Funny/sad thread at Reefland from someone who applied to an

[Anonymous]

He applied & got turned down because he uses DSB in his own tank...
http://www.reefland.com/cgi-bin/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4220

 

[JohnD]

Cheese,

Interesting post. My mother used to say, "A little knowledge is dangerous". This person had more than a little knowledge and I think that intimidated this LFS owner. Better to hire an inexperienced kid that does what he is told - sell the stuff on the shelves, then have a knowledgable employee that offeres other advice and points out, God forbid, MO.

 

[Anonymous]

I know the feeling. A guy at a LFS that is close to my house said "WE don't have salt water, and know nothing about it."
Then I asked for a 30 gal for a sump and we got to talking reef (The guy has a 75 gal...)

Another story.
I went into PETS ON LEX (around 86th and Lex) here in NYC, and asked for $2 of feeders to cycle my 100 gal. The guy asked what kind of tank I wanted to end up with (REEF) and would almost not sell me the Freshwater fish to cycle my tank (IT is a koi pond now). The guy has a 800 gal custom in his living room with 1000 lbs of LS and 1200 lbs of LR. But the store will not let him set up a tank, because then they have to sell saltwater...

So what they know and what they tell you are two different things. Fortunatly, I have been on the receiving side of the info from the LFS, not the giving...

b

 

[pez]

Although the original post was a little "different", I think the reason most stores don't want to stock SW is the cost. The fish are much more likely to die during transit or once they are in the store. That's a huge cost to the store. Plus, you can't pack 60 or 70 tangs into a 30 gallon tank like you can neon tetras

 

[JeremyR]

But you have to sell 20 neons to make up the selling price of one yellow tang, 40 for a hippo, 60 for a purple..

 

[fishfarmer]

Here's a story regarding the LFS in question. I happened to be in the store looking for leopard sharks and goniporias for my 38

j/k. A woman is looking over the power filters and asks my advice. I make my recommendation and suggested some additional means of filtration for her 10 gal FW angelfish tank. We're having a pleasant conversation about fishkeeping. She starts asking my advice on moving her tank to Upstate NY. I tell her what I would recommend to do and then one of the employees comes over and makes some statement which really didn't make a whole lot of sense. Something regarding the fish will die when put in the new water or she won't be able to put any new fish in the tank because the water will be different. The employee didn't stick around to explain the comment which didn't make any sense to me. I continued my pleasant conversation with the woman who actually ended up buying both filters she was comparing. I believe the employee must have wanted to get her two cents in because I may have been costing her a customer.

I actually bought a copy of Tullock's "Natural Reef Aquariums" that day. The employee told me that it is a good book.

I don't see much mention of trickle filters in there, only the more modern methods of filtration.