Bad Fish Advice vs. Common Sense

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to know what you guys thought of this.

While working today I was approached by a customer who needed advice on why his fish were dying off. I asked him what size tank he had and what types of fish ect...

His reply "ten gallon saltwater aquarium with 4(2 dead) YELLOW TANGS 2 blue yellow tail damsels and some snails and crabs." OKAY now at that moment I was stunned. Apparently a PetCo in the area told him there was plenty of room in his ten gallon for several tangs with room to spare. He was just wondering what he was doing wrong and needed some ph minus to lower his Ph to 7 because he was afraid the Ph when tested was too high. :roll:

Alright now let me know what you guys would have said or done in my situation. Personally I didn't believe there were people out there with absolutely no common sense, but they have yet to cease amazing me with their lack there of. :roll:

Anyway I proceeded to tell him not to ever listen to a word those folks were saying and to not be suprised to see the other fish perish. Then I hopefully persuaded him to come back and set up a 46 bow front to alleviate some of the stress on his cramped fish. They're probably all dead, but what can you do? Some people should not be allowed to sell animals especially ones who don't know anything about them :twisted: :evil:

 

[hdtran]

YIKES!

Dragoon, you have the patience of a saint! I would have had a public meltdown!

Sell the customer a copy of Tullock's "Your First Saltwater Aquarium" or other beginner book!

One good point for Petco (at least, a few years ago, the Petco near where we live): They do (did) carry good SW books.

 

[Anonymous]

You know they hire people at these big chains that have no clue on what they are doing..GOD have I run into this problem many atimes...the guy doesnt need to lower his ph..he definetely doesnt need ANY tangs regardless of color and quanity in that ten...sorry that isnt common sense, if you have never set up a tank before, sw or fw, you dont know what the rules are...however his mistake was not getting advise via book first...books dont work on commission or anything...if i were that guy i would go back to PetCo and ask to talk to the manager about that...thats ridiculous to give out such Crap A$$ advise...

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah pretty much what I was thinking. He seemed almost defensive of teh people at petco though. He more or less thought I was the one giving him bad advice in the beginning. He almost felt ashamed I think and didn't want me to talk to him after I said how horrible the advice they gave him was. Too proud to admit they had swindled him or something.

 

[MelanieF]

FYI,

PetCo fires employees who try to take the sane approach. I kid you not. A friend of mine was fired because the manager heard her suggest to someone to buy just the tank and come back in a month for a few fish. That's why I go in there once in a while to interrupt their precious insane sales... Rat bastards need to figure out that customers aren't stupid and will refuse to buy things there once they learn of the deception going on for a buck...

Corporate America... where would we be w/out it?

 

[hdtran]

Not that I'm defending Petco (though I have to confess that my two captive-bred Ocellaris clownfish are from Petco before I saw the light )

But Petco doesn't sell dogs or cats. They sponsor shelter adopt-a-thons. They offer a garantee on freshwater fish, and attempt (or used to, anyway) to educate the customer (somewhat) on the freshwater fish (e.g. no, goldfish don't need a heater, but tetras do), etc.

I think Dragoon showed great forbearance in not using colorfully intemperate language.

I think that there has to be a better way of educating the consumers (you'd think a customer shelling out $20 to $40 per yellow tang would want to research the d$#@^& fish before buying it!).

 

[Anonymous]

You'd think, but alas you'd really be suprised at what some people will do. Ever heard the old saying. A fool and his money are soon parted. How very true it is.

 

[MelanieF]

In defense of people who don't research... you would also think that the people selling you a pet would know something about it otherwise it wouldn't be alive in their tanks right?

Books do contain the best information but when there's an employee standing there telling you that you can do something w/ no problem, why would you spend $40 on a book when you can get what you really want... after all, these people are supposed to know what they're talking about. :wink:

 

[cdeakle]

I remember when I was a newb and I went to my favorate but now closed Aquarium Concepts in Seattle,WA. I got pissed the first time I went there because they actually refused to sell me an anemone, I thought "Who they hell do they think they are?!"

Needless to say I was thanking my lucky stars to have such a cool store. I remeber one time going into Petco and I noticed that all there tanks had Cyano bad, fish had ich, just bad all around. I asked the fish manager about her bad case of cyano and she had no idea what I was talking about. When I tried to educate her about hyposalinity treatment she said: "Your crazy, the fish will die at that salinity level" 8O

....

 

[ReefRian]

Have any of you been to a Pet Smart recently? I normally thought of them being the same as Petco, but I was suprised and impressed while in one of their stores in Sacramento. We were shopping next door and decided to go in and check it out, we also needed some frozen food. We started looking around and were suprised when they told us they only carried freshwater fish and no saltwater, but they sold more saltwater supplies than petco does. I can't recall exactly what it was they did or information they had around the store, but I was truly impressed with them and felt hope for the future pet stores.

Rian

 

[brandon4291]

Funny thing about PetSmart is, six years ago in every store they had signs that said "We do not sell saltwater aquarium supplies or marine animals due to the environmental effects of their collection." The day I saw their new Red Sea display in our local retail shop I asked the manager about that policy, and he told me Petsmart was investigating a new market direction. $$ talks in the business world!

 

[cdeakle]

Have any of you been to a Pet Smart recently

Yup, they don't do salt in my area....

 

[Anonymous]

They sell the equipment but dont sell livestock..

 

[Anonymous]

In my experience and that being somewhat skewed due to the fact I consider my self an experienced hobbyist (due to the amount of fish I deal with at my job of GM and Aquatics manager). I have always gone into other stores who sell fish fresh or salt and expected at least compitence or at least basic knowledge and have more than been disappointed with Petsmart's, Petco's, and Petland's. Perhaps it's the whole chain thing or they really don't care about anything other than money. However certain stores are the exception I'm sure; however I haven't found one yet.

 

[jsbradbury]

Just to add to the Petco bashing a little bit... The one near me told me that management won't allow them to use a protein skimmer because 'it would be too expensive and not worth the effort.'

 

[psiico]

Did you try to sell him the 46g tank? that may have been a mistake, he may have just thought you were trying to make a sale and chose to go back to Petco. In that type of situation just giving info and steering them in the direction of a local library or the internet (this forum or others) would go further to convince someone of your sincerity. Just a thought.

 

[Anonymous]

Petco hires former used car salesmen for managment....

 

[Anonymous]

He was interested in a new tank after the info I gave him about his being "a little too small". He really had no concern for the well being of the fish to begin with i beleive anyhow. He told me the only reason he decided to come in my tore was because of the fact they didn't have what he wanted. He was used to replacing fish every month and beleived it was normal in a saltwater aquarium. :roll:

 

[Anonymous]

i wouldnt sell ish to him...maybe someone should replace him..speaking of Petco, i happened to venture in there tonite and was able to score a orange prawn goby for 3 bucks...they dont know where they got it...they had no record of it so sold it to me for dirt cheap...(no aquarium dept management at night i guess)...i thought that was a steal....anyways id ban that guy from my store if he told me he didnt care for the fish...

 

[Anonymous]

Wasnt petco one of the stores that only sold Captive bred fish?? Last time I was in there I saw a dwarf lion in there. I didnt know those were captive bred