LFS Issues

I recently started up the hobby again, and being in need of various pieces of equipment and fishies, visited all the LFS in my area. I am fortunate to have no less than three LFS (and a general pet shop) within 5km from where I live.

However, as with most other specialty shops, not all LFS are made equal. It is normally quite easy to spot a bad shop by looking at the quality and cleanliness of the tanks and the type of fish they stock. One of the LFS near me sells dyed glass-fish, and out of principle I will not buy anything from them again.

I bought some fish from a second LFS the other day, and the young man who helped me was rather heavy-handed in catching them. In the end I just turned around and walked away as I had no interest in seeing the poor fish being stressed like this.

The final LFS is close by and are normally quite clued up. I got excellent service from them thus far and spent quite a bit of money there over the past few weeks. I sort of adopted them as my LFS of choice as they appear to care for their live stock, and are quite gentle in catching them from the tank.

HOWEVER, I just popped in there again as they are on my way back from the office (via a 3km detour :embarrest and I found no less than three tanks with dead fish in them. One of the tanks had multiple dead fish in it. Now I don't expect them to patrol the aisles 24/7, but with the amount of traffic through there surely, this should be spotted?

So, am I making to big a deal out of this? I would love to support the local guys, but I am not buying anything out of a tank that has dead fish in it...

 

I think you're making a big deal out of it. I can't remember when last I was in a LFS (both fresh and marine), where there wasn't a few dead ones in the tanks.

 

Yeah, I was at a LFS in Centurion and they got in a bad batch of fish from their supplier through no fault of their own the fish were dying in the tank due to being transported incorrectly. This happens at all of the LFS's it is almost impossible to patrol all the tanks and remove the fish on a daily basis. Especially when it gets busy.

 

@JJFury, what area do you live in. Seems as though you're describing a few I know Haha

 

As above. LFS's are hotspots for fish death, being their second last stop on often quite immense journeys being squashed in with lots of other fish, being sloshed around and generally having an unpleasant time. Once they get to the store, some of them just aren't strong enough to hold on - and are frequently taken by disease, picked on by other fish in their weakness, or simply refuse to eat.

That last store sounds like a keeper between the three. Perhaps point out the dead fish to the staff? I've noticed staff move pretty quickly once customers start pointing these things out, in the better stores anyway.

Regards,

 

look fish die and die often
got to keep in mind that most young fish are destined to die, why most fish have such huge broods part of nature, in wild if 2 fish from every brood get to adulthood it is alot.
recon some species only half the import get sold and rest die in tank while waiting to be sold
in terms of catching the fish, if the fish is weak and stresses that is that catching ruffly leads to its death you should not really want the fish in the first place. Took me long time to stop trying save every week looking fish i saw as 95% died.
that said no excuse for dirty tanks and a abundance of sick and dying fish, mention it to the manager when you see it again and in most cases it is quickly rectified

 

Thanks everyone for the responses! It appears as if the general consensus here is that these are simply the facts of life if you own an LFS. If that is the case, I will gladly go back to my LFS and have a nice chat with them about this.

@top dog : Point taken, but I still don't think that being heavy handed is acceptable. The fish in question was by no means sick or weak and I certainly do not want to buy a sick or weak fish as I do not have enough tanks (yet) to nurse a sick fish back to health.

Thanks again everyone.

 

Hi guys,

If you are an accountant, then figures is your "business".
In an annual report or tax return you simply cant use the excuse "im extremely busy" if you made a few mistakes in calculus. Or tell the client the figures are quite extensive and difficult to calculate.
Same goes for any profession/job with responsibility.
For a LPS - livestock is their business. Fish get the short end of the stick cause they are sensitive and endure arduous journeys before reaching the LPS.
"Tough luck" is what I say.
Its your business, its your image. No debate on that issue.
Ive been to a LPS where fish were sick in the tank and the viewing pane was covered with a dark hardboard and a notice stating the fish were being Quarantined. I thought it an excellent simple solution to a problem.
These things happen because we as consumers accept it as such. Irs rubbish.
Who will go to a nursery and accept a "heat" excuse for the plants on display looking groggy and dying?
But we accept the excuse of complexities with fish keeping, and we are the hobbyists buying these?
Complain and walk away.

