[Ninong]

Responding to another thread today that involved idiotic advice from an LFS employee reminded me of that T.V. appearance by Tetra's representative back in June 2003 shortly after the Nemo movie came out. I looked up the thread that I started back then to see if the video link was still active and it is.

Check this out again as a refresher course in why you should be wary of advice from people selling stuff:



OK, here we go, here's a new Windows Media Player link that works well: http://xanadu.ambrosiasw.com/~jchamp...h/SW/tetra.wmv

It's a 5-gallon mini-bow aquarium that the Tetra rep says will cost you about $50 for the complete kit.

She says "we're setting up a saltwater aquarium today, actually a Nemo aquarium" and then she cautions that you always want to add Tetra's tap water conditioner before you add the fish because tap water has harmful chemicals in it. So she actually adds some tap water conditioner to the aquarium on T.V. and then, 10 seconds later, she dumps in a Blue Tang, two Ocellaris Clownfish, a couple of Seahorses and a Seastar. And she actually removed the poor serpent star from the bag of water exposing it to the air so that she can hand it to the T.V. anchor.

Why would she make a point of adding tap water conditioner to a saltwater aquarium? Ten seconds before she dumps the fish in it? So the tank was not cycled at all. She doesn't even mention anything about mixing saltwater but she does demonstrate how you add Tetra's tap water conditioner to the aquarium just before you dump in your fish. No acclimation of the fish whatsoever. Even her recommended acclimation procedure is a total joke.

She does point out that at home you would want to acclimate your fish for five to ten minutes by floating the bag in the water before dumping them in their little 5-gal mini-bow Nemo Aquarium. So she is recommending temperature acclimation only. And maintenance is a breeze, you just change the removable filter about once a month. Nothing to it.

What a joke!


So... I went to the Tetra Germany site http://www.tetra.de/ and sent their president an email:

The Tetra rep dumped a Blue Tang, two Ocellaris Clownfish, two Seahorses and a Seastar into a tiny 5-gallon mini-bow aquarium. She called it a Nemo Aquarium and said the complete kit costs only about $50.

For some stupid reason, she added Tetra's tap water conditioner to this saltwater aquarium about 10 seconds before she dumped in the fish. She cautioned that you should always add tap water conditioner before you add your fish because tap water contains harmful chemicals. Remember, she added this to a saltwater aquarium on T.V.

She recommended that at home you would want to acclimate your new fish by floating the bag for 5 or 10 minutes before dumping them in your new 5-gallon aquarium.

Why does Tetra recommend keeping a Blue Tang in a 5-gallon aquarium? Have you no morals?

What kind of people do you have working for you in the States? Are they all idiots?

You people should be ashamed of yourselves. Such crass commercial opportunism is harmful to the hobby and reflects badly on the reputation of your company. No wonder Pfizer dumped you guys. Good move on their part.

I hope you enjoy the movie.



Post Script to the above: Tetra Germany has added a statement to their website:

Statement from Tetra The appearance of one of our Tetra US colleagues on Saturday, June 14th on the CBS Early Show in the United States has led to various different reactions from viewers around the world. The brevity of the segment presented on this show prevented us from covering all the points we would liked to have covered.

Tetra understands that setting up a saltwater aquarium is a complicated process and we always place great importance on referring people to responsible sources of information, such as local professional retailers or our internet site at http://www.tetra.net for more detailed information and references.

We would like to thank all viewers for their reactions. All mails and comments have been passed directly on to Tetra USA, who will reply to each user personally.

The TetraTeam

[Rp Marine]

great article but i can't see the video. i want to see the stupid beesh that did this to the fishes, and think saltwater hobby is as ez as cleaning the filther media.

[acropora]

All I can say is wow,that was as bad as the advice given 30 years ago. It is really sad to think about all the fish that will be bought and subsequently subjected to a slow death. This should be posted in the newbie section,as what not to do. The first three things that all beginners should do are# Read,#2 Read and # 3 read somemore.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Rp Marine

i can't see the video.

I just checked the link and the video is working fine. You need Windows Media Player to see it. Do you have that on your machine? http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...arted/home.asp

[kevinpo]

George,
You rabble rouser!









Regards,
Kevin