Things you wish newbies knew.
 

"Mr. Gardener" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 31 Jan 2006 16:44:54 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote:

"IDzine01" wrote in message
groups.com...
Just because someone works in a pet shop, it does not follow that
they
know all about all the things they sell.

The following is a conversation I had with a PetSmart employee...


Me:

"So, my carbonate hardness is really low at my house and I have been
having pH crashes because of it. I was wondering, what's the KH
here?"

Clerk:

"Uh, what's carbonate hardness?"

Me:

"The buffering capacity?"

Clerk:

"I don't know what that is."

Me:

"Certainly you know it's a problem all over Massachusetts? The water
treatment facility alters the pH. Anyone in the entire state with
city
water has to deal with this."

Clerk:
"I've never tested my water."

Ok, so Newbies are not expected to know what carbonate hardness is
when
first starting out but if you are selling fish this is kinda basic.
If
you are selling fish in a place where carbonate hardness is 20ppm you
SO have to know what KH is.


When I was hiring, I had a very hard time finding employees who even
owned
an aquarium (we were in a new community). At one point, I hired
someone
who's parents had an aquarium (and it looked a little interesting to
them)
and another who's entire experience was one Betta in a bowl. Good help
can
be hard to find. I think every conversation with a new clerk offering
advice should start like this

Me: "Do you even personally own an aquarium - and what kind of fish do
you
have, and for how long"?
(You would be amazed at the number of answers you get that sound
like...)

Clerk: "No, but my brother/friend/neighbour once had an aquarium".

Only 3 people I ever hired had any idea what a buffer is. Everyone got
trained. The average level of expertise in this NG is probably 10
times
greater than the average clerk.

"Everybody got trained" are the key words here. In some ways, it can
be easier and more productive when you are beginning from a blank
slate. Nothing to erase and you know that your employees (or are they
called "associates" these days) are giving your customers straight
information and they will also know where to look it up or who to ask
when they don't have all the answers. I'm wary of a clerk who is too
quick with answers to questions that should requre some thought.


Employees, and yes, everyone got trained. I wrote up a training matrices
and manual, but it still took months for them to complete the outline
(lots to cover). One new employee had enough elementary training that
they were assigned gravel vacuuming and water changes. I went by a tank
and all the cichlids were looking at me with a 'pained' expression. I
put my hand on the glass. They had filled the tank with ice-cold water.
Quickly added some hot water and the fish were fine (tough old cichlids).
I guess my 'elementary' training wasn't quite elementary enough ;~).

Also did two other things. Always had an 'old timer' on duty, so the
kids were taught to say "I don't know, but I'll find out for you", and I
made the old-timers take my course. They were really not enthusiastic at
first, but I told them that I wanted them to know what the kids were
being taught, so they could re-enforce it. By the end of it, they
realized that there was a lot of stuff that they didn't know too.

credo= never stop learning :o)
--
www.NetMax.tk

Things you wish newbies knew.
 

On Tue, 31 Jan 2006 07:19:00 GMT, Eric wrote:



OK, I will now reveal that I have at one time worked as a fish professional.
I worked for one of the big "evil empire" type stores when I needed an extra
job to cover some expenses. Here are some things I wish people knew about
fish before they ever thought about keeping an aquarium.

1. You cannot buy an aquarium and the fish you want in it the same day. There
were even people who wanted to buy a tank and a clownfish just because they
saw Finding Nemo. Even if you bought live sand and filtered seawater this
would be a long shot for the little nemo's survival.

2. You can't stock a tank to capacity shortly after setting it up. the number
one cause of death is ammonia. Bacteria get rid of ammonia. New tanks don't
have these bacteria, so build up slow. It may take a couple of months.

3. Algae will not kill your fish. Some people panic when they see algae. They
do stupid things as a result.

4. A teardown and rebuild is a good way to kill your fish. If the fish were
happy why do you need to take everything apart? Oh, yeah, algae.

4. It's best to stick to fish that stay under 3 inches in a 10gal. tank

5. You don not *have to* get a CAE or a pl*co in order to "clean the tank".
If you just think they're cool, get one, but they are by no means necessary.
Every fish you add to a tank increases the load on a tank. There is no magic
fish that improves water quality.