Rgds

Marco

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

 

If it's the norm for fish to die in the journey to us, should we be considering the morality of keeping fish?

 

I was actually speaking to a local fish shop owner just yesterday regarding the fish supplied from various suppliers and there was something interesting he noted to me, he said that some suppliers would get fish from Singapore and send it straight to them so from time to time he would get a batch of fish that just won't eat and die after two days when I'ts too late to claim dead on arrival.

 

WOW @Jenn - you have made me think.

 

Pet store owners care about money and not about livestock. They could care less about the health of the fish. As long as it sells before it dies in their tanks. Dead fish in their tanks means money out of their pocket. They not sad because the fish died , they sad because they lost money.

Generally , I find pet shop owners and their staff in general as moronic specimens. If they were tropical fish, they would be common feeder guppies. People dont really give a damn about them.

 

worst part for me is the more fish they sell you that die the more you buy so to some point high death rate is too there advantage, hints why you see new tank and ten bags full of fish leaving every pet shop every Saturday and guys being sold baby oscar high fin pangs and guppies for his 2 foot tank. No chance of these fish making it and if they do they going to eat each other and thus result in future sales.

 

I must say we at Dorry Pets strive to sell the best quality fish that are healthy. remember every dead fish in the holding tanks is money out of the store and a bad image also. We arent a Petshop rather a hobbyist shop. we keep our tanks clean and our water quality good and also feed the fish high quality food twice a day. sometimes we get fish that doesnt land well in the shop and we just dont order them again. But i have to agree there is alot of petshops that dont care and also dont give the correct info to new comers to the hobby.

 

Most pet shops will lie to your face. They think most of their customers are idiots. They treat their customers worse than they treat their fish. It is not surprising when you got bird brains as owners and pea brains as staff. No people skills to talk of as well.

My rule of thumb when i walk into any pet shop is that you are going to be faced with a pathethic owner and worse staff. I dont see why i should change my views until proven otherwise.

Conversely, i get the impression that when I or any other person walks in to their shop, its like they doing you a biiiig favour by just being in there. They only hop to attention if a lekker stekkie is in the shop then they buzzing around her.

 

These threads pop up every now and again, over and over. Frankly, not all pet shops are bad. If you have experience with a "bad" pet shop, don't go back, easy - problem solved. No one is forcing you to go there. If they constantly gave wrong advise and bad customer service, howcome they are still in business? Yes, you may have had a bad experience on a few occasions, it can happen in at your local pick n pay too! sh!t happens.

I really don't think that this constant bashing of pet shops are neccessary. Face it, if it wasn't for them, good or bad, we would have this hobby to begin with. Do you homework BEFORE you go there, and you wouldn't need to rely on their knowledge. If you don't know what you are looking for, then you have no reason to question them, they are trying, just like you are!

 

Correct, not all pet shops are bad. Most are bad though. A pet shop is the reflection of the owner. If the pet shop is pathethic then that tells you about the owner. Pathethic human bieng as well. The problem is that if all the pet shops in your area are bad then what choice do you have. You wioll have to face the same sickening faces all the time.

They probably still in business because there is nowhere else to go. So people are stuck for choices. Agreed, you can have bad service anywhere. Extremenly prevelant in the pet shop industry though.

They just trying to make a sale, thats all they are trying.

Personally, I would prefer to do everything online. Like how they sell livestock in the USA. Then you dont have to interact with these pet shop clowns.

 

even the USA has bad pet shops they r not perfect and same of the live stock we get comes from them that is all so sometimes badly packed. there is no perfect LPS! so u do the best u can with what there is or go futher to get a better LPS!

 

Perfection is not possible, but we have a long way to go to even get near it.

Has anyone seen the pet/fish shops in Germany? Every single one I have seen there is immaculate. Yes, a dead fish here and there can happen, but the places are clean, well labeled, and the guy behind the counter is himself an enthusiast. So it is possible.

My guess it is not happening here as the average consumer in SA simply does not demand this and has very little knowledge of fishkeeping, therefore 'bad' becomes 'good enough'. As hobbyists our standards are much higher, just not enough real hobbyists around.

What is interesting is that locally marine sections are usually much better run than freshwater, as these cater for the enthusiast and not some ignorant person wanting a cute 'vissie'.

 

You'll be surprised. Again, it's all about what you expect, and where you go...