Spare time
10K Club member
No worries. Trust me I understand haha
Is the guy in Marin the 1 of lfs I go to dumb?
- Thread starter Beta reefs.
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No worries. Trust me I understand haha
Lebowski_
Valuable Member
Seems super weird to “flex” on some dude making near minimum wage. I don’t see the upside. I think if you see husbandry practices you don’t like, you could always ask them about it or not shop there.
I’ve worked at a lot of LFSs earlier in life before I started my career. Most of the employees are just people off the street who know the basics. You can’t expect them all to be Julian Sprung. Calling them dumb is a very pretentious thing to do in my opinion and doesn’t reflect the friendly community here.
I’ve worked at a lot of LFSs earlier in life before I started my career. Most of the employees are just people off the street who know the basics. You can’t expect them all to be Julian Sprung. Calling them dumb is a very pretentious thing to do in my opinion and doesn’t reflect the friendly community here.
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Lebowski_
Valuable Member
OP not to call you out, but this thread from Monday says you are new to the hobby?
I would say walk a mile in another man’s shoes before you call them dumb. That LFS employee is keeping SPS alive.
I would say walk a mile in another man’s shoes before you call them dumb. That LFS employee is keeping SPS alive.
I've been hearing that for decades, but I haven't seen either in any of my systems. As far as color, seeing "red" and "non red" together seems to me an indicator of species not diet and seeing red in unlit sumps also argues for it being a species indicator and not diet. As far as feeding on corals, corals have to shed their mucus coatings periodicly as the coatings age and there's unfavorable shifts in the microbiomes, repeatidly seeing Aqualonastra only on corals for short periods of time while it's shedding then leaving them alone seems to me to be a benefit as it's helping remove the old biofilm, since the shifts in microbiomes as the mucus coating ages can be caused by or include increases in pathogens it seems Aquilonastra are being blamed when they aren't the problem.
Beta reefs.
Active Member
Lingwendil
Well-Known Member
Asterinas are harmless to healthy corals, but you may see them cruising around dead tissue- Lots of witch hunts for the poor little guys.
Spare time
10K Club member
All sps? I agree with some like the monti caps. And to be fair, a lot of times the coral dying is because of the owner. The owners usually set the limits on what can and can't be done with the coral. I wouldn't blame the part time employee on that.
Lingwendil
Well-Known Member
Sounds like a know-it-all that doesn't actually know much.
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Ignorance is bliss - Not knowing does not equate to bad intentions or any other flaw. The LFS employee typically learns from their co-workers, employer who mostly learn from their vendors and customers. It is a somewhat closed loop of bad information, mostly driven by vendor sales pitches and common hobby misinformation passed from one person to the next.
Most LFS customers are not high end, well-informed "reef keepers" they are just folks with "fish tanks" and happy to participate. Some grow past that, but most do not. The LFS does not cater to the niche reef keeper, but rather the daily foot traffic and "daddy I want an aquarium" traffic.
Be glad you do have an LFS though, as without them this hobby would be even more niche and less accessible with less choices and a smaller footrpint from a lobby and regulation standpoint. It is a double edged sword.
Likewise, without the LFS where do you run in an emergency when you need a heater, food, test kit, medication, pump, etc. NOW because 2 day amazon shipping will not save your fish?
Lingwendil
Well-Known Member
I agree with nearly everything you've ever posted, and this is no exception
Some comments (primarily directed at OP, and other beginners/newcomers) based on personal experience-
This is why you have to do your best to do your own research- and not take everything at face value. I started in the aquarium industry as a high school kid breeding freshwater fish (lots of cichlids, some wild-type live-bearers, and some harder to find varieties at that), and selling to multiple local LFS in my area. I eventually started reefing back when Nano-Reef and Reef Central (before Reef2Reef was really around) were the primary resources for any new information that wasn't published in the books I could find. I always did my best to double-check any advice I received, and was very careful to not make purchases or drastic decisions based on advice from LFS employees. More often than not I would receive bad info from folks that could have gone very badly for me if I hadn't gone home and did additional research, or went to the library(!) to dig through some books.
The average LFS employee isn't always an experienced hobbyist- sometimes it's just "some guy" that was interested, or just plain needed a job and got hired- going off of whatever training or limited info he was able to be provided. I remember lots of inexperienced, set in their ways employees that I had to politely let them know I was already aware of what I needed- and as a soft spoken teenager with a ponytail it was sometimes difficult for me to get my intentions across.
I eventually got hired- and promoted- to aquatics manager at two different small mom-and-pop type pet stores that focused on fish and reptiles, and we had a ton of folks that meant well, but really did not have a good working knowledge of the hobby. You know what I did? I handed them books, spent the time with them to get them up to speed. Some of them were willing to grow and did well- some of them didn't, and went on to other things. I encouraged them to always try to learn and challenge their knowledge base. The management at non-chain stores is a make-or-break aspect- if they don't encourage that approach then it's usually something you will notice in the condition of their tanks and livestock.
merkmerk73
Active Member
Some fish stores just suck and are managed by people who don't know much about it.
Their knowledge is just passed down "LFS knowledge" - and its their day job so they don't go home and geek out over forums like we do.
Sometimes these locations will be good for X but really bad for Y and Z.
Corals - in my experience - are best purchased from other hobbyist sellers at trade shows.
There are really high quality - and well cared for - corals you can get at these shows. Just fantastic stuff.
Their knowledge is just passed down "LFS knowledge" - and its their day job so they don't go home and geek out over forums like we do.
Sometimes these locations will be good for X but really bad for Y and Z.
Corals - in my experience - are best purchased from other hobbyist sellers at trade shows.
There are really high quality - and well cared for - corals you can get at these shows. Just fantastic stuff.
Just because a LFS does not know everything does not mean that I should not buy animals from them. I just don't depend on LFS for information. I buy the animal if it is healthy (or have a problem that I can treat) and if I think the price that is fair, and if I don't think the LFS have practice that is grossly bad for the hobby.
Beta reefs.
Active Member
I do buy fish from them but I not going to ask sw advice.
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