LFS that just don't care?

[AdamD76]

So I have a LFS that is usually pretty good. He has good prices and a pretty good selection but this year it has gone down hill. I know with covid and all that things are a little off but some things you just can't let slide. Example- Aptasia in the frag tank. About 4 months ago i spotted a small Aptasia on a new frag that had come in so I let him know. He said he would take care of it and I said cool. But every week I go in and it's still there and multiplying. I've let him know several times and he just looks at me. I went in on Saturday and he has Aptasia everywhere in the frag tank. He sees me looking in the tank and is like you getting anything today. I just say not until you take care of your Aptasia problem and leave.
Other examples like selling mostly dead corals for full price and generally being condescending.

It will probably be a few months until I go back IDK. Dose anyone else have issues with LFS like this?

Side note: Its the owner that I have been talking to not an employee and has had salt tanks for over 20 years.

 

[SaltISlife]

I have issies with a LFS as well. And Ill flat out mention it. The store is called Capitol Aquarium in Virginia. Been shopping there for years and this nee guy took over as manager of the store and hes got a pretty smart mouth on him. Hes nice alot of the time.. but i dont think he realizes he says things you shouldnt really say unless you wanna start a verbal fight with someone

The tanks have gotten cleaner. They were filthy before. And his trade in values are semi reasonable. But the other day he mentioned i need to take pics with filters and i said no thanks. Filters make a coral seem like something they arent in person.

And he snaps back and says we can argue all day about this but youre wrong. And im like argue ? We each said 1 sentence. Chill out guy snaps easily.

Bought a red goniapora with my trade in credit and i didnt think to ask him to wave flow on the coral to retract the polyps so i can see the skeleton. I got home put it in my tank and immediatly saw 50% of the flesh was dead snd skeleton. The polyps are still there by they hide it when they come out. Hense why i didnt see it in the store and why he think its was ok

I sent him a pic and message simoly saying half the coral is dead. And he waits 1 day and says it wasnt like that when it left the store LOL.

SO he immediatly blammed me. When clearly it was like that because corals dont just spontaniusly combust like this rtn happens but not in this way. And there was nothing sloughing off anyway it happened awhile ago.

Guy is a Jerk. And honestly i feel like going in on wed when they open to have a talk with him about this. Because originally i didnt want a refund or some partial refund.. but his snippy mouth im asking for one. And if he says no thats fine. I just wont spend money there anymore. I mean i only spent like 4000$ there in the last year or so.

A new store opened closer to me and the owner is so much nicer and store is way cleaner anyway

 

[LeftyReefer]

So I have a LFS that is usually pretty good. He has good prices and a pretty good selection but this year it has gone down hill. I know with covid and all that things are a little off but some things you just can't let slide. Example- Aptasia in the frag tank. About 4 months ago i spotted a small Aptasia on a new frag that had come in so I let him know. He said he would take care of it and I said cool. But every week I go in and it's still there and multiplying. I've let him know several times and he just looks at me. I went in on Saturday and he has Aptasia everywhere in the frag tank. He sees me looking in the tank and is like you getting anything today. I just say not until you take care of your Aptasia problem and leave.
Other examples like selling mostly dead corals for full price and generally being condescending.

It will probably be a few months until I go back IDK. Dose anyone else have issues with LFS like this?

Side note: Its the owner that I have been talking to not an employee and has had salt tanks for over 20 years.

On the bright side, at least your LFS cares enough to have a frag tank and sell coral. My only local saltwater store doesn't even sell coral. At least not any more. They tried years ago, but all that is left is the old tank in the back corner that was once their coral tank, but now it sits empty. There are a few empty plugs, a few plugs with dead skeletons attached, but nothing alive in the tank other than algae.

They don't use RO water let alone RO/DI.

the staff consists of a mom, her daughter, and a couple of her friends. All about 16-25yo and completely clueless.
One time I called to see if they had a certain pellet food in stock (TDO chroma boost) and the girl on the phone said "gee, I don' t know, we have a lot of stuff on the shelves..."

Talk about not caring.... I have the poster child LFS for not caring.

 

[SaltISlife]

On the bright side, at least your LFS cares enough to have a frag tank and sell coral. My only local saltwater store doesn't even sell coral. At least not any more. They tried years ago, but all that is left is the old tank in the back corner that was once their coral tank, but now it sits empty. There are a few empty plugs, a few plugs with dead skeletons attached, but nothing alive in the tank other than algae.