6. If you think that AmmoLock, Amquel, or zeolite are a long-term solution to
your overcrowded tank, you're wrong. There are countless oscar abusers who
mistakenly rely on these products.

7. Don't worry so much about your pH. It's high. The water comes from deep
wells that extend into Jurassic seabeds. Your better off just not worrying
about and letting your cardinals die young than adding pH Down or worse to
your tank.

Can anyone else add to this list?

-E


If I were not an "Impulse" buyer, I would never have bid on that eBay
75 gallon tank with its beautiful custom cabinet. Thus I would have
saved the 700 mile round trip to Oklahoma City arriving at the
seller's house at 9 PM and loading all into my motorhome, then start
driving home5 AM next morning, driving through rain and snow, stopping
at Odessa, Tx to buy gravel, fish and plants, getting home at 6 PM,
calling a friend to help move tank and cabinet into the house.
Filling the tank and putting in the gravel, plants and fish then going
to bed.

Everyone, me my dogs, fish and friend survived and now I have my
little home filled with more "impulses."

Sometimes we can know too much and end up doing nothing.

I am a believer in "survival of the fittest. I love my impulses, they
allow me to act instead of think. I try to learn from my mistakes,
but not trying is not acceptable.

Those lovely little gold fish bowls would not push my impulse button,
but many a fish keeper of today started with some impulse I would bet.
Sure I feel sorry for the fish that must pay the price of our
mistakes. Same for puppies, kittens and other innocent life.

dick

Things you wish newbies knew.
 

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
.. .
Koi-Lo wrote:

"IDzine01" wrote in message
ups.com...

Tell that to an uninterested parent whose child is badgering and
nagging

them to death for a fish. Said parent knowing the child will lose
interest
after a week at most.


Yeah, well for some reason, unbeknownst to myself, one very important
word has been dropped from the vocabulary of many parents recently.

"no"

================================
You got that right! Just go into any K-Mart or Wally World on the
weekends
when they bring the kiddies with them. What the children want the
children
get, or they pitch a screaming fit to wake the dead and run the deaf
folks
from the store.......

The sad part is when the novelty of a new fish wears off the fish is all
too
often neglected, forgotten, .... and left to die. I wish these stores
would
offer to take the fish back (for free) in such cases, but they wont.

As I keep saying, from time to time, and with the great hope of not
becoming a bore....In the UK they will take the fish back (the good places
anyway) - you might not get a refund or any decent credit but at least you
know that the fish is relatively safe and if unwanted gets a second
chance - until the next person buys it of course....

Yep, I appreciate in the UK that the rules are different...everything is
under strict control...

I took a quick check at the LFS today...the cheapest goldfish on sale
(which was around 1 1/2 inches) was priced at £2.35...the Neon tetras are
priced at £5 for 6 - tropicals in the UK are cheaper than goldfish...the
majority of the more fancy goldfish were between £5-10. Koi retail at
anything from £10 to £100. Maybe the price of the fish also stops people
from investing in a "short term toy" for their kids...To be quite honest,
even when I was a kid, the only way to get a "cheap" goldfish was to win
it at the fair (and that was never really cheap). In the UK the publicity
against "bowls" started in the early 70's - it was quite soon after that
that we had tanks...my Mother used to sneak the water changes as she read
up on them...we as kids didn't have a clue...as an adult I always kept
goldfish in tanks - as the years, and education continued these were tanks
with filters and lights....we bought a "starter kit" from PetSmart (now
Pets at Home in the UK) and this was what came with it for goldfish....and
they wouldn't sell me fish either until it was set up and running...

I think it's time you guys stood up and shouted - our stores are regulated
and licensed....in the UK there is a trade association - OATA - maybe it
should infiltrate the States (I'm not sure that it hasn't started to) and
SHOUT OUT LOUD for better service, advice and fish care....

Gill

Never agian shall i complain bout prices of fish here ....
goldfish go for about $1
the most expensive stuff like Lionheads and those (big ones) go for $10
neons and stuff like that 1-2$
rosie barbs/ tigerbarbs for less then $1 about 80c :)

this is when i convert the local currencies ....