Close.. So close!

Today I stopped by a local LFS to buy some nosh for my fish. Got to the till and the entire counter was taken up by fish bags. About 10 I reckon. Must have taken the proprietors a good while to catch and bag that lot eh? The figure rung up on the till was R2077. Hectic I thought to myself. The customers and staff approached the checkout, and I suggested to the customers that they might wanna get some Seachem Stability with that kind of new stocking. All present looked at me like I was the local killjoy personified. In the defense of the store owners, they did then ask what size of tank these fish were going into. The customer indicated with her hands what looked like approximately 50cm!!
To think that this is probably quite a common occurrence, is quite disturbing to me. I apologized to all present for I don't know what exactly. The staff did say that they should have asked about the tank size, which apparently the normally do... But still eh? Looks like the situation was remedied by the purchase of another 2 foot tank! I have no words...

 

Disappointing to hear of this in town...I've always felt we have been pretty blessed to a degree with pet shop owners who are generally interested in their customers well being and success in the hobby...and not just making a sale. I guess it depends on the day and who the customer gets to help them.

R2000+ worth of fish and only a second 2ft tank still seems a bit on the small tank volume size.

 

Yeah Mark, I'm with you that we as long time and knowledgeable customers get preferential treatment. Just very dissapponting how people entering the hobby will have their hopes dashed by crap or non-existent advice.

 

This is the way most of the trade operates, a sale is a sale, very little, if any, advice is given, and when given mostly incorrect. I was at a LFS yesterday, grandma was setting up a tank with her grandson, all the fish, all the plants etc were bought at the same time, no advice on cycling, proper setup, nada. It was literally a case of how much can we sell to these folks, and let's sell it all now.
I saw the same thing at another shop about two weeks ago, tank plus gravel, filter, media, heaters, plant, fish etc all in one go, caveat emptor, as the saying goes

 

I think that the wholesalers should take some initiative here. They could even get some advertising mileage by printing nice big charts outlining cycling procedures, stocking levels, fish compatability etc etc.. Now that I think about it, im very surprised that I've never seen anything so simple and easy on a shop before.

 

Simply have a couple of terminals with Aqadvisor loaded, both for staff and customers, this will go a long way in addressing this, or at least bringing some sanity. All fish descriptions should indicate typical tank requirements, with potential size and water parameters, but this woulnt happen, here's why:
All LFS in pta, JHB, have tanks full of Bala Sharks, Tinfoil barbs, Hi-fin leopard pleco's, Oscar, clown knife fish, Pangasius Irridescent Sharks, Paroon Sharks and of late, the infamous Redtail catfish and tiger shovelnose cat, and Silver Arowana, to name a few. Once they have to declare that a Bala gets to 12" long, is a schooling with 5 kept as a minimum, and that the school of six tinfoil barbs will grow to at least 20cm ea, and that there is no way you can house these in a 1.2m tank, they won't sell so many, and business will tank somewhat

 

Aquadvisor? What is this thing you speak of?

 

AqAdvisor.com
Not perfect, but miles better that the crap you hear from your lfs

 

IMHO this is why internet sales all over the world are taking over and causing many of the LFS to close down or move to internet sales too in the long run.. People find it easier and get better information before making a purchase, and once you find a reputable seller, most times you get an arrive alive guarantee, with full instructions on how to acclimate your fish too.. Just generally better service, as your rating is going to directly affect their business..

 

Shouldn't we name and shame these LFSs??

 

I'm against that, in line with forum policy. In this particular case, the owners were heavily overworked and they did try to remedy the situation. I also know that they give the best advice they can, but it's impossible to glean all of the pertinent information from every single customer that walks into your shop and still run a viable business. Most of the customers don't even know which information is important to ensure that they succeed with their purchase anyway. We need to just think back to when we were all total beginners... It's hard to accept when we just want to see every fish have the best chance of a healthy life, now that we know what we're doing. Just remember that we all started out with some hectic fails. It's infortunately the nature of the game.