They don't use RO water let alone RO/DI.

the staff consists of a mom, her daughter, and a couple of her friends. All about 16-25yo and completely clueless.
One time I called to see if they had a certain pellet food in stock (TDO chroma boost) and the girl on the phone said "gee, I don' t know, we have a lot of stuff on the shelves..."

Talk about not caring.... I have the poster child LFS for not caring.

What about your local petco. Ive gotten a good 40% of my corals from petco. They will order directly from ora and such if you ask

 

[AdamD76]

On the bright side, at least your LFS cares enough to have a frag tank and sell coral. My only local saltwater store doesn't even sell coral. At least not any more. They tried years ago, but all that is left is the old tank in the back corner that was once their coral tank, but now it sits empty. There are a few empty plugs, a few plugs with dead skeletons attached, but nothing alive in the tank other than algae.

They don't use RO water let alone RO/DI.

the staff consists of a mom, her daughter, and a couple of her friends. All about 16-25yo and completely clueless.
One time I called to see if they had a certain pellet food in stock (TDO chroma boost) and the girl on the phone said "gee, I don' t know, we have a lot of stuff on the shelves..."

Talk about not caring.... I have the poster child LFS for not caring.

I have 5 LFS within an hour but all of them are hit or miss. They are all in different directions also so I can't hit them all in a weekend. Some are mostly crap others are good if you get them on a good day.

 

[AdamD76]

What about your local petco. Ive gotten a good 40% of my corals from petco. They will order directly from ora and such if you ask

My closest Petco is only good when they get a shipment like once a month. If i can get there within a day or two its ok. But its like 1.5-2 hour away.

 

[AdamD76]

I have issies with a LFS as well. And Ill flat out mention it. The store is called Capitol Aquarium in Virginia. Been shopping there for years and this nee guy took over as manager of the store and hes got a pretty smart mouth on him. Hes nice alot of the time.. but i dont think he realizes he says things you shouldnt really say unless you wanna start a verbal fight with someone

The tanks have gotten cleaner. They were filthy before. And his trade in values are semi reasonable. But the other day he mentioned i need to take pics with filters and i said no thanks. Filters make a coral seem like something they arent in person.

And he snaps back and says we can argue all day about this but youre wrong. And im like argue ? We each said 1 sentence. Chill out guy snaps easily.

Bought a red goniapora with my trade in credit and i didnt think to ask him to wave flow on the coral to retract the polyps so i can see the skeleton. I got home put it in my tank and immediatly saw 50% of the flesh was dead snd skeleton. The polyps are still there by they hide it when they come out. Hense why i didnt see it in the store and why he think its was ok

I sent him a pic and message simoly saying half the coral is dead. And he waits 1 day and says it wasnt like that when it left the store LOL.

SO he immediatly blammed me. When clearly it was like that because corals dont just spontaniusly combust like this rtn happens but not in this way. And there was nothing sloughing off anyway it happened awhile ago.

Guy is a Jerk. And honestly i feel like going in on wed when they open to have a talk with him about this. Because originally i didnt want a refund or some partial refund.. but his snippy mouth im asking for one. And if he says no thats fine. I just wont spend money there anymore. I mean i only spent like 4000$ there in the last year or so.

A new store opened closer to me and the owner is so much nicer and store is way cleaner anyway

Yea I don't know why some employees have an attitude or talk to you like your an idiot when you been going somewhere for a while.

Side note- I guess I should be multi quoting instead of one at a time.

 

[LeftyReefer]

What about your local petco. Ive gotten a good 40% of my corals from petco. They will order directly from ora and such if you ask

Don't have one of those either. The closest Petco is in a town about 75 minutes away. That same town also has a nice LFS, which does sell coral, so that is where I usually go. Truthfully, I've had much better luck dealing with fellow R2R'ers for coral than any LFS.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I think a couple of you have described what i am seeing on my end also and believe this is becoming a trend probably set by survival behaviors since the onset of COVID-19
It just appears the word “ Quality and “customer care “ has faded and these stores and businesses forget who has kept them surviving.
We all have choices and I already made mine upon recognizing these behaviors. Loyalty is hard to earn and once lost is hard to regain
As I always remembered when i had my pet store:
TAKE CARE OF THE CUSTOMER OR SOMEONE ELSE WILL !!

 

[EcoFriendlyMouth]

What about your local petco. Ive gotten a good 40% of my corals from petco. They will order directly from ora and such if you ask

This. My usual LFS has a decent coral stock but is about an hour away, and lots of the frags have aiptasia on them. I also got cured live rock there that ended up having aips on it. The store is primarily for fresh water so not a huge surprise but they have a huge saltwater supply and a selection of hundreds of frags at all times so I was kinda shocked. However the local petco has the cleanest frag tank and saltwater section I've ever seen.

