I need a good laugh. WORST LFS ADVICE

[ScottR]

Went into a LFS and a guy was trying to sell me a tridacna clam. His selling point was that it would help to filter my water. I wanted to say something but didn’t. And then he said I can put it in my sump and it’ll clean my water as it’s a filter feeder. This wasn’t him just trying to sell a clam, he had one in his sump as well and it was brown!

Share your horror stories.

 

[Dilan Patel]

LONG time ago when I had a 55 fish only. my dad walks into a LFS and liked the look of a wrasse...it was a lunar wrasse lol. He also liked a cleaner shrimp and asked for advice. They said they should go along just FINE. Whelp once they were introduced that shrimp did not last more than 5 min. That was one expensive snack. From that day on the Lunar wrasse was name skelator(Real pretty fish tho lol). Luckiliy the staff has gotten much better!

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

That garlic would stop an angelfish eatin corals lol

 

[ScottR]

That garlic would stop an angelfish eatin corals lol

Wait, what? What’s the logic behind that? Did they say?

 

[Malifry97]

This is great LOL

 

[ahiggins]

That you can put a sting ray in a 40 breeder
After a handful of fw fish attempts from that place, all getting ich we stopped going there and haven’t had problems since.

 

[Bapeluso]

Theres a lfs near where I live that preaches that their water is the cleanest water around, more specifically, cleaner than the water you have in your tank at home. So when you acclimate your critters, just dump the whole bag in the tank, it's fine. They also sell fish straight from the bags that come from the distributor, so needless to say I've not heard of much success from that place. The sad part is, ive seen shops in the area that have worse looking fish than theirs

 

[Bapeluso]

I also had a frequent customer at the shop I used to work at who came in one night, upset because he had lost all his fish after making a few more additions. We asked what the additions were and he said he couldn't remember. He showed back up the next day, bucket in hand, to give to us his new additions. The bucket had an 8 inch blue spotted grouper and a 4 inch undulated trigger. He had apparently bought them at a competitor's shop and they had told him theyd be great additions. His tank was a 40 breeder with clowns, cardinals, cleaner shrimp, and a tiny hippo tang. Bye bye Nemo and dory

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

Wait, what? What’s the logic behind that? Did they say?

To be fair i heard a customer say this in total belief of the shop keeper who told them that, so i didnt hear the reasoning. But shocked me that theyd give advice like that lol. Whenever i was like 8 they also sold me a clown tang for my 40 gallon tank, so you can get the idea of the bs they say lol

 

[Bapeluso]

I've also seen countless store selling "live rock" that sit in containers with no water whatsoever

 

[ScottR]

I've also seen countless store selling "live rock" that sit in containers with no water whatsoever

Lol. So dry “live” rock? I’ve seen live rock in water that was just rock in saltwater with an airstone.

 

[BigRed78]

When I was looking for somthing blue to add to my 40 gallon breeder I was told I could keep a “dory” in there.

 

[BMW540]

Went into a LFS and a guy was trying to sell me a tridacna clam. His selling point was that it would help to filter my water. I wanted to say something but didn’t. And then he said I can put it in my sump and it’ll clean my water as it’s a filter feeder. This wasn’t him just trying to sell a clam, he had one in his sump as well and it was brown!

Share your horror stories.

He is correct, but they’re not something to rely on to filter your tank. Clams typically brown out in lower lighting, but is not necessarily a sign of an unhealthy specimen.

Advice was correct, just terrible angle to play in order to make a sale.

 

[ScottR]

He is correct, but they’re not something to rely on to filter your tank. Clams typically brown out in lower lighting, but is not necessarily a sign of an unhealthy specimen.

Advice was correct, just terrible angle to play in order to make a sale.

So clams can clean my tank? I was under the impression that they need lighting when matured and only filter beneficial phytoplankton. My bad. Sometimes I’m a noob.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Worst advice I ever got was several years ago regarding freshwater:

You can have 1 inch of fish per gallon of freshwater (general, old school rule).

Scavengers eat detris- uneaten food, fish waste, etc. Therefore each freshwater scavenger fish could account as a negative balance. Aka- 3 gouramis are 9 inches. But nine 1 inch Cory cats are -9 inches. Therefore, adding those 12 fish to the system is a net neutral bioload.

 

[zapbap99]

here is my horror story, my lfs sells fish double price lol

 

[Quietman]

Lol. So dry “live” rock? I’ve seen live rock in water that was just rock in saltwater with an airstone.

See alot of "live" rock that's really just "cured" rock. If it's dark, heated and no food being added...not seeing the 'live' part.

 

[AquaBiomics]

See alot of "live" rock that's really just "cured" rock. If it's dark, heated and no food being added...not seeing the 'live' part.

A lot of what I see would probably best be described as "wet rock". Mined or man made stuff, dense as a brick, sitting in water and labeled live rock.

 

[Admann]

I hate when they assume the depth of your knowledge pertaining to saltwater reef keeping requires references to "Nemo and "Dory" so you understand what you are looking at.

 

[Indytraveler83]

A lot of what I see would probably best be described as "wet rock". Mined or man made stuff, dense as a brick, sitting in water and labeled live rock.

One or my lfs is trying to sell a trailer full of "live rock" for 4.99/lb. It's formally live rock from an lfs that went out of business years ago and currently on a snowed and ice covered open trailer in the parking lot. How live can it be??