Advice??!!??

Just been in one (I'd love to name it) of the 'supermarket' pet shops in Galway, and while browsing the fish, was amazed at the 'advice' being given to two budding fish keepers as to their choice of fish and 'suitable' tank.
Apparently African cichlids (mixed mbuna) are hardier than goldfish and 10 can be kept in a 2 foot tank and only some of the water has to be changed every couple of weeks, instead of all of it for the poor goldfish. Also, (this is a beaut), goldfish can live for about 20 years but most people only have them for about 6 months.

The saddest thing about this, is that the assistant/advisor was not young, probably in mid 40s, surely should have better knowledge. Only I was in a rush, I would have warned these 'customers' to get proper advice.

Often the problem with pet shops is the staff are undertrained on the aquatic side of things, and instead will apply a basic knowledge across the entire floor resulting in poorly advised customers.
However of course not all shops are like this, Ive encountered it in a well known Cork supermarket shop where once a staff member was trying to convince me that endlers were indeed guppys, while I can appreciate the close resemblence, it was the fact that the staff member had no knowledge there was even a fish named an endler, yet she was looking at about a hundred of them in front of her for weeks!
Many pet shops are focused on dogs,cats and the likes, but the aquatic sections often get overlooked with the majority of stock been bread and butter fish so the likes of a newbie purchsing them means that the knowledge of the customer is less and so the staff will get away with the basics.

I appreciate the shops situation also, however in fairness its up to the owners of these shops to educate there staff. Ive been to other shops who have been very good also, so its important to clarify that not all supermarket type pet shops are in this bracket, and many have fine staff to assist people in the fish side of things. I find many of these shops tend to have a fish guy, who deals with the fish queries. However its like I say for any service or shop, if you find the quality of service isnt good enough, then dont shop there. Ive a petshop literally a stones throw from me, but I wouldnt even buy fish food from them.
The unfortunate thing in all of this is that many customers will buy fish on the back of their poor advise. I know of one shop nearby me who should know better and knows me, when I said that Id a bamboo shrimp living 3 years bought off him, his reply was "damn,thats bad for business". I know it was said in jest, but its bad to actually hear it out loud!

Gavin

christyg wrote:

Just been in one (I'd love to name it) of the 'supermarket' pet shops in Galway, and while browsing the fish, was amazed at the 'advice' being given to two budding fish keepers as to their choice of fish and 'suitable' tank.
Apparently African cichlids (mixed mbuna) are hardier than goldfish and 10 can be kept in a 2 foot tank and only some of the water has to be changed every couple of weeks, instead of all of it for the poor goldfish. Also, (this is a beaut), goldfish can live for about 20 years but most people only have them for about 6 months.

The saddest thing about this, is that the assistant/advisor was not young, probably in mid 40s, surely should have better knowledge. Only I was in a rush, I would have warned these 'customers' to get proper advice.

If you are talking about the shop that I think that you are talking about, I would not, as Gavin put it, even buy fish food from them. However, I did buy a goldfish there- to rescue the poor thing!

Fishowner wrote:

The unfortunate thing in all of this is that many customers will buy fish on the back of their poor advise.

I don't think that customers are blameless here either. It is a year ago a mate was giving away his fish tank, and I took it from him to fulfill a lifelong "thing" about goldfish. FIVE MINUTES research online- on my mobile phone- told me that what I was planning to do was wrong and in no fish's best interests. It took me a further six months to actually get a fish- but I will claim that I did my best for my fish, to the best of my ability and budget. That five minutes saved poor fish from unnecessary torment in my tank as I learned from avoidable stupid mistakes.

Of course, that meant that I could advance to even bigger stupid mistakes!

schnappsmom wrote:

christyg wrote:

Just been in one (I'd love to name it) of the 'supermarket' pet shops in Galway, and while browsing the fish, was amazed at the 'advice' being given to two budding fish keepers as to their choice of fish and 'suitable' tank.
Apparently African cichlids (mixed mbuna) are hardier than goldfish and 10 can be kept in a 2 foot tank and only some of the water has to be changed every couple of weeks, instead of all of it for the poor goldfish. Also, (this is a beaut), goldfish can live for about 20 years but most people only have them for about 6 months.

