I don't understand why it bothers people on here if we talk about this subject. If you don't want to hear about it, don't look at the thread in the first place. If you are worried about getting sued, don't mention names or don't post.
I personaly agree with Boxcar Muzzdogg - particularly concerning word of mouth. Most beginners have no idea about how misleading or even cruel many LFSs are and it helps to post things like this to make it clear. Plus it encourages people to take a stand and to try to do something about what's going on. And you can't argue that there are no threads complimenting LFSs - I have read many on here about how nice the local fish store is or how much its improved etc and that also encourages people to give their LFS feedback and let them know when they are happy with what has been done or changed to encourage the lFSs to improve further.
Still, I understand that some people may not feel like posting their worst experiences over and over again
Me included. This is a completely different matter though and, as I haven't participated much in similar threads, I'll make an exception this time...
I think the most memorable (though not the worst) thing I have witnessed was a tinfoil barb with a very serious case of fungus. The fungus went all around its tail base so that it looked like the tail was no longer attached to the body. It also was fungused around the gill area. The fish was actualy still very active and was about 8" - it also happened to be in what was barely over a 20 gallon. 30 at most. The same day I tried to have a couple of male opaline gouramies mvoed because they were fighting. The employee refused - claiming they'd 'eat the small fish' if moved into a tank with some cories and white clouds. Realy he just couldn't be bothered to catch one. Then there's all the plecs I've seen - floating at the surface, upside down. For some reason, large, dead plecs realy get to me. Listening to LFS employees suggesting 8 goldfish for a 2 gallon, uncycled, unfiltered, newly-purchased bowl also is rather annoying ( a bit of an udnerstatement there). It's even more frustrating when the customer refuses to listen when you try to explain about how cruel doing that would be. I have sinse started typing up a realy detailed guide on caring for goldfish and all the myths. Once it's done, I plan to stand outside this LFS and use it to discourage customers from buying those poor fish. Incompatible fish being bought to be put in teh same tank or in the wrong size tank (3 kissing gouramies for a 10 gallon!) also bothers me and it's even worse when youc an see the employee isn't going to say a word about it. Oh but the most cruel thing has to be dyed fish - for obvious reasons. They are undoubtedly the fish that go through the most suffering - even before they are exposed to disease and bad stocking in an LFS or after being purchased.
