Readers Respond: What is the worst advice an LFS ever gave you?

The same person told us that Ich (a parasite) could pass from one tank to another through the air, which is why people put glass covers on their tanks... To keep the parasites out.

I'm sure that he meant well and was trying to be helpful, but...

What's the biggest LFS whopper that you've heard? What's Your LFS Whopper?

pH is the only factor

LFS Guy said that there is no need to test any parameters in saltwater tank except pH. NH3/NO2 has got nothing to do with tank.

—Guest manish

Mandarin

LFS told me I would be fine getting a Mandarin in a 20 gallon as long as I feed it rotifers... Really... Trying to throw me that sales pitch and give me an emaciated fish (stomach was curved in). Never trust your LFS or pet store, use forums!

—Guest Alex

Worst advice

You don't need to quarantine, as long as the other fish in the tank are healthy they won't get ich from the newest addition.

—Guest Cody

Clowns

New to saltwater I started my tank with 3 blue yellowtail damsels... First mistake. I then wanted to get a clown, I asked if these guys would be ok together they said yes. Got home and as soon as I put the little guy in my cube, the damsels went straight at him. I ended up taking my damsels back to the store before they could do any real damage to the clown...

—Guest Cori

Live Rock is Bad

I was recently told thay live rock is very bad for fish only tanks. That it woild result in ammonia spikes and nitrogen build up.

—Guest Bill

Sliders

I don't know where to start, I literally don't even waste time talking to LFS employees anymore. When my gf's father bought us red-eared sliders, they sold him this god-awful little round plastic junker container. you can't put more than an inch of water in it. I also got told that I need to do partial water changes every two or three days in my freshwater tank.

—Guest vreaquariums

Debra

Went to the store and asked about a water testing kit. He told me a hang on the top filter was all I needed to take care of ammonia. I just needed to watch the salinity and tempweather. I'm glad I went into the store well researched or I'd have a tank full of dead fish within the week...

—Guest Debra

Ich cure? No!

As a beginner salt water aquarist, upon first encountering ich I asked the advice of my lfs regarding curing it. I was told a cleaner shrimp and cleaner wrasse would do the job. I have since learnt that the only options are copper or hyposalinity. Only problem is I have no fish left to cure. The shop was Viscum.

—Guest Dave

Nitrate reducing lies...

Once struggled with high nitrates in my 55 gallon octagon tank, so i was looking at putting a dsb in my sump (which had the compartment but never used it) so i asked the pet store owner what depth a dsb (deep sand bed) should be, to which he replied +- 2cm, and the "deep" in deep sand bed referred to the depth of the water on top of the sand bed. I couldn't help but laugh at him ...

—Guest Cj v

DIANE8898

About an hr ago i was told that I needed to cycle my sw tank with nothing but heater filter and 1/2 inch bed, for a least 4 (four) mths b4 I add live rock or fish? needless to say I am new to marine but not that green!

—Guest DIANE8898

Four Engineers?

When we first got our tank, a 140 Gallon, the LFS sold us four cute little engineer gobies. Now I know this sounds wierd but "fortunately" we had a diseased fish come in that killed three of the four. I say fortunately because the one remaining is about 18" long now and enjoys liberally rearranging all the sand in our DSB. I cannot imagine what we would have going on with four of these beasts!

—Guest Jomo

walmart puffers

I went to Walmart to look at some green spotted puffers. The guy in the fish dept. told me that two gsp's in a half gallon freshwater fish bowl would be fine. He was way off. After fighting off the internal parasites that were neglected at the store, I put the two little guys in a 55 gallon brackish tank which has since been acclimated to full saltwater. I feel horrible for the ones I had to leave behind at the store.

—Guest kevin

Recycling

I was told at Petsmart to buy one set of fish to cycle my tank (and stress the fish) then just bring those fish back and get new fish. I would hate to purchase a fish that had been "recycled" a few times. Thankfully I know better. (currently on week three of fishless cycle)

—Guest Heidi

fins and friends

we owned a full line pet store for 26 years (no dogs or cats) and we heard many whoppers from other shops. Two of the worst were telling people that the baby turtle would never get any bigger (true if you kept it in unhygenic conditons and fed poor diet) and Iguanas only needed lettuce to eat. Florida has very weak laws pertaining to pet stores and care was and is often terrible. We only patronize shops with healthy well maintained animals We avoid chain and big box stores like the plague. They will hire any idiot that can come to work on time and sell what ever they are offering for the week

—Guest jim steele

a big no-no

I went into a local lfs looking for a bucket of salt, (which they did not have any of, even though they only sold saltwater fish). The man cleaning the tanks on a ladder says "you should go see the nautilus over there. We don't get those in too often." Excited to hear that, I bolted straight for the tank he was pointing at. To my horror, this nautilus was floating on the surface of an 18 gallon spherical tank designed for shrimp, with almost no filtration at all. The animal was obviously in distress as it swam itself around in circles in darts, but couldn't even submerse its shell due to trapped gasses that had built up in its shell, and the shell itself was beginning to literally crack. When I mentioned this to the salesman, he said "ya, its prolly gonna die soon, I just bought it for the neat shell anyways." I turned around and walked out of that store forever.

—Guest Pristine