The boys at Beldts do it again

[fastford]

Just got back from Beldts and picked up my new friends for my 180. NICE 5" powder Blue Awsome fish and a Blonde Naso. I mean these are some of the nicest fish I have seen in any fish store. Tim and Dayrel got to hand pick all the fish and corals and they did an excellent Job. I also picked up a Mated pair of gold banded Marron clowns. My tank is now complete.

Blonde Naso
Powder Blue Tang
Blue Hippo Tang
Sailfin Tang
Tiger stripe Fire angle
Coral beauty
Mated pair marron clowns
Red Sea Purple Tang
Thats it my tank is complete I llove this tank its AWSOME!!! Pictures to follow... once everyone get setteled.

 

[zt444a]

Did you add all those fish at once?

 

[fastford]

Ya I bought them yesterday and tossed them in right into the tank...

No silly thats everything I got in the tank...

 

[rccub23]

i agree. i have always had good luck there. most of the people who work there, know whats going on.

 

[dphins]

Do you have a large skimmer on that tank? If not, you're going to need one.

 

[Cldormer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12128293#post12128293 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fastford
Ya I bought them yesterday and tossed them in right into the tank...

No silly thats everything I got in the tank...

Well...it is a LFS.

My only time in Beldt's a few years ago- a father with his 4 year old daughter were in there picking up some "stuff" for their 29g they had set up just a week prior.

He bought a huge $80 Lionfish, a $30 small Purple Lobster, a $60 Torch coral that was "cool and wavy", a $50 brain coral,a $40 gorgonian, and get this medium -2 $29 yellow tangs!! But no CUC.?!?-"Snails are boring." I heard him say......

And this girl just kept on bagging this stuff up-she never asked the guy anything about his set-up, lighting ,size of tank,anything. She was just seeing dollar $ign$.

I had to ask this guy what all this was going in and when he told me a 29g I had to restrain myself......LMAO. So I then asked about how long it was set up and his daughter chimed in that he'd set it up last week for her birthday.....ouch. Maybe she enjoys flushing the toilet too......lol. I offered him some advice on WAITING on the corals but he assured me everything would be fine because he had the "blue bulbs" and the fine folks in the store had sold him 20lbs of live rock and some Bio-Spira to kick things off!

I'm not bashing Beldt's here but I knew from that experience I needed to shop elsewhere. Hopefully things have drastically changed there in the last couple of years.

I know it's the responsibility of the buyer to research and make sure he can keep the animals-but come on this was a noob who basically threw over $300 right out the window-(even though I tried to discourage him). If the store would have tried to steer him in the right direction I would have understood. Maybe $20 bucks on some damsels.......but $300?

 

[paulamrein]

We have to research and study up on the things we buy, as you said. And I'm sure if you couldn't convince them out of their purchase, what would have the worker been able to do? There is a chance the worker could have been new, or not familiar with the SW section. A place like beldts that has all kinds of animals I'm sure all of them aren't experts in each section. I for one couldn't tell you what the requirements are for snakes or lizards. I'm sure that nothing survived from their purchase. I'm sure also they either got fed up on having fish die and either gave up or researched. I think everyone would be surprised at the amount of fish and animals leave the LFS to certain doom. There is the business side to ALL LFS' and I'm sure that at the end of the day, any given LFS would have had a case like that. You may have only heard a part of the conversation where the worker tried to sway them. And the guy had no part of it. It's illegal to refuse sale, so what do you do?

 

[Cldormer]

fastford-let's see those pics you know the rule-no pics no fish!

paulamrein- true on everything you've said. I must admit I didn't hear everything but I don't think I missed much because he was only in the store like 15 minutes tops- I was there 2 hours.....lol.

On the refuse to sell situation- I've personally heard a LFS owner in Memphis tell a guy in a similar situation that he wouldn't sell him a bunch of fish because of a 14 day replacement garuntee. i.e."I'm not going to let you take the fish home, kill them and then expect me to replace them." But this LFS had done the set up on the guys aquarium like 2 weeks before. I just think the guy in Beldt's would have listened to the employee instead of some joe schmoe with a bad southern drawl......lol.

 

[slimer1]

I think things at Belts has changed quite a bit sence Daryle and Tim took over and theyre tanks look good and the stock looks great I recently traded some corals in after they came back. for a powder blue tang and a beautiful coral beauty and a small percula clown added to my tank and there doing great. no stress ick or anything . I don`t have a digital camera or I would post pics . But anyone who wishes is welcome to come by and see for themselves .

 

[scubabill]

I agree beldts seems to have things going on the right track as compared to the previous owners.

 

[frenchie]

thats my new favorite lfs, i been there every saturday for past 4 weeks, everyone is very helpful there, great customer service.

 

[fastford]

Kinda Harsh dont you think.... Do you get advise from the gas station attendant when you buy gas? Dont you know that Alcohol is bad for your fuel injectors and rubber fuel lines???? I cant belive the gas station attendant lets you pump that gas... Now isnt that rediculious????? Beldts is an Excellent store with a very experienced staff. I just dont think that they have to be judge jury and advocate when a customer is buying.

Jason

YES I have a ASMG4+ skimmer works like a champ.

 

[dwillis]

LFS Responsibilities

LFS Responsibilities

As a former store manager for a LFS in Kansas City, I was adamant that my employees understand the customer's situation before giving them advice about purchases. I always stressed that happy customers were long term customers and over the long haul would spend much more money in our store. I can't say that we never made mistakes in what we sold to customers but we definitely made an effort to be honest with our customers. We worked hard to establish a good reputation and then to maintain it. Anything else would be foolish and short sighted.