Tang Cop Academy

itnerd

itnerd

New member
I was just in my LFS and watched a soccer mom walk in with 3 kids and ask "can I get a deal on 3 tangs?" The pimply faced attendant asked what kind of tangs would you like? She asked what was available. The attendant said that all he had right now were 2 yellow and one powder blue. She said I'll take them. Interested in the process, I asked her what size tank she was putting the tangs in. She said it was a "90 gallon with fake stuff".
To shorten this a little. The school decided to put up an aquarium and asked parents to go out and buy fish from a list. From what I understand, the list included 8-10 fish. I began talking about bio load, compatability,territory etc. The lady started nodding and I was making progress. Then the owner of the store called and spoke to the pimply attendant. The pimply attendant said he (the owner) said 3 tangs would be fine for a 90 gallon, knowing that the tangs would be added the same day, along with the other fish! The pimply faced attendant looked right at me and said he (the owner) had been doing this for 25 years, as to discount my presence. She then with pride started swishing her arm around the inside of the tank to scare out the powder blue so mom could have a look. I got ill and left....am I way off base here? I vowed never to darken his door again. If I am validated in this outrage on this board, I'll tell everyone in town, including the owner, that this establishment sucks, and all should avoid it like the plague.
I can't hear you?!
 
Too bad you had to experience that. However its gonna happen as long as there are LFS's. There are idiots that run and operate too many stores out there.... Your effort is commendable, but it will almost always end in dissappointment as the store is there to make money, not (in most cases) to be ethical, and treat the animals properly.

I think that most of us here, that care about these situations or know better would surely be able to spot an LFS like this. Just ask the right questions, like ' can I put 8 tangs in a 55 gal tank?' this guy would probably say yes. Unless of course he only had 5 tangs in stock, then he would probably say 5 is the limit.

As for spreading the word, go ahead if you want, but surely msot everyone here that visits that place will already know. Maybe friends and aquantainces that trust your judgement are better to tell, if it makes you feel better. Bottom line is it probably won't matter what you or anyone else does, time will just take its course and people will eventually stop shopping there......
 
You are right......But S-------g F---y in Memphis is run by a clown and attended to by two clueless kids! Do the hobby a favor and stay away. Man this fires me up!
 
Maybe you can write a letter to the school recommending that the person in charge of the school's tank join up here at RC?

Unethical and irresponsible LFS will be the end of this hobby. :mad:
 
Unethical and irresponsible LFS will be the end of this hobby. :mad: [/B][/QUOTE]

Absolutely correct.
We have an obligation as reefers to let LFS know in no uncertain terms what we think when we see unacceptable behaviour as was posted.

And if they don't smarten up we reefers have the responsibility to let everyone know.
 
Let the school know what is wrong with doing it this way. Volunteer to "take charge of the process".
 
Will Do!

Will Do!

I will call and find the people responsible and educate at will!
My thinking is that since the people were all coming to this particular store, the owners kid may go there or otherwise affiliated.
Hopefully we will get a new member here and generate some feedback to the LFS.
I'm just not sure I'll ever be able to see a specimen I want to buy in person again as the locals are totally irresponsible. Mail order for me from now on.
 
Heres what you do.

Find out who'd responsible for the "project" at the school and contact him. Then go to the superintendent. Don't expect much. Explain the reason for your outrage. Offer to assist and counsel. If they refuse your offer and continue to put these fish in danger, if they continue to lead these kids in the wrong direction, raising a whole schoolful of negligent fish stewards, then you have no choice but to write a letter to your local paper c/o the editor. I did exactly that. As soon as my letter came out, I was contacted personally by the superintendent asking me to write a retraction.

The editorial column was swamped for weeks and the school project was terminated. Most of the mail was "pro-school". They just didn't "get it". I even got hate mail. Be prepared.

The local news got wind of it and did a piece. Not on the LFS, but the fact that the school was teaching fishkeeping in an irresponsible manner, that it was pointed out to them, and they refused to rectify the situation.

The news may want to interview the LFS.

