A whopper of a answer!

[weez1959]

Well I heard a good one today, I was out buying salt and 40 more pounds of sand and decided to have a look at the livestock. In one tank there was a pure white BTA, and in another a 12" white/almost transparent carpet anemone and I asked the store clerk if that was thier normal colors and he said "all anemones are white and those that aren't are artificially colored" :eek3:

[charlie]

I wanna know what your answer was!

[weez1959]

I actually didn't say anything but I did give him one of those "do I look like I just fell off the turnip truck" looks and kept on walking! He definitely noticed I didn't buy his stupid pitch. I never buy live stock at that place cuz nothing ever looks good, the fish always have something, poor thing!
These are also the same people that tell all thier customers never to QT cuz it's bad for the fish and they WILL die. The only good thing about them is their dry goods are cheaper than everywhere else around here.

[charlie]

Good thought!!!!

[Reefland]

[sihaya]

LOL ::sigh:: It's hard to argue with LFS employees. Just recently I was at a LFS and got very excited because while one of the employees was moving a rock, I saw a Scutus (my favorite kind of snail). I pointed to it and said "Ooo, oo, a Scutus snail! I want it!" And the dude was like "no, it's a black nudibranch." And I said "no, it's a snail." He said "no, it's a nudibranch." We went back and forth just like that "no, it's a snail"... "no, it's a nudibranch" like 6 times and then we just stared at each other. LOL In the end I was like "dude, whatever you want to call it... I want it."

I should give the guy some credit though. Apparently he consulted with someone or some book, because as I was checking out he said "you're right... it is a snail."

[weez1959]

At least he fessed up to being wrong, my LFS guy was just a big fat liar!

[sihaya]

Yeah... but the scary thing is that I don't think many of them are actually lying. As depressing as it might be, I think a lot of them actually believe what they're telling you (especially for the minimum wage employees who don't usually stay long enough to learn much).

[charlie]

Around here, I found that opening up my mouth got me 86'd from my local LFS. He is still selling people tanks with UGF, and telling folks that they will work long term for reef tanks. I have heard of folks that have made this theory work, but it is pretty labor intensive.
Hence, I just spend money elsewhere, fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be.
Sorry

[charlie]

Yeah... but the scary thing is that I don't think many of them are actually lying. As depressing as it might be, I think a lot of them actually believe what they're telling you (especially for the minimum wage employees who don't usually stay long enough to learn much).

That is why I think that ASIRA could be a helping factor to some of these LFS. If they had a reference point, maybe some of them wouldn't be making these statements. JMHO

[sihaya]

That is why I think that ASIRA could be a helping factor to some of these LFS. If they had a reference point, maybe some of them wouldn't be making these statements. JMHO

Dude, you're singing my song here. ;) Seriously, so far the stores seem to really love the care sheets. I'm trying to get some more info into printable form. But it's hard to fit a lot of information on just a page or two.

I'm also trying to think about how I might make some kind of critter-ID help guide. It's going to be tricky though...

[charlie]

Have you gotten those sheets outside of the state of Ohio yet?

[sihaya]

Oh, definitely! A few weeks ago I sent out a mass mailing to ~1200 stores across the country. It's slow going, but it's picking up. ;)

[Poseidon]

I go into Petco every once in a while to get Crickets for Bailey, our Bearded Dragon, and I always find sales on "Snow White Anemones 5.99".

In my area, there are no LFS other then the chains anymore, so the beginning hobbiest is doomed to fail, unless they actually find a site like this, or Sara's...

[Reefland]

I thought it wasn't too long ago you posted some pictures of what appeared to be a nice looking store in your area Mike?

[Poseidon]

I did, and that store is the closest I have to "local", it is a 50 minute drive west from my house.

There is another very nice store about an hour south of me, and Tropicorium is about 90 minutes away. I didn't mean to say I didn't have options, just that there is not a single store in Flint, MI. There is a small store just north of town, but the best stuff they get comes from MY TANK! So that store is not really on my list of places to shop.

I have thought of opening my own place, but that is just not a wise investment in my city... GM town, and OLD residents. There are a lot of college students in Flint, (U of M has a branch campus, Mott Community College, Baker College, and Kettering University) I just don't know where they all spend there money, cause it sure is not in FLINT!

[Reefland]

Gotcha, I thought I remembered you posting some pics. Wasn't sure how far it was from you.

[Doodaa]

All the educated marine LFS owners in my area find more profitable businesses. The closest town that has a LFS is 30 minutes from me and only has a population of 35,000 people (Mason City, IA). If it wasn't for the internet, I'd be missing out on this hobby. And thanks so much for websites such as this one! The guy that I trusted closed his shop and went into photography. He still contracts reef tanks for doctor offices and such, which he said was a lot more profitable. There just wasn't enough demand to make a profit for the educated LFS owner that actually cared about what he sold his customers...which is really a shame for the poor critters sold at Petco