What would you do in this situation ?

[Wrench]

Ok, so I'm at the LFS killing some time one night. I see a younger couple walk in and ask one of the guys about starting a new reef tank because the woman wants a Nemo and an Anemone So the guy shows them a tank and a stand setup yadda yadda yadda. Then he gets to the setup aspect. Tells them to get an inch or so of sand and CC. Says they'll need a "couple pounds of live rock. It's expensive so you don't need that much". No mention of flow or a skimmer. No mention of a cylce. He said to set it up and once the salinity is right to add fish and corals. Keep in mind that they have a canopy picked out that holds two standard flourescent bulbs

Do you;

a.)keep your mouth shut. Let them get ripped of and say tough s**t, that's what they get for being stupid. Then we end up with abused and dead livestock and someone turned off from the hobby.

b.) or do you catch them in the parking lot and tell them how it should be done properly? Here we also run the risk of turning them off from the hobby because they're intimidated by the cost and complexity of a proper reef tank.

 

[dr_d02]

Catch them w/o the salesman and tell them "your friend" had a lot of trouble starting out the way the salesman described. Recommend a book (Paletta? Fenner?) and say it really helped you and "your friend." You are just some nosey know-it-all and the salesman is a fish-keeping professional, in their eyes, especially if you spend 20 minutes trying to explain everything they need to know.

Providing them with a way to reduce mistakes is noble and concientous.

 

[coralfever]

I would go with B. If the they are turned off then it wasn't meant to be. They should know the facts before waisting money at the LFS, and killing off livestock. Maybe suggesting a good beginer book or two would help greatly.

 

[davocean]

I personally have told people in the lot to Check here on RC, or have given better suggestions.
Of course that hasn't made me popular w/ one of my LFS!
But that was also the guy that sold me PC's, a Prizm skimmer, a Bakpac, a Rio...
I remember what it felt like to spend your hard earned$ on what turned out to be junk, hate to see others go through that.

 

[Wrench]

They didn't seem "computer savvy", lol. Lots of people I reccomend to this site don't have a clue what a forum is. I didn't want to interfere with the LFS's business. I've had customers at my shop contradict my advice and it's disrespectful in my eyes. But in this case we're talking about the ethics of responsible fishkeeping and abusing animals.

 

[supervdl]

I agree - you should catch them outside the shop and tell them to do some research etc. That's all you can do and you don't make a scene in the shop which wouldn't help the situation.