 

[AdamD76]

Don't have one of those either. The closest Petco is in a town about 75 minutes away. That same town also has a nice LFS, which does sell coral, so that is where I usually go. Truthfully, I've had much better luck dealing with fellow R2R'ers for coral than any LFS.

I wouldn't mind dealing with fellow reefers but where I am they are few and far between. There is a lady about 45 min away that can't give corals away to fellow reefers. Mostly chalice coral and some SPS that I can't keep alive.

 

[AdamD76]

Neon green toadstools I can't get rid of locally. LFS Says $3 each.

 

[Tankkeepers]

Aquarium world Lafayette indiana stay away from this one they give bad advice just to make sales recommend the bottom of the barrel equipment their live stock alot of times looks very sickly mostly rude uneducated ppl working there not to mention they have every pest you can get in all the frag tanks(bryopsis, both pest nems,blue clove polyps etc)and do nothing at all to try and clear the tank they will sell you a tang for a 10 gallon tank and say it'll be a good fit

 

[EcoFriendlyMouth]

Aquarium world Lafayette indiana stay away from this one they give bad advice just to make sales recommend the bottom of the barrel equipment their live stock alot of times looks very sickly mostly rude uneducated ppl working there not to mention they have every pest you can get in all the frag tanks(bryopsis, both pest nems,blue clove polyps etc)and do nothing at all to try and clear the tank they will sell you a tang for a 10 gallon tank and say it'll be a good fit

I've heard a lot of mixed things about them. They can be okay for freshwater, however I have heard that no one there really knows that much about saltwater and/or reef tanks.

 

[sfin52]

So I have a LFS that is usually pretty good. He has good prices and a pretty good selection but this year it has gone down hill. I know with covid and all that things are a little off but some things you just can't let slide. Example- Aptasia in the frag tank. About 4 months ago i spotted a small Aptasia on a new frag that had come in so I let him know. He said he would take care of it and I said cool. But every week I go in and it's still there and multiplying. I've let him know several times and he just looks at me. I went in on Saturday and he has Aptasia everywhere in the frag tank. He sees me looking in the tank and is like you getting anything today. I just say not until you take care of your Aptasia problem and leave.
Other examples like selling mostly dead corals for full price and generally being condescending.

It will probably be a few months until I go back IDK. Dose anyone else have issues with LFS like this?

Side note: Its the owner that I have been talking to not an employee and has had salt tanks for over 20 years.

Our lfs is like that. Kills almost every coral that comes in. He won't try new vendors ive tried to talk to them about it just say its the vendor. I shake my head and leave. I haven't bought any coral from them in about a year.

 

[Nick Steele]

Neon green toadstools I can't get rid of locally. LFS Says $3 each.

Dang that is bad. I got $15 trade in for 4 hermits and a small frag of Xenia I was happy lol

 

[BlennyTime]

I’ve noticed the LFS near me that has more corporate clients and maintenance contracts seems to be doing well and keeping good stock, but it has gotten about 50% more expensive. The ones more run by and for hobbyists and individuals seem to be struggling to keep stock. Which is tough, since it makes it hard to keep going back if they never have anything good, but if nobody buys what they have they will struggle to hang on.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

I get tired of people dumping on LFS. Usually it’s people who can’t even keep their own tank straightened out. They know how to perfectly fun an LFS though. Lol.

 

[AdamD76]

I get tired of people dumping on LFS. Usually it’s people who can’t even keep their own tank straightened out. They know how to perfectly fun an LFS though. Lol.

I understand that things get out of hand once in a while and that's just whats happening to this one LFS right now but some of them just don't care at all, ever. And some people just like to complain if everything isn't perfect. There is a LFS 30 min away from me that has never in the 15 years Ive been in the area had a clean tank or thriving corals but they continue on like it doesn't matter. I still go in every month or so just to check.

 

[SaltISlife]

I get tired of people dumping on LFS. Usually it’s people who can’t even keep their own tank straightened out. They know how to perfectly fun an LFS though. Lol.

How do you know its usually ? Every coral i buy from my lfs the one i mentioned capitol aquarium. Most of them are half dead or bleached they cant keep acros. I buy em and they color right up in a few weeks.

Only coral ive killed was Yellow porites which are hard and a hawkins acropora. I havent lost any other coral in 3 years.

I remember years ago in a reef shop i went too with my mom. They had this giant rock with mushrooms and zoas and my mom wanted it. She asked the lady how much and the lady lookd at my mom and (sizes) her up and goes too much for you.

I was blown away by that.. like seriously ?