# Ridiculous lfs advice!



## cyclesnipas

Wandering around a lfs I couldn't help overhearing a clerk telling a woman that its "PERFECTLY FINE" to feed her fish EVERY 1-2 hours! :shock: I couldn't believe my ears! What ridiculous advice have you folks heard that made you go WHAAAAAT???


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## Austin

At least she'll probably get lazy and feed once or twice a day anyways


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## jentralala

My LFS sold a red tail catfish to a lady with a 55 gallon -__-


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## rsskylight04

Told my wife angelfish are livebearers.:roll:


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## jay0884

I overheard an employee tell a customer they could house any type of cichlids together. They were all compatible because they were all cichlids. Smh.


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## Flint

Cardinals are the best source of live food for oscars. (At $4.50 a pop, that's just a money gimmick)

At Petsmart the other day I watched a man carrying around a gallon bowl and the employee direct him to the feeder tank.... I left before I got myself kicked out.


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## Agent13

cyclesnipas said:


> Wandering around a lfs I couldn't help overhearing a clerk telling a woman that its "PERFECTLY FINE" to feed her fish EVERY 1-2 hours! :shock: I couldn't believe my ears! What ridiculous advice have you folks heard that made you go WHAAAAAT???



Lol! You don't even feed newborn human babies like that ! Well unless you have a preemie . 


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## Flint

Agent13 said:


> Lol! You don't even feed newborn human babies like that ! Well unless you have a preemie .
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com App


-runs to voice fears of mommyhood in Ali's thread-


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## Sharky1234

Some of the worst advice I've heard was a Betta and a Cory can live together just fine in a tank, they won't fight at all and the Cory will just sit around happy all the time! 

And Serpae Tetras are completely peaceful fish, you can have them with anything and have no problems.

One time someone had a question and was waiting for an employee so I gave them the advice they needed, and showed them how to tell male and female livebearers apart :-D


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## Agent13

Sharky1234 said:


> Some of the worst advice I've heard was a Betta and a Cory can live together just fine in a tank, they won't fight at all and the Cory will just sit around happy all the time!


That advice was given because generally it's true. Bettas and corys are one of the safer mixes that could have been suggested . Sure there are some unusually mean bettas that will not tolerate that but that's not the majority. Assuming you have the proper tank size of course. 
My male betta has lived harmoniously for something like 2yrs with corys .. Other fish too now but started with corys . He actually seems to like them really . Sinks his food to eat with them , schools with them and even most often will be found sitting in the sand on the bottom of the tank with them . I call him my Bettadora. He's now with something like 20 corys . 

However I don't just talk from personal experience . When you have a decent sized tank it's a very nice stocking . 



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## RSVBiffer

Agent13 said:


> That advice was given because generally it's true. Bettas and corys are one of the safer mixes that could have been suggested . Sure there are some unusually mean bettas that will not tolerate that but that's not the majority. Assuming you have the proper tank size of course.
> My male betta has lived harmoniously for something like 2yrs with corys .. Other fish too now but started with corys . He actually seems to like them really . Sinks his food to eat with them , schools with them and even most often will be found sitting in the sand on the bottom of the tank with them . I call him my Bettadora. He's now with something like 20 corys .
> 
> However I don't just talk from personal experience . When you have a decent sized tank it's a very nice stocking .
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com App


Phew it wasn't just me then, I was wondering what was wrong with that. Must admit I have known fighters kept with Corys and have never known a problem. As you say you may get the odd rogue but on the whole this seems to be (near enough) the perfect combination and is frequently recommended.


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## Flint

I think the point they were trying to make is most people keep bettas in 1/2 gallon tanks or, at the best, a 2 gallon and try to shove cories in there because the betta can live in a cup-sized amount of water, he should have plenty of room and friends in 2 gallons!


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## Agent13

Perhaps flint.. But it's a perfectly good recommendation for suitable tank mates. It's not the stores fault if that person didn't tell them it was a tiny tank.

There is a good degree of responsibility on the owner to research as well that's being missed here. Chain pet store employees are not specialists . Often times they are understaffed and you have a cashier bagging up fish for you. You don't ask a grocery clerk.. Or even the manager there how to cook lasagna or apple pie from scratch.. If you want proper sticking advice you go to a specialty fish store where they most often are experts to some degree. Where they don't have to look at a tag to tell you max size of a fish THEY ALREADY KNOW .. Where they can tell you behaviors diets and websites to join for further help.. Like TFK . I don't like seeing $8/hr kids being blamed for stuff they weren't even trained about unless it's plain absurd advice. Like idk.. You can keep clown fish in freshwater lol. Of course it's a different story if they claim to be a fish expert(but if they're in a chain store .. Still double check their advice ) . 


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## henningc

I heard a customer ask why there were dead fish in the tanks and the employee said it was because they just don't live that long! If you buy them there he was likely correct! I've also heard them tell people the African cichlids will only grow to the size of the tank and this has no ill effects on them. Common plecos, need I say more??


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## Agent13

Lol.. Sorry henningc. Em when you mentioned about African cichlids growing to their tank size all the sudden my metriaclima estherae got scary to me while 30mn ago the way he attacked me was cute lol. OMG if that fish grew to even half the size of my 72 id be wearing crazy gloves to do tank maintenance haha. He bites and it hurts yet I love him but a 2.5ft version of him would change my opinion.


