No respect and a good pet store employee????

Question

Wow...a little bit of a story after the question!lol! I have 2 questions.What is the Best advice you have been given at a pet store...and which pet store was it. What was the worst thing you have ever heard someone giving advice about fish tanks, employee or not? Ok, a little bit of a story here that covers both! Well I was at pet smart today looking at dwarf gouramis and I couldn't help but overhear 2 men talking about fish tank, and asking a petsmart employee for help....i knew something controversial would come up! Well, one of the men was all like "Well, ya just stick a whole lot of fish in there, you will lo0se about half and then you can add more." I was ;like...WAT! NO! But I didn't say anything cuz I thought a 13 year old telling off a 30 year old man would be rude......and he also said knife fish would be a good community fish, I was about to go, yea...if you want all the other fish dead........Man, people really need respect for living creatures if your gonna be in this hobby! Well, then the pet smart sales man came to the rescue! (That's a first, lol!) He told them how to properly cycle a fish tank with fish. I wanted to come in and tell them how to cycle it without fish...but hey the normal method is better than the customer method! So I let it go! Well, whats your answer to the question?

Answer 1

Asking the PetSmart employee about animal care is like asking the McDonalds employee for nutritional advice.  They are there primarily for sales in both instances.

Answer 2

The best advise I was given was to buy fantail goldfish because of their easy care the worst advise I was given was when my tank temp gets too hot to put ice in my tank

Answer 3

The best advice I was ever given was I once had a employee help me solve a really hard water chemistry problem of how to solve a non-existent KH problem I was having. They took their time and asked about where I live and the water conditions, what fish I have, what tank size, my other water parameters, and then when they decided that is what just my water causing my non-existent KH level gave me both natural ways and chemical ways to increase my KH. They also then asked me what test kit I was using and recommend a better one for me.

The worst advice was a different store that told me I could put a goldfish, betta and angelfish all in the same tank. A tank of 15 gallons they said would be good. HAHA I just walked right out of the store laughing.

Answer 4

People are really dumb. I rarely get good help at pet stores. Worst help was probably when I asked a woman that worked at a Petsmart to hold a bird I was wanting to come look out. The store was 3 hours away and I wouldnt be able to get there for 2 days. Put a small deposit down cause I was pretty sure I was going to get the bird but it had been in the store for months so I was pretty sure it wouldnt sell anytime soon. Well, the woman sold the bird to a guy like 3 hours after I called. We got to the store 2 days later and the woman was like, "Well,....."

I was pissed.

Sad thing is, those were fish (love 'em but they really dont have that big of a scale of emotions). People do the exact same thing with dogs, cats, horses and everything else.

Horses are going for 3 cents a pound now. $25 for a horse to ship to slaughter. The kill buyers are getting picky because there is so much to choose from. Check out http://www.tbfriends.com/

Answer 5

Wow!  You are 13 yrs old and already know how to "cycle" a fish tank! You are obviously a very responsible and caring person.  

To this day, my experience is that the majority of pet store employees  do not know much about the species they are in charge of.  But they still feel free to give out inaccurate information (some even believe there misinformation is correct).  I have gotten close to full blown arguments with pet store employees but kept myself in check before I embarrassed myself in public.  What I do is refer them to the internet and say "look it up".  One adult employee who claimed he was a well know reptile breeder tried to override my knowledge on salamanders/newts (amphibians).  He did't know squat but still insisted he was right.  I finally had to let him know that I was an active member in international caudata orgs., and a successful breeder of several sal species (from eggs to larvae to morphs).  I then wrote down the organization contact info. and said "hey, check it out - great sites with lots of info.".  (I'll bet he felt a little silly if he looked any of these up and noticed that I was a senior member and had contacts (biologists, researchers) all over the world.)  Of course I did this politely and in a way that no one knew what was going on.  Putting people on the spot and embarrassing them is not the way to share knowledge (plus it is rude).  I will share info. with employees or customers in a polite and discreet manner if I think the animal in question is destined for death once it leaves the store.  Some people appreciate this while others don't.  

*Your statement about the knife fish cracked me up!

Answer 6

ok i had a problem with petsmart yesterday too!!!!! the best advice i would give to the ppl in petsmart is to always clean the fish tanks and care for the pets who are about to die!!! my store was petsmart. also an employee said too a person buying a fish tank is to get a bowl for a goldfish!!!!!!! >=( thats just dumb. well i have a story too. i was looking for fish medicine when i also decided to buy another hermit crab to my collection. i looked at all of the hermits in the petsmart tank they were all dead expect for 1 which i got. i wasdisapointed in petsmart yesterday. =( i would rather go to petco!!!!

when i was there also my bFFL said i should get a pet hamster and again all of them i think had "wet tail" it was very sad sad day!!!!

Answer 7

Okay, worst first- I was a Petco and I was interested in a freshwater fish I saw, I asked an employee about it and he said it was a cory-catfish and gave me advise on how to care for it. So I bought it... however, it was NOT a cory it was a talking catfish(with is VERY different in care, attitude, and tank parameters). I was angry, but happy too, since I love my talking catfish!

Best- I was really just testing some Petco staff, and I actually got someone who knew what they were talking about! We even got into a debate on live-rock vs. other biological filtration.