Aquascaper
Fish Aficionado
Well, an interesting day that's led to my opinions of two LFS being reversed 
I won't name names (despite this being my intellectual property and the forum owners not being responsible for the content of my posts in any way, legal or otherwise) but we went into the LFS that we've always thought was the better one as the two frogs we bought from there on Friday both died the same night. He tested our water with a strip test and started going on about the pH being too low (6.6) as theirs was 7.2 and it must have been pH shock that killed them. I told him we test our own water with API liquid tests and the pH was 6.8 to which he replied "well the liquid tests are usually wrong as it depends on how much water you test and how many drops, strips are more accurate". I told him we did a 50% water change about 6hrs before adding the frogs (as we always do for new arrivals) using our tapwater that has a pH of 7.0 so if anything it would have been closer to 7.0 as everything in the tank is inert. We also drip acclimatised the frogs for about 60mins so pretty much did everything we could to make the transition as smooth as possible. He then told me that it was probably the 50% water change that caused the problems then as you should never changes more than 10% of the water to avoid disrupting the bacterial colony. When I pointed out that there is very little viable bacteria suspended in tank water, definitely not enough to cause a mini-cycle by removing it, he started to come up with other random excuses but finally gave us the refund. To top it all when my wife asked the best way to bring the pH up he told her that by adding crushed coral sand the pH would rise and stabilise at 7.0. This from a guy who has kept marine tanks for 30+ years
Anyway, we left and went to the other LFS as they had frogs in stock and were all geared up for the usual crappy service, mis-information, etc. but ended up pleasantly surprised when we were served by a guy who admittedly knew nothing about frogs but went and found out the pH of the water they were in, how long they'd been in stock, etc. and even bagged all 8 of them so my wife could try and sex them before choosing which 6 to get (just a shame they dont do marine).
Just goes to show you shouldn't write off a LFS forever
I won't name names (despite this being my intellectual property and the forum owners not being responsible for the content of my posts in any way, legal or otherwise) but we went into the LFS that we've always thought was the better one as the two frogs we bought from there on Friday both died the same night. He tested our water with a strip test and started going on about the pH being too low (6.6) as theirs was 7.2 and it must have been pH shock that killed them. I told him we test our own water with API liquid tests and the pH was 6.8 to which he replied "well the liquid tests are usually wrong as it depends on how much water you test and how many drops, strips are more accurate". I told him we did a 50% water change about 6hrs before adding the frogs (as we always do for new arrivals) using our tapwater that has a pH of 7.0 so if anything it would have been closer to 7.0 as everything in the tank is inert. We also drip acclimatised the frogs for about 60mins so pretty much did everything we could to make the transition as smooth as possible. He then told me that it was probably the 50% water change that caused the problems then as you should never changes more than 10% of the water to avoid disrupting the bacterial colony. When I pointed out that there is very little viable bacteria suspended in tank water, definitely not enough to cause a mini-cycle by removing it, he started to come up with other random excuses but finally gave us the refund. To top it all when my wife asked the best way to bring the pH up he told her that by adding crushed coral sand the pH would rise and stabilise at 7.0. This from a guy who has kept marine tanks for 30+ years
Anyway, we left and went to the other LFS as they had frogs in stock and were all geared up for the usual crappy service, mis-information, etc. but ended up pleasantly surprised when we were served by a guy who admittedly knew nothing about frogs but went and found out the pH of the water they were in, how long they'd been in stock, etc. and even bagged all 8 of them so my wife could try and sex them before choosing which 6 to get (just a shame they dont do marine).
Just goes to show you shouldn't write off a LFS forever