Regardless of what the LFS did, the BIG issue here is that kids are being literally taught the wrong way to start and keep a reef. Its the schools responsibility to provide trained and knowledgable staff to direct these kids. Pounding irresponsibilty into these kids heads is a sin, and these kids are the ones who will be setting up reefs down the road.

This school is responsible for providing a qualified reef expert for these kids, just as they do for math, english, etc., and the fact that they have some bozo sending the kids out with a "list" is unacceptable.



THATS what ticks me off about this whole thing.

P*ss on the LFS. You can't do anything about them. This school needs to held accountable for it's actions.
 
itnerd,

You can't cure stupid, but ignorance is treatable.

Perhaps this was a call for you to volunteer at the school. Not only may you be able to lead the teachers in the right direction, but it's an opportunity to start a whole new generation of reefkeepers off on the right path. It'll take some commitment, but imo it could be very fulfilling.

jmo, fwiw, etc,
Agu

Hemmie posted while I was posting. Make it a positive experience, encourage ethical reefing, make a difference without the negative fallout Hemmie experienced !!
 
I agree with Hemmie 100%. It's the school you need to hold responsible. The LFS store is in business to make money and they'll do it any way they can. The school's job is to educate children, if word gets out that they are teaching them improperly that makes them look real bad.
 
Feelin' better

Feelin' better

I guess there is some healing in the validation I have received from RC members. I find myself in the middle of a "cause". I also find that it is worthy of my time. Thanks all
 
The negative fallout really did surprise me although it shouldnt have. It was amazing how I was portrayed as a spoil sport, and how I ruined the kids project.

It shut the project down and maybe educated a few people. Thats all you can do, take a stand and hope you touch maybe one or two people.

The thing that I never did understand is why they refused my offer to help. Working together could have made this a wonderful learning experience for everyone.

After the thing hit the local news, the nasty letters stopped, but It was pretty bad for a while. I never did retract, I continued to try to explain my position and had a few.....very few supporters. Iwas polite and to the point in my replies and rebuttals. The superintendant was a real jerk. He called me at home numerous times and almost threatened me.


Do it and do it politely and with only the facts. Hopefully they will appreciate the offer of help, but if they don't, get going on that letter and be prepared.:mad:
 
I'd say there's someone in that school who either had a tank or has a tank and "thinks" he knows what he's doing. He's the one who dreamed up this project and he probably fought quite a battle to get the school to let him do it. At this point he's going to lose face if someone comes in and says what he's doing is wrong and they know better so he's going to be exagerating his experience to the other staff to make it look like you, an outsider, don't know what you're talking about. However, if, like in Hemmie's case, the word gets out, the project gets called off rather than risk a "situation" and guess who is the troublemaker? How well it goes in this situation depends on how well you handle the ego of the one heading up the project.
 
You nailed it, Flame. Ego and saving face. The same school had a porn site (disguised as a kids site) on their approved list. The answer to that was to shut dowm internet asscess for the kids rather than admit they made a mistake. Cover it up real nice and let it die down.

Blow em in and maybe the reef teacher might learn a thing or two. If you get one or two people thinking....you can call it a success.
 
And we thought that fish and coral were so fragile, when in fact compared to the human ego they are as tough as triggers.

Don't mess with the superintendent, try and find the teacher or parent that is running the project and talk to them. They will probably love to have the help. Especially if you talk to them before going off of the deep end about how stupid it is. Try and save their face and you may save a lot of fish and educate a lot of kids and parents.

Oh, and thanks for doing this.
 
I agree Sven, but I had no luck with the teachers. I decided to go higher up before writing the letter and was shut down there too.

Maybe itnerd will have better luck than I did finding a receptive teacher. This whole thing I was involved in evolved over a long period of time, with many phonecalls made to teachers and parents before I made the decision to contact the super. He pi**ed me off so bad I decided to take it to the paper.

If itnerd can sneak in quietly to offer help tactfully, then all the better. That just didn't work for me.
 
Noobs!, i hate being in that situation, its happened to me plenty of times, all i do is shake my head and walk away.
 
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