gaijin wrote:
Its not that all LFS's are out to screw you, but...

They are (generally) not reefkeepers themselves, and only need to know
enough to keep their livestock until it is sold. It is rare to find
an expert LFS that is a reeftaker, and trusting their advise implicity
may lead to problems. The LFS may give you advice in good faith, but
that still doesn't mean that he is giving you truly knowledgeable or
good advice. Generally these gusy just don't know much and as they
say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

I find this very sad and every time I read this on the groups it makes
me more and more thankful for the quality of expertise that I get in the
LFS's that I go to.......for example I went into one of them this week
when it was quiet and got the following different questions from 4
members of staff with genuine interest and good advice:

1. How's the reef going?

2. How's the pond developing?

3. How are the community fish doing?

4. How are the Mbunas?

And then when I was taking the RO water out to the car (and yes I'm
buying my own unit in the next couple of months) - OK the person I
coerced to take it to the car for me, started talking about Discus
(another project I'm embarking on) - he breeds them and gave me some
great tips all of which are backed up by my research....

They employ at least 4 staff who have their own reef tanks and all of
their staff keep fish themselves......and are employed for their
specialist knowledge - they are expected to cross train but you quickly
learn to find those that don't have a true passion for the set ups/fish
they are selling......

Gill