Maybe I'm lucky and my area has a large enough market that I haven't run into much bad advice at all from the stores .. Any of them .. And there are tons from small family owned fish stores to custom tank stores that sell great fish all the way to petco /petsmart . Even those last two I ask advice to see and I'm impressed . They do know enough.. Some know enough to write a book! Heck... Even my dragons exotics vet office treats fish .. Including surgery like removing tumors . 
Only time I recall bad advice was when a woman was discouraging me from getting so much filtration. I wanted either an AC110 and 1 nice canister for my 75 or 2 canisters . She said that wasn't good for the fish .. .. Uuuhh yes it is . If you are only guessing don't word it like an expert . more often I notice their reptile care is deadly off. 


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## Flear

Henningc, thanks for a memory

i remember as a kid asking why there were dead fish in the tanks at the pet store, ... long enough to be 'cloud fish', the fungus on them enough to make them fluffy.

'they're not dead'

... so ... they just got tired of doing the backstroke, got tired, and are now resting on the surface of the water ???

as a kid i knew better


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## Flear

Agent13, 

i hate hearing "the fish only grow as large as their tank"

i gave up that fairy tale when a common pleco in a 20 gallon tank (high) i had was exceeding 8" and still happy to keep growing. and i still hear it all the time 

definitly newbie stage for me, ... i had no idea they reach up to 18-24" or so (at that size, i just won't get such fish, so no need to remember how large they can really get)

at 8" ... ya, still growing fast, still so young, ... like any child 'growing like a bad weed'

... also where i ignore peoples advice of "you have to change water because fish hormones buildup, and these tell the fish to stop growing if the concentration is too high in the water"

sure LFS advice can be BS, (like hearing kuhli loaches eat snails - still have 2, yes they're lonely 
sucks when common rumors are no better


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## Agent13

Hormones are true.. They do build up in the water. At what level do they effect the fish ? Idk. 
They effect reproductive systems/ activities and impede growth . Not something is worry about though really . There are myths built around this truth though .. Lots of them and done pretty weird ones at that. 


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## Flear

agent13, yes.

i'll agree, myths have started from truth, ... 

but this (cartoon or not) is closer to the truth than high growth hormone levels in the water will inhibit fish from growing









not good

looking for that i like this though 









oddly, not overstocked 
(if holding a single Paedocypris (Paedocypris progenetica) 7.9mm - from wiki, smallest fish)


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## Agent13

And that itty bitty "tank" is planted ? How cute. I want a micro tank now . Haha


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## henningc

OK, two days ago I was buying feeders and notice a woman and her daughter looking at bettas. I didn't think anything about it. When I walked out to my car I could see that they had purchase a 1/2 gal betta keeper and a pair of bettas. Yes they sold them a male and female! PetS Whatver!!!!!!! Not even funny and I am sure the last fish the parent will ever buy.


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## Hallyx

You know how finicky and pedantic I can be, so....

All animals have hormones. They stay in the body and regulate systems.

All animals produce pheromones and alimones. These are broadcast into the environment. Pheromones effect behavior in the same species. Alimones effect behavior in other species.

Pretty sure that's right. It's been 50-years since bio 101.


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## jaysee

I had dinner with a friend the other day and in her kitchen table was a round container of maybe 5 gallons with three small fancy goldfish in it. The store sent them home without water conditioner, no filter, no nothing. Said "they'll be fine". They only had the fish for 2 days. I explained why their fish are going to die, and told them what they need to do to keep the fish alive till the end of the month when I will be setting up one of my 29 gallon tanks for them, though I told them that ultimately even the 29 won't be big enough. But that's on them - certainly not a guarantee that the fish will live log enough to outgrow the tank, and if they do they will feel better about shelling out some money for that bigger tank.

Gotta start unloading my small tanks....


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## Flear

jaysee said:


> I had dinner with a friend the other day and in her kitchen table was a round container of maybe 5 gallons with three small fancy goldfish in it. The store sent them home without water conditioner, no filter, no nothing. Said "they'll be fine". They only had the fish for 2 days. I explained why their fish are going to die, and told them what they need to do to keep the fish alive till the end of the month when I will be setting up one of my 29 gallon tanks for them, though I told them that ultimately even the 29 won't be big enough. But that's on them - certainly not a guarantee that the fish will live log enough to outgrow the tank, and if they do they will feel better about shelling out some money for that bigger tank.
> 
> Gotta start unloading my small tanks....


i wish i could say unloading my small tanks, referring to 29 gallons
every idea i have starts at 90 gallons and goes up from there (i don't have the space for more than one tank where i'm at now)


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## jaysee

Yeah I have a 55, a 30, two more 29s, two 20s, a 10 and two 5s to get rid of before September. Last year I got rid of a 75, 45, 37, 30 and a 10.

The only tanks I'm moving with are the 125s and the 90.


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## Agent13

I'm feeling rather lucky right now reading through the posts . I can say none of the immediately close chain pet stores here give out such bad advice. I suppose if your were unlucky and stuck with a cashier bagging your fish you might get misguided advice ... Yet still that happened the other day to me and the cashier was very knowledgable about fish. And I did talk to her for a while just to see how much she knew.. My only issue with them is the quality of fish ... Which is why I prefer a couple specialized fish stores in the area 


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## cyclesnipas

Glad to see this thread is growing . I remember almost getting thrown out of a Petland when I was younger cuz I told a customer EVERYTHING the employee just told him was wrong. The employee was p-o'd! I was later asked by the manager if I wanted a job lol.


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## Oldconductor

Good Luck when it comes to feed on her


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