LPS/LFS Rant

[tttnjfttt]

I started thinking tonight, why are fish stores and chain stores allowed to sell animals without checking the environment they are going into? I mean, lets think about this, if you walked into a LPS, and said I want a bird, but don't own a bird cage, they wouldn't sell you a bird. Our local animal shelter checks out prespective owners to make sure the animal will have plent of room to run around and a fence to keep it safe. I can't immagine a LPS selling a cat to anyone who would want it to catch a mouse, then leave it starve. They also teach people what they need to do for their new pets. I know my LPS has taught people to clip the wings of birds, but I doubt half the employees could tell you what the nitrogen cycle is.

Why don't LPS/LFS check what people are planing on keeping their fish in? Why not check to make sure the tank is big enough and not over stocked? They give all other animals the right to a decent life, but suddenly they are in the decorating business with little animals that swim around and around and around? Are they decorations because you don't have to worry about watching where you step?

 

[bluefire]

i just think that most people just don't think of fish the way us fishkeepers do, probably something to do with their size and the fact that there not what most poeple would call 'cute' 'fluffy' pets.

 

[Mel&Rick]

I started thinking tonight, why are fish stores and chain stores allowed to sell animals without checking the environment they are going into? I mean, lets think about this, if you walked into a LPS, and said I want a bird, but don't own a bird cage, they wouldn't sell you a bird. Our local animal shelter checks out prespective owners to make sure the animal will have plent of room to run around and a fence to keep it safe. I can't immagine a LPS selling a cat to anyone who would want it to catch a mouse, then leave it starve. They also teach people what they need to do for their new pets. I know my LPS has taught people to clip the wings of birds, but I doubt half the employees could tell you what the nitrogen cycle is.

Why don't LPS/LFS check what people are planing on keeping their fish in? Why not check to make sure the tank is big enough and not over stocked? They give all other animals the right to a decent life, but suddenly they are in the decorating business with little animals that swim around and around and around? Are they decorations because you don't have to worry about watching where you step?

[snapback]843291[/snapback]​

I was thinking about that earlier. Our tank is over stocked and the lfs knew we had a 10g and all our fish were bought there. They even asked hubby what we had before he bought the 2 sharks. I admit we are total novices but shouldn't someone working (in our case, the owner) know that 2 sharks can't go in a 10g tank???!!! Yeah, I know, we should have researched too! Now, I'm just hoping that the lfs will take back the sharks.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I was talking with my boyfriend about this same issue the other day. I was saying to him why do stores hire people who know nothing about fish. I said think about it when you go to a doctor you expect him to know what he/she is doing same as you expect a garbage person to pick up your garbage and do a good job ect ect. Why then can any Tom, Dick or Mary work at a pet store in particular the fish section and know nothing about fish? It makes no sense to me. Why is the welfare of fish not as up to standard as say birds, cats and dogs heck even mice and rats get it 10 times better in pet stores than fish do.

I'm glad you brought this subject up tttnjfttt. I just dont know what we can do about it though. I think that anyone who is considering working in a pet store should have to go to some kind of training course and have their knowledge tested. If you think about it dont almost all other types of jobs expect you to take some kind of test to see if your appropriate for the job before they hire you??

 

[Synirr]

In most cases, the LFS employees simply don't care. "The customer knows best" after all. That unfortunate fact aside, making sure every customer knows how to care for every animal they sell on a daily basis is next to impossible. I would never expect that from any LPS. My LFS sets a good example of what I do expect them to do, which is tell the customer the truth (as they know it) as to what will and will not work in a tank if the customer asks or volunteers information.

The bottom line is that it is the pet owner's responsibility to be informed about proper care for their animal, it is not the LPS's responsibility to inform you. When you buy a computer nobody asks you if you know how to operate it properly and keep it free from viruses and malware... as soon as you purchase it, it is your responsibility and not the store's.

 

[FishEnthusiast]

In most cases, the LFS employees simply don't care. "The customer knows best" after all. That unfortunate fact aside, making sure every customer knows how to care for every animal they sell on a daily basis is next to impossible. I would never expect that from any LPS. My LFS sets a good example of what I do expect them to do, which is tell the customer the truth (as they know it) as to what will and will not work in a tank if the customer asks or volunteers information.

The bottom line is that it is the pet owner's responsibility to be informed about proper care for their animal, it is not the LPS's responsibility to inform you. When you buy a computer nobody asks you if you know how to operate it properly and keep it free from viruses and malware... as soon as you purchase it, it is your responsibility and not the store's.

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I agree. Most places I go to do ask questions of their customers. They will try to dissuade people from overstocking and/or putting fish into less than ideal conditions. But in the end, it is what the customer wants. I am sure employees could refuse to sell say an arrowana to someone with a 10G tank, but for the most part, the bottom line prevails.

In cases like larger chain stores, the bottom line always prevails. It simply isn't in their best interest to hire knowledgable people. It is in their best interest to hire the cheapest labour possible. Sadly that is the way a corporation works, and survives.

 

[Ami]

My LFS (and they're a good one too!) had a couple in there at the weekend buying an entire stock.

The couple went around the store, chose neons, platys, a common plec, a pair of RTBS and a few others. I didn't once hear anyone ask the size, whether the tank was cycled if they had experience or explain how big the plec & RTBS's would get or how eaten anything else would get!

I was totally surprised by this, too surprised to even question it I admit.
)

I think however that most LFS presume that people buying fish already have experience of fishkeeping and wait to be asked questions before giving their advice.

I know for a fact that my LFS are excellent on the advice front as they always answer all my questions and their answers are spot on, but when I first went in there no-one asked me any questions.

 

[jollysue]

The lfs that I most often use does a good job. I have always been warned and instructed on overcrowding, fish compatability, fish size, tank collapse, stress and desease, and cycling. I have always asked. I do get different answers from different sales people. Nevertheless, they are all fish keepers and care about the little and the big guys. I may see a dead one once in a while, but I don't see them stacked up like cord wood or half eaten up with ich and no one knows nothin' in unquarantined tanks.

It is hard to instruct a novice. At least I don't understand everything, and I was hard to instruct. Sometimes I think it's more important to get people started and deal with each problem as it comes along. Too much information is overload. Some people will quit when things go wrong, but if I had known how much I would spend and how much was involved, I might not have started. There is one feeder fish still alive, about 5" or 6" long, living with pampered fancy orandas today who would have been a breakfast bite for a red oscar last winter if anyone had told me what I was getting into. Someday he might make it to a pond if his luck holds.

(There are also a few little guys that might have made it a little longer if they hadn't been my first little guys.)

 

[debiasir]

at the end of the day LFS are business and are open to make a profit. Its like a garage selling a car without looking into if the driver will speed in it.

The only way around it is to do extensive homework prior to going into the LFS. I am not saying dont trust the LFS employees as there are loads of LFS and LFS employees doing a brilliant job. but the majority are looking for a profit and will sell you anything to make that profit as once out the dorr the problem is not theirs but yours.