Bad Advice

[my fat fish]

well ther was a thread recently asking us what stupid things we have done whilst keping fish and im sure its helped others avoid the same mistakes

now lets hear what sort of bad advice and information places have given you

the worst i have had is my LFS tryed sellin me tank and fish in same day luckily i had a litle bit of sence and thought abut heating he water (this is when i was new) so i left it and consukted the forums here

 

[goldencomet]

at one fs ages ago we got a 30l tank for two fancies (which they said was ok) and they gave us food for algae eaters (corys ect.). I also remember on of the staff at a local garden centre left the lid of one of the goldfish tank and 2 jumped out overnight and died, and at pets at home one of the staff was telling someone common plec are okay for a biorb

 

[KimA]

Being sold a Common Plec (given another name for it and told it was a slow grower/would only get to about 6") for a 180L tank - was rehomed shortly.

 

[InaneCathode]

Petco lady: "I just can't keep puffers alive, i don't know why, i wouldnt buy one if i were you"
Me: "You know they're brackish fish right?"
Petco lady: "Brackish?"
me: "..."

Recently.

 

[kev350d]

Its not so much the bad advice, its more so the lack of that troubles me at alot of the bigger LFS especially the pet stores where a sub section is dedicated to fish" cough cough pets at home cough cough"

 

[InaneCathode]

Its not so much the bad advice, its more so the lack of that troubles me at alot of the bigger LFS especially the pet stores where a sub section is dedicated to fish" cough cough pets at home cough cough"

Cough cough petco petsmart cough

Edit: I was suprised after visiting my rather knowledgeable lfs when the fish guy told me nitrate is toxic to aquatic plants

 

[Flumpus]

Oh my gosh, some places give bad advice?! That's SHOCKING!

Petco lady: "I just can't keep puffers alive, i don't know why, i wouldnt buy one if i were you"
Me: "You know they're brackish fish right?"
Petco lady: "Brackish?"
me: "..."

You realize not all puffers are brackish, right?

 

[keepsfalling]

Oh my gosh, some places give bad advice?! That's SHOCKING!

Petco lady: "I just can't keep puffers alive, i don't know why, i wouldnt buy one if i were you"
Me: "You know they're brackish fish right?"
Petco lady: "Brackish?"
me: "..."

You realize not all puffers are brackish, right?

I think InaneCathode may merely have been horrified that the Petco lady didn't know/hadn't heard of the word Brackish!!

 

[InaneCathode]

Oh my gosh, some places give bad advice?! That's SHOCKING!

Petco lady: "I just can't keep puffers alive, i don't know why, i wouldnt buy one if i were you"
Me: "You know they're brackish fish right?"
Petco lady: "Brackish?"
me: "..."

You realize not all puffers are brackish, right?

Yes, but she was pointing at a tank stuffed with fig 8 puffers. (like 20 in a 10 gallon)
She also said the reason most of the puffers are missing portions of their tails is because that's how they grow. I informed her they bite eachother's tails off, and she told me fish don't have teeth.

 

[puppyduck]

We were told to kill a fish who had swimbladder problems to put him out of his misery.

He recovered, though died from shock I believe when we put him in the main tank too early after a huge ammonia spike in his hospital tank and then basically froze him alive when we did a waterchange and put him back in the hospital tank.

If we had left him, he probably wouldve made it.

Better than bumping our fish off because he swims a bit dodgy.


Mentioning no names here. Bit mean to say who it was.

 

[sharkbaitwoohaha]

pets at home hav trouble cos most have all thier aquatics on the same level as their other stuff and any idiotcan wonder over. we have it on a mezzanine floor all of its on with a dedicated staff and this is bcoming increasingly the case

on the basis of bad advice. for a 60l tank.... you can either put one large fish in or loads of small ones.it will only grow to the ize of the tank anyway.

not so much bd advice as just bad. world of water in the garden centre by me and while i was there sold an 8cm is shub for about an 8 litre bowl. and i was just in disbelief.

and someone telling me that you cant overdose on melafix... put as much as you want in.

 

[thefirethief]

I know it cant be easy for employees who have to repeat the 'cycling a new tank' process 5 or 10 times in a day but surely the solution is to point all clueless customers to the book section and advise them to spend a few quid on a basic book first. Either that or print up a simple one page guide on cycling and basic filtration and explaining how different fish require different requirements along with a list some recommended reading and give that to anyone who doesnt know where to start.

Of course thats all very easy for me to say when Im not relying on selling fish as an income to pay my mortgage or feed my children.


The thing that worries me is what appears to be standard stock in aquarium shops when the fish clearly require specialised care and/or huge set ups. Im talking about most plecos, pacus, oscars.... you get the idea.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

was browsing in an lfs (that i no longer frequent) about 8 months ago no. overheard this exchange

customer - 'i've had my tank 2 weeks, there's a problem with my filter, the flow rate's dropped'
shop boy - 'oh that's your media, it needs changing every week, here let me show you where you can buy some more'



doubt the tank was even fully cycled after 2 weeks, and for it to be bloking up after 2 weeks it's probably massivley overstocked....... let alone sending the tank into a brand new cycle every week by changing all the media

 

[sharkbaitwoohaha]

i have to admit that im the only person in our shop who knows about fishless cycling and most still offer 5 neons to cycle which annoys the hell out of me. we are getting better though. but through our own efforts.
i have to say that ihate selling goldfish cos i dont think people should be allowed to keep them cos they dont understand them.
the amount of abuse you get from customers who wont listen sometimes is upsetting though. and people who pull their faces when you say no to keepng a goldfish ina vase or something. they say, well thats where i kept my fish from the fair. i say, how long did it live? and they either go quiet cos it as obviously about 48hours or say, oh, it was old, i got a good few months out of it like. and i say, you do know thatthey live 20 - 40 years?

 

[mr williams]

My lfs offers a free "aquatest" facility. Its the equivilent of the "free tyre test" at the local garage. After achieveing a rating of 76% i was directed to all sorts of buffers treatments ect... I ignored all advice and have never had any trouble. Sometimes I think they overcomplicate things a bit....