The saddest thing about this, is that the assistant/advisor was not young, probably in mid 40s, surely should have better knowledge. Only I was in a rush, I would have warned these 'customers' to get proper advice.

If you are talking about the shop that I think that you are talking about, I would not, as Gavin put it, even buy fish food from them. However, I did buy a goldfish there- to rescue the poor thing!

Fishowner wrote:

The unfortunate thing in all of this is that many customers will buy fish on the back of their poor advise.

I don't think that customers are blameless here either. It is a year ago a mate was giving away his fish tank, and I took it from him to fulfill a lifelong "thing" about goldfish. FIVE MINUTES research online- on my mobile phone- told me that what I was planning to do was wrong and in no fish's best interests. It took me a further six months to actually get a fish- but I will claim that I did my best for my fish, to the best of my ability and budget. That five minutes saved poor fish from unnecessary torment in my tank as I learned from avoidable stupid mistakes.

Of course, that meant that I could advance to even bigger stupid mistakes!

If you're not making stupid mistakes in fishkeeping then you're obviously doing something wrong!

LemonJelly wrote:

If you're not making stupid mistakes in fishkeeping then you're obviously doing something wrong!

I prefer my mistakes to be in the wet carpet category- which frequently happens- than the dead fish category!

Fishowner wrote:

Often the problem with pet shops is the staff are undertrained on the aquatic side of things, and instead will apply a basic knowledge across the entire floor resulting in poorly advised customers.
However of course not all shops are like this, Ive encountered it in a well known Cork supermarket shop where once a staff member was trying to convince me that endlers were indeed guppys, while I can appreciate the close resemblence, it was the fact that the staff member had no knowledge there was even a fish named an endler, yet she was looking at about a hundred of them in front of her for weeks!
Many pet shops are focused on dogs,cats and the likes, but the aquatic sections often get overlooked with the majority of stock been bread and butter fish so the likes of a newbie purchsing them means that the knowledge of the customer is less and so the staff will get away with the basics.

I appreciate the shops situation also, however in fairness its up to the owners of these shops to educate there staff. Ive been to other shops who have been very good also, so its important to clarify that not all supermarket type pet shops are in this bracket, and many have fine staff to assist people in the fish side of things. I find many of these shops tend to have a fish guy, who deals with the fish queries. However its like I say for any service or shop, if you find the quality of service isnt good enough, then dont shop there. Ive a petshop literally a stones throw from me, but I wouldnt even buy fish food from them.
The unfortunate thing in all of this is that many customers will buy fish on the back of their poor advise. I know of one shop nearby me who should know better and knows me, when I said that Id a bamboo shrimp living 3 years bought off him, his reply was "damn,thats bad for business". I know it was said in jest, but its bad to actually hear it out loud!

Gavin

Hi guys i think Gavin makes a point that stands for all Lfs you vote with your feet and i also agree with his sentiments that not all chain stores can be tarred with the same brush i have had fantastic advice and stock and some really rare finds from a chain store. And on the flip side i have been in aquatic only shops that i would never darken the door again so really imho you can't generalise.
jim

Just my two cents worth

While my experience in supermarket type establishments have been mixed over the years, I do believe that if a customer goes to the shop with a view to purchase, then they ideally should have a basic knowledge of what they're looking for/at.

Whilst visiting one of these outlets in the past, I was browsing the various tanks. You know those small picture i.d. cards they have above the tanks. Well I saw one with a picture of a Hypancistrus Zebra (L046) on it. Couldn't see it in the tank though. Sooooo, getting a bit excited I called an assistant to show me. They proceeded to point out a Hillstream Loach in the tank and told me that when they grow, they morph into a Zebra Plec!!!!!! Imagine waiting for that to happen, lol

Now I didn't hang around to find out if he genuinely believed that because it's what he was told previously, or whether he was just chancing his arm.

Needless to say, I politely left - and haven't been back..

Patrick

lmfao .hi I'm sure there has been some yearns told in lots of shops big and small over the years.
jim