 

If a shop gives blatant incorrect advise, they must carry the can, a shopper would regard them as "experts" in the field, and should not be blatantly misled, if an assistant does not know how big a redtail catfish becomes he cannot say it will not outgrow a 1 meter tank, he should be honest, say he doesn't know, but will find out.
When dad takes Johnny to set up his first tank, I would expect a LFS to be able to explain cycling etc, just selling the tank and fish and plants at the same time is patently wrong, my 2c worth, rant over...

 

Disappointing to hear, I know people eager to get into the hobby but after a couple of deaths or breakout of preventable disease who shut down all of their tanks for good.

 

I remember the first time I went to a lfs, I bought a 25l tank gravel heater and filter. The owner told me that I should first let the bacteria grow before adding fish. I asked him how long that would take and he said a week. There was no way I would've waited that long so he suggested tetra drops can't remember the name as this was seven years ago and I was 13 at the time. I took 3 guppy's home and all died within a week and the cycle continued until I gave up on trying to keep fish alive. I thought that keeping fish only meant throwing water in a tank with tetra drops and that's it, so in this case it wasn't the lfs fault it was my ignorance and impatience.

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Yeah

But I've learned the hard way it's better to do your own research on fish you like but then again you never know what species you'll find on the day and good specialised advice is needed. If you wait...do research....and return another time a good chance they will be out of stock. Catch 22.

 

I don't think the forum rules allow to name & shame, and I don't believed many LFS are going to be left unscathed should this happen.
Butcher man and hencoloots indicated blame for disasters can often cut both ways. I was at a LFS last week when a customer demanded a refund for fish deaths after he added fish he bought from another LFS to his tank, he was really obnoxious. Obviously the owner of the LFS refused a refund, but this could well result in a LFS being blamed for something out of its control.
There are other sites where complaints can be vented in public such as hellopeter.com.
Personally I believe that training of LFS staff is sadly deficient hence the number of complaints we see on stes such as these....

 

Hey it was just a question I see the point of not naming and shaming but perhaps we can start a thread involving positive reinforcement. As in compliments for LFS's where we receive good honest advice and fish are kept in good conditions or even compliments on how they may react to situations such as the one in the original post here. Then begs the question, does the forum allow us to name LFS's that are not sponsors?

If i went though a thread like that and read about first hand experiences - I might want to visit that LFS . It might also promote good practice among LFS's?

Example, I visited an LFS yesterday and some black phantom tetras caught my attention. They all looked fine to me. The store keeper told me that the fish were recovering from an illness and only just finish their treatment so she would prefer if I came back in a week before buying them. I really appreciated that honesty and I would go back because if there was doubt with any of the stock she would let me know.

 

As a thought - a star rating system based on visits, this is somewhat different from naming & shaming in that it allows both a low rating (dissatisfaction) or a high rating (very satisfied). Perhaps mods or admin can ask the lfs if they would like to participate?
This would give the LFS the opportunity to see how many people visit and their overall experience, perhaps allow a 140 max character messages to summarise the experience, good or bad. Would be good/valuable tool for LFS to improve their service offering?

 

@Jwh, it is a good idea but i suppose this list would only reflect LFS's that are sponsors because if it reflects all LFS's out there it will be looked upon as advertising for non sponsors?
So.. how would this work?
Would we only be rating the sponsors?

I also think a big part of the problem is parents that go out and buy fish... puppies.. etc.. just because the child is begging for a pet so pets get bought without people doing any reearch on them
I witnessed a Granny that took her grand children to the LFS "to spoil them" and guess what was being baged? 4 Oscars for a little 3 foot tank
Same happens every day to puppies, they are SO CUTE at 6 weeks... lovely Christmas/Birthday presents until.... It grows very large, digs the garden and jumps up at the car then... SPCA here I come!!