Why my Local Fish Store sucks

[Scubajoe1]

Not sure how many other people have local fish stores in which you as a hobbyist have a wealth more knowledge about reef keeping than they do.

I went to my store the other day for some frozen food which is about the only thing I will buy from them anymore....actually I ended up going to another store because they ****ed me off so much.

I took some aquarium water there so I could see what they come up with for Ca and nitrates. I have several kits and know my nitrates are about 1-2 ppm and my Ca measurement taken that day with the hanna kit was 448 ppm. I am pretty anal about knowing my test kits are working as they should so as chemist I made up a standard of 400 ppm Ca in the lab.

Hanna result:....

396 ppm. Yes I will settle for that accuracy every time.

So I measure my tank 2X and got 448 and like 446. I take my water to the local reef store and they are like....your nitrates are about 10-20 pretty low and your Ca is on the low side at 400 ppm. This is for my tank water....I did not give them the standard to measure mind you. So they are telling me 400 ppm and it's really about 450 ppm.

Moral of the story is make sure you know and trust your local fish store and don't take their word as written in stone.

OK that's my rant for the day.

 

[seamonster124]

I am just happy we still have Local fish stores. Enjoy it while you can. Test your own water and don't expect too much from employees of stores. They just work there, they stock shelves. Owner of the store is barely making his bills.

What I'm complaining about is why drones are not delivering fish and corals to my door steps yet.

 

[FullBoreReefer]

Maybe their kits were a little older and have more variance than your Hanna. Weather its 400 or 450 both is ok imo.

 

[shifty51008]

Depends on what test kits they use, how old they are ect. But i wouldnt say their 400ppm reading isnt bad that is why you should test your own water to begin with. Remember most people that work at a pet store are there for a job they are not hobbiest.

 

[level65druid]

I hate going into local stored and just ignore it all together, they don't greet you, they don't care unless your a big time customer. Most of the time the clerk knows less then the average hobbyist. I went into a lfs the other day and they had trio of lyretail anthais one male and 2 females. I was interesed in purchasing a single female. He basically told me buy all 3 or buy none that he won't split it up. So he has bunch of diseased looking fish in most of his tanks and he will not move a fish because he doesn't want to split up a $20 fish. I just laughed and walked out. 99% of LFs don't last simply because the owners have no idea what their doing and they only want to cater to the well known and big spenders and don't care about the average joe.

 

[Scubajoe1]

Don't get me wrong now...there are some really great stores out there who actually care about the hobby and genuinely know what they are doing. But there are those that just care about making a buck.

 

[Xxero]

What I'm complaining about is why drones are not delivering fish and corals to my door steps yet.

:lmao::lmao::lmao:

 

[countryboy12484]

I'm very lucky we have multiple good reef stores in my area.

 

[Allentown]

I am just happy we still have Local fish stores. Enjoy it while you can. Test your own water and don't expect too much from employees of stores. They just work there, they stock shelves. Owner of the store is barely making his bills.

What I'm complaining about is why drones are not delivering fish and corals to my door steps yet.

^^^^^This. I went into a long rant a couple weeks ago about complaints about my LFS and i am not going into that again.

However....we are quick to complain when we have a grip and slow to compliment them for the services they do provide us with. I buy all my live stock, some equipment and from now on, my salt from Bobs Tropical fish in Augusta GA.

You know what? I can't even remember the last time i brought home a fish from that store that had ich, it has not happened in the last 5 years. In that 5 years, only one fish that i bought from them had a premature death that i could be attributed to poor handling and shipping: A yellow tang. That's it, no others.

To that i say Kudos and thank you. That's what i want out of my LFS and that is what they deliver! I ordered some salt online and it was all caked up..should have thrown it away but instead i was rewarded with a bacterial bloom. The salt i get from Bobs....fresh and dry. Its $15.00 more a bucket than online and worth every penny.

My refractometer was reading 1.025 and they were telling me 1.022. I started to go on a rant but instead ordered some calibration fluid and checked my refractometer. It was off and what i thought was 1.025/1.026 read 1.023 after recalibration. They had it right.

Diff test kits and diff users can yield slightly diff results but that's the diff between you using your kit which you are intimately familiar with and them doing a mass produced el cheapo "read the card" type test (I assume).

Some times they are very friendly and some times i can tell they are sort of bidding me a good day to ship me off...they have other customers to attend to and people don't like waiting. That's business. Would I like more advice/consulting type services from them...yes i would even reimburse for things i might have needed help with, but remember, they aren't paid to be your personal liason. They are paid to ring up your purchase and answer basic elementary questions (usually to morons who ask stupid questions all day).

Again, i am not trying to shill for LFS...do a search and look at a recent rant i recently posted with all my gripes about them.

However, i am saying...there are TWO sides to this and we would do well to consider both view points.