Was At The Fish Shop Yesterday......

[TallTree01]

It wasn't really a fish shop it was an exotic pet store and any way, this bloke with his son and daughter walked in. They said to the attendant that they were there to do the whole lot. So they went ahead and purchased a 30 liter aquarium and filter. They picked up the cheap ornaments you always see at pet stores ( e.g fluorescent castles ). Then they headed to the fish. I was behind the fish food shelves and I looked over the top at the bloke and his kids. Alarm bells went off in my head.... They were heading for the cichlids. 5 mins later they got the attendant to get out their fish. They had chosen ( horror music plays ) 2 oscars , 12 neon tetras and 2 pictus catfish. So they went ahead and purchased these fish without a heater and headed on out the store. Anyone had similar experiences?

 

[Baccus]

Not quite that bad, but I have seen people make some scary choices and nobody let them know it wont work.

 

[KrystaK]

Gold fish for a 5 gal is about the worst, I've heard...
 
No the worst is buying gold fish for some bachelor party game  
 
When I was very little I remember we had a gold fish and a single zebra danio in a 3 gal... They both lived for three years :O

 

[Shaucid]

All I have to say is good luck to those poor tetras.

 

[Clearwaters]

A friend worked in a fish shop for a while and they had a problem with people coming in buying "nemos" just after the cartoon came out, had a lot of angry customers returning in a few hours after they had died in fish bowls!!!!!! So after that they had to start vetting all customers on what tanks they had running before buying.

 

[Baccus]

Even now in my local pet shop I hear kids begging and throwing tantrums because they want a " Nemo",  thankfully most parents realise that they are salty fish since the pet shop has the marine away from the fresh. Also the guy who is mostly in charge of the marine is pretty switched on to the species he is selling and their requirements.

 

[frapadoodle]

Other than every year when classes begin at UGA the Wal-Mart getting a hundred or so bettas and betta cubes.

The help at the chain stores saying any fish will be fine in any size tank.
Saying that goldfish and tropicals are fine together. Saying African chiclids are community fish.

 

[TallTree01]

 
No the worst is buying gold fish for some bachelor party game O

That's nasty stuff...

 

[the_lock_man]

All I have to say is good luck to those poor tetras.

 
Can't see the Oscars lasting long in a 30l, tbh

 

[scotty]

It wasn't really a fish shop it was an exotic pet store and any way, this bloke with his son and daughter walked in. They said to the attendant that they were there to do the whole lot. So they went ahead and purchased a 30 liter aquarium and filter. They picked up the cheap ornaments you always see at pet stores ( e.g fluorescent castles ). Then they headed to the fish. I was behind the fish food shelves and I looked over the top at the bloke and his kids. Alarm bells went off in my head.... They were heading for the cichlids. 5 mins later they got the attendant to get out their fish. They had chosen ( horror music plays ) 2 oscars , 12 neon tetras and 2 pictus catfish. So they went ahead and purchased these fish without a heater and headed on out the store. Anyone had similar experiences?

 
 
unfortunately this practice will continue,as long as there is a demand and stores make profit

 

[Mikey1]

pet stores love people like that....when they walk through the door the owners see a huge dollar sign with clothes on....they will be back to buy plenty more fish in the near future, along with water treatments etc etc

 

[attibones]

Today I went into my LFS to pick up a few live plants and get a new taller plastic one for the back, and I had to ask the girl working the fish department a question. Ahead of me in the line was this couple who had just moved to my city. They purchased 106 dollars worth of African cichlids (way too many!), made it seem like they still hadn't had their tank set up, and seemed not to care that they were going to overload their bio capacity. To make matters worse, I ran to the grocery store to pick up dinner and a few things to repair a piece of my tank, and the same couple was in the store! Their twelve cichlids had to have been in the car because there was no way for them to make it home and then to the store before me. I left for the store as soon as I made my purchases. It just made me so mad! 

 

[valencianfigs]

The worst I have seen was a person at Walmart that got one of those 1 gallon corner tanks that didn't come with a filter. They later on proceeded to the fish tanks and asked the guy to get them six of the 13 cent comet fish. I was disappointed that the staff would actually sell five comet fish for a 1 gallon tank without even a undergravel filter. 

 

[leighton_87]

The problem is people are never going to learn until the shops learn to care. A lot of people doing this thing are completely ignorant to what they have done wrong and while this is an extreme example how often in this forum do we see newcomers that have been sold a single Bala shark or a single clown loach for their 60 litre tank.

Too many shops are selling completely ridiculous fish.

I went a not so local LFS today and along with the usual tank busters (Balas, common Plecos etc) were amongst others red tailed catfish and moray eels.

Both of these grow over a metre and have no place in 99.9% of private aquariums and the shops welling these know they are going to end up in the wrong tank but all they see us the profit from the sale

 

[This Old Spouse]

The worst ongoing thing I see is selling common plecos as algae and bottom eaters. They're so cute when they're an inch long, but nobody tells people they can get to 14"!