whats the worst thing a lfs has told you?

[Pufferpunk]

I was waiting for RTR to pipe in on that one.

[bertie 83]

I thought he might also lol. Was in the fish shop that is 2 mins away today, spotted a silver arrowana in a small tank.Thought it was time for a laugh and asked for some info, after suggesting it looks like it would grow large i was told: it will grow to the size of the tank,it is a perfect small comunity fish,will live on flake food,90 litres is fine as it will happily live in a smaller tank,zero aggression even to small fish etc etc etc. So i decided a major beast was in order lol. These grow to well over a meter and are3 predatory etc etc etc. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Annaxox]

I was told that marine salt and aquarium salt were the same thing and that marine salt was more expensive because they had succeeded in tricking people into thinking it was better -slams head into wall-

[P4radigm]

About the worst has simply been recommending fish that are too large for the tank I say they're going into. Such as a Dragon Goby for a 29 (I should've known better; I tried google on my phone but I didn't have signal). It was an impulse buy...

Given, that same employee also reminded me that they came in fresh, and they're kept in fresh, but that they'd need to be acclimated to BW and can't be dumped in it suddenly. He also recommended sinking pellets and bloodworms. So not all his advice was off.

Not like I really have options. Only petstore (actually, that's the ONLY petstore) that stocks fish is 1hr 20 minutes away, and that's the LFS in question. Next one out would probably be about 2-3 hours, which is far too long of a drive for fish. There was a PetLand in a mall a bit over an hour away but it went out of business, I'm not really sad to see them and their dogs confined in tiny crates go. I just hope the dogs they had found good homes before they closed.

[RTR]

Yup, I am so predictable...

surlaW!

I just do not understand absurd lying to customers. What is the point? Fish are addictive - if their first tank works, folks are quite likely to add more tanks. If their "community" set-ups are killinh ground and unmanageable, the tank will be on Craig's list or the next yard sale.

[puffpaddy]

Worst piece of info I have ever been fed was: "you don't need biozyme, there is no such thing as cycling your tank".. Even me, as the newb I am, looked at the guy and was awe-struck.

[sevenyearnight]

You'll need metal halide lighting for "Real Reef" live rock.

[I.Puff.Too]

The only LFS I go to is pretty good, although they do house GSP's and F8's together. They give good advice, but their prices are kinda high.

[Annaxox]

I need to add to my post because of what I experienced today. I went to pick up a gsp today at the only place anywhere near where I lived that carried them and I think if I had opened my mouth I'd be in jail right now. xD The guy refused to sell me snails for a breeding program because 'snails will kill your puffer' and advised a meal of frozen krill instead. He also told me I would be killing my puffer if I raised my salinity past 1.008 =O and should keep him in freshwater for best outcome. And seriously, though the tanks looked clean everything outside of them was grimy and dirty. It was just gross being there. I will never go back LOL

[RTR]

When I got my first GSPs, I was told the same things. We have not made much progress in almost 50 years, have we?

I already had the pest snails (Ramshorns and common pond) - I used them to eat xs food in Cichlid rearing tanks. Thee snails obviously multiplied and another breeder told me to get a tank of GSPs to eat the exess, they would thrive on them. They did. They looked great, beautiful color, got along well with their conspecifics in their tank (which was kept well - for FW). They just never grew at all. Do you think it might have been, 1) FW, 2) overcrowded (4 in a 20), or 3) ignorance? I vote for all of the above.

I was not born knowing how to keep fish. I learned the hard way, just like everybody else.

[Salmon]

Most people underfeed their puffers, which is the main reason they end up dying.

[RTR]

I actually tink that most people overfeed their puffers. But i do agree that many to most nonTPF hobbyists feed them improperly.

[Reaperpilot2014]

I was at Petco buying bone for my dog, and noticed that they had a nasty case of ich in all of their Danio and Platy tanks. I saw the manager and told him, to which he replied, "They're probably just shedding their scales." What?...

[xvCODY]

The big GSP i rescued a few months ago had terrible ich, waaaaay overgrown teeth and was in a 10g tank with about 20 gouramis. The guy working was like "He's pretty healthy" even though his stomach was black. Same guy thats getting an alligator for a pet >.>

[Reaperpilot2014]

What's the world coming to when LFSs don't even seem to know about ich. Or alligator ownership for that matter lol.