Total Stranger /overheard Bad Lfs Advice/ I Intervened!

[FishFanatic04]

I was in my Local "Chain" Store today, and overheard a conversation with a customer and employee. Let's call the employee "Pam" to simplify. The customer will be called "she" {I won't be too harsh, this was some person who was hired for a job, regardless of fish knowledge}

She was 5 weeks in on her first tank ever. She had lost some fish, but the rest were starting to do pretty good. She had been doing weekly water changes. She didn't know about cycling until now. The first thing I heard...Pam told her that she should NEVER do weekly changes because it starts your tank over. Then Pam said once a month and only small amounts are ok for water changing. Pam then handed the woman a bottle of PH down. she told her that a ph of 7.8 is so high that no fish could live in it.

Just to be clear...this store uses the same water supply as me, and the ph is 8.0. To prove that point, I have previously tested the water the last time I bought a fish there. 8.0.

Anyway, after a bottle of stress zyme and a few other things were added to Pam's hands, I was reading food labels just to stay nearby without being creepy

Once Pam had left the area, I turned to "She" and said...."I hope you don't mind, but you have just received some terrible advice.... I told her that water changes are a GOOD thing...{skipping the details, we all know why they are good} I explained that stable PH is better then messing with it all the time. blah, blah blah. I tried to leave it very simple. It's overwhelming when you are new and needing advice {which I know all too well} I was quick, to the point, and the last thing I said was that if she went online, there were some great forums that had really experienced people who could answer her questions.


I feel like I crossed a line, but at the same time...I hope I did some good. This same fish store told me to do monthly water changes when I first started out, luckily I looked for better advice and landed here.

 

[`Peter]

Probably would have done the same thing. Wow at that employee just SMH.

 

[soybean]

Tell the employee too... The customer is always right, she can't walk away from you either

 

[FishFanatic04]

lol I should have. I know some of the other people who work there and always talk openly.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

I've done a similar thing before now. An older couple (I think it was the guy's hobby and just a supportive partner) had set up a fish tank and went in to ask my local LFS (their staff are usually very helpful as far as chain pet store staff go) and they asked a member of staff that was walking through the aquatics section. Bless her, she must've been new. The employee panicked a little I think as the guy wondered what cloudy water meant so to her relief I stepped in since I overheard and said it was probably bacterial bloom in their water which was a good thing and they should do a 10% weekly water change, regardless of the fact that there's no fish in the tank yet, blah blah blah.

In my local LFS they have employed a couple of actual fish keepers so the advice I received was near enough spot on when I double checked online before now. I think this particular employee was new, didn't work on the department and panicked.

I think it's important that fish keepers - whatever their age, gender, taste in fish is like - receive good advice rather than false or misinformed advice.

 

[FishLover66]

You definitely did the right thing. I would have said something too. That poor person is trying to do the right thing and mistakenly thinks that she's getting good advice.

 

[Jakey02578]

They just want money. They will try anything!

 

[FishFanatic04]

I think it was more of an issue with lack of knowledge and training. There was no malicious intent.

 

[Mowbz]

I would have done the same, then let them make their own mind up.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

I would have done the same, then let them make their own mind up.


tomtomt1230 - Whip that store name out. Corporate slander on forums costs thousands buddy, and mods will close off the thread

Thanks pal, didn't have my thinking head on

 

[Mowbz]

Thanks pal, didn't have my thinking head on

No worries, stops it getting shut if anything.

 

[OldMan47]

You did not cross any line FF04. I am sure that many of us have done similar things when we heard bad advice, especially in a "big box" store. What I would have preferred is that you specifically refer that customer here. I am a member of many fish forums but have found terrible advice on many of them and decent information on a few others that I actually still frequent. We take the effort here to correct bad advice that sometimes happens when people believe what they read elsewhere. It is not that we are all "superior" but rather that we care about the quality of advice people get here. If we see something a bit off, we almost always will step in and correct it to get people back on track. We have even gone so far recently as to call people on their bad advice and demand that they provide proof of their assertions. Again it is not because we like the confrontations but that we want to give the best advice we can. If that person can give scientific evidence to prove me wrong, I will always concede that it is better advice. As I said already, I am no scientist. I am a hobbyist that relies completely on the research that has been done by real scientists and tries to interpret that to make it understandable to a new hobbyist. If I succeed, and to the extent that I succeed, people are helped. If I fail and nobody corrects me, the poor hobbyist is left with nothing but poor advice. Keep on trying FF04 but do refer people to TFF. There are just too many other forums with a lesser drive to achieve top quality advice.

 

[Gilli]

Yes I did the same thing a few years back and got slated on this forum by a lot of people for it defending the shop assistant and the thread got closed!I know a lot of shops dont train their assistants properly but surely basic knowledge should be known.

The fish shop assistant was giving totally wrong info about setting up a new aquarium. He told the buyer to put some dechlor. in the water wait a few days then come back and fill with fish! Said nothing about bacteria filter, cycling, water changes or testing the water etc. When the customer had left I asked why they had given such bad advise and why they were not told about cycling a tank and why did he not get them to buy a water testing kit, he just said I havent been told to do that!!?

I was really angry because im sick to death of fish dying and suffering because of bad advise! Shops that sell live animals should have some responsibility to try and ensure their welfare, but because they are just fish it doesnt matter - makes my blood boil!! A simple leaflet explaining all given with all new tanks would save a lot of suffering - I know not everyone would read it but a lot would!

 

[smokeyjo]

1 thing to remember is that this paticular piece of bad advice is that its was probally down to bad training on the stores part. But yeah I would of done the same thing

 

[FishFanatic04]

You did not cross any line FF04. I am sure that many of us have done similar things when we heard bad advice, especially in a "big box" store. What I would have preferred is that you specifically refer that customer here. I am a member of many fish forums but have found terrible advice on many of them and decent information on a few others that I actually still frequent. We take the effort here to correct bad advice that sometimes happens when people believe what they read elsewhere. It is not that we are all "superior" but rather that we care about the quality of advice people get here. If we see something a bit off, we almost always will step in and correct it to get people back on track. We have even gone so far recently as to call people on their bad advice and demand that they provide proof of their assertions. Again it is not because we like the confrontations but that we want to give the best advice we can. If that person can give scientific evidence to prove me wrong, I will always concede that it is better advice. As I said already, I am no scientist. I am a hobbyist that relies completely on the research that has been done by real scientists and tries to interpret that to make it understandable to a new hobbyist. If I succeed, and to the extent that I succeed, people are helped. If I fail and nobody corrects me, the poor hobbyist is left with nothing but poor advice. Keep on trying FF04 but do refer people to TFF. There are just too many other forums with a lesser drive to achieve top quality advice.

I did think of that in the car afterward. I should have written the name of the forum somewhere so she could look it up specifically, but she was looking so overwhelmed as it is. I just tried to correct the biggest problems and leave it at that.


I never meant this thread as a slander against a store, I'm glad it didn't head that way. It's just a fact that the people working in chain stores won't have the knowledge that a hobbyist takes years to acquire. It is not a job that requires a college degree. It's not fair to the fish, or the people wasting money in the beginning, but it's still a fact. I go into fish stores after doing my own research now, and I share what I have learned when the employees are telling me something obviously wrong.

My petco fish specialist told me the other day that anubias plants are not fully aquatic because they sell them in the tubes. I just showed her a picture of my anubias plants in my tank. No reason to be rude or harsh, and now she knows they are aquatic and can be tied to wood.