buy. They were going to get a tang, that "gobi" a couple of firefish and they asked what that "snot" looking thing on the glass was and if they could put it in their tank.
The salesman went to get a net and I told the guy that he doesn't wan't that lettuce slug or the "gobi" which is a mandarin or the tang. He asked me if mandarins were to mean to put in his tank and what was the problem with the tang in his 20 gallon 2 day old tank. I only had 15 seconds before the salesman came back and all I had time to say was "trust me".
So when the salesman arrived I walked away and he told the salesman he wanted to look some more and I showed the guy what he could put in his tank for his Daughter. I pointed out some cheap damsels and a small arrow crab. It was clear to me that the only thing this guy knew about fish was that they were wet.
But I really couldn't give him a 4 year lesson in the store so I hope his damsels make it to tomorrow.
In this store I noticed that they had a tank of about 30 copperband butterflies and they were less than ten bucks.
Normally that is a steal for a copperband until you notice that in the same system was a tank full of mandarins, and they were "all" dead. Dead mandarins look just like live mandarins except their eyes cloud up, and of course eventually, they rot. Also in the tank with the copperbands was a large angelfish, dead and a hogfish, almost dead. Well that was an hour ago so I am sure it's dead now, unless they sold it.
The copperbands were still a great price although thety were full of ich and I know that as soon as you remove them from that copper loaded water, they will be covered in paracites.
They also had a tank of large watchman gobies for 8 bucks, another great deal and as I looked at them, I said to myself "self" these guys look different than any watchman I have ever seen. They had long spines to their fins and I always go for the unusual so I put on my reading glasses.
They didn't have long spines, their fins were "only" spines with no fin material in them.
This store always has great "deals" and unusual fish but their husbandry practices are, and always have been aweful and they have been in business almost fifty years.
I abhor stealing and thats what this store is doing to unsuspecting hobbiests.
Not to mention what they are doing to all this livestock. People go in there and figure that the employees know what they are doing and I guess trust them to steer them in the right direction. It makes me think of those commercials that ask: "If you have ever been injured while working, skiing, walking or doing just about anything or if you have ever tried on a pair of pants that made you look fat or if anyone on the street ever looked at you funny, said anything to you or even brushed against you while you were in a crowded subway. Or have you ever gotten anything in your eye, stepped in poop, went bald, been fired or eaten something in a restaurant that you didn't like.
You know the commercials :beer:
So the salesman comes over to them and is telling them what fish to buy. They were going to get a tang, that "gobi" a couple of firefish and they asked what that "snot" looking thing on the glass was and if they could put it in their tank.
The salesman went to get a net and I told the guy that he doesn't wan't that lettuce slug or the "gobi" which is a mandarin or the tang. He asked me if mandarins were to mean to put in his tank and what was the problem with the tang in his 20 gallon 2 day old tank. I only had 15 seconds before the salesman came back and all I had time to say was "trust me".
So when the salesman arrived I walked away and he told the salesman he wanted to look some more and I showed the guy what he could put in his tank for his Daughter. I pointed out some cheap damsels and a small arrow crab. It was clear to me that the only thing this guy knew about fish was that they were wet.
But I really couldn't give him a 4 year lesson in the store so I hope his damsels make it to tomorrow.
In this store I noticed that they had a tank of about 30 copperband butterflies and they were less than ten bucks.
Normally that is a steal for a copperband until you notice that in the same system was a tank full of mandarins, and they were "all" dead. Dead mandarins look just like live mandarins except their eyes cloud up, and of course eventually, they rot. Also in the tank with the copperbands was a large angelfish, dead and a hogfish, almost dead. Well that was an hour ago so I am sure it's dead now, unless they sold it.
The copperbands were still a great price although thety were full of ich and I know that as soon as you remove them from that copper loaded water, they will be covered in paracites.
They also had a tank of large watchman gobies for 8 bucks, another great deal and as I looked at them, I said to myself "self" these guys look different than any watchman I have ever seen. They had long spines to their fins and I always go for the unusual so I put on my reading glasses.
They didn't have long spines, their fins were "only" spines with no fin material in them.
This store always has great "deals" and unusual fish but their husbandry practices are, and always have been aweful and they have been in business almost fifty years.
I abhor stealing and thats what this store is doing to unsuspecting hobbiests.
Not to mention what they are doing to all this livestock. People go in there and figure that the employees know what they are doing and I guess trust them to steer them in the right direction. It makes me think of those commercials that ask: "If you have ever been injured while working, skiing, walking or doing just about anything or if you have ever tried on a pair of pants that made you look fat or if anyone on the street ever looked at you funny, said anything to you or even brushed against you while you were in a crowded subway. Or have you ever gotten anything in your eye, stepped in poop, went bald, been fired or eaten something in a restaurant that you didn't like.
You know the commercials :beer:
