Guppies in betta bowls at LFS

Speaking of LFS lies and oddities...

I visited a store in town that I haven't been to before and saw the
oddest thing. Lined up by the door were a set about eight "ivy" bowls -
the little glass bowls with a fluted top that usually house miserable,
cramped bettas. Instead of bettas, each bowl held some gravel, a piece
of floating water sprite or java moss, and a male guppy or a dwarf frog.
The guppies DID look less crowded than bettas generally do in those
bowls, but still...

I said to one of the employees "I've never seen guppies in bowls like
that." He responded "Yeah, I wouldn't do it that way but I'm not the
owner. I don't recommend it." I pointed out that one of the frogs was
dead, and I could only wonder how many guppies and frogs the store went
through. Almost all had the shorter, rounded tails of young guppies so
I suspect it was rather a lot.

They had some unusually nice crowntail bettas but I just couldn't bring
myself to spend any money there.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Good for you, M ' Lady,..I'm beginning to lose patience with my nearest
LFS, because of the lies I've caught them telling their customers. I
may just start doing my purchasing at a store some distance away, even
though the nearer folks did sell me a 30 gallon tank for $40.00 dollars,
that they was replacing with a larger display tank in their store. And
there is that squadron of Kamikaze taxi cab drivers that I have to get
through, riding on "Liberty", my trusty yellow and black 2003 Yamaha
Zuma, on my way to the other store. And I do have to admit, that it is
somewhat distracting, seeing all of those tiny black motor scooter
silhouettes on the driver's side doors,...on ALL of those cabs,...But
anything for the cause, I say,...So not to worry M ' Lady, I shall
persevere, on my pre-destined quest for The Holy Grail,...or an honest
salesperson at a LFS, which ever one is easier. {Wink, wink,...nudge,
nudge!] LOL. Pax Vobiscum,...~Dean.

I asked the girl at PetSmart once what her carbonate hardness was at
home (KH) because mine was so low and I wondered if she had problems.
She told me she didn't know what carbonate hardness or buffering
capacity meant. I explained it to her but in my head I was thinking...
"Geeze lady, you sell fish in a city where the KH is less then 30ppm.
It's obviously an issue you NEED to know about."

Some people don't know enough about the hobby to even be a liar.

IDzine01 Sep 12, 4:30 pm show options

Newsgroups: rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc
From: "IDzine01" - Find messages by this
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Date: 12 Sep 2005 14:30:07 -0700
Local: Mon, Sep 12 2005 4:30 pm
Subject: Guppies in betta bowls at LFS
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I asked the girl at PetSmart once what her carbonate hardness was at
home (KH) because mine was so low and I wondered if she had problems.
She told me she didn't know what carbonate hardness or buffering
capacity meant. I explained it to her but in my head I was thinking...
"Geeze lady, you sell fish in a city where the KH is less then 30ppm.
It's obviously an issue you NEED to know about."


Some people don't know enough about the hobby to even be a liar.

Oh I know what ya mean!
I was at Petsmart just the other day. Needed some Otos to put into
quarantine and I hear a lady ask the guy working there that she needed
a lot of advice about this fish..she was holding a Betta in a cup.
Shockinly, he was honest too and said he didn't know anything about
fish.
Pause for dramatic affect....yes. He was working at PetsMart as a "Pet
Specialist" and didn't know anything about fish.
Just wait...it gets better.
I offer the woman my help and she asked a gazillion questions. She
obvisouly didn't know anything but wanted to learn (how great!). After
finding that she had a 1 g tank at home that had a light and UGF, I
suggested that the Betta she had planned on buying was all that was
going to fit ito that tank. She kept asking what else she could put in
there with him, so I explained that if she wanted to house more fish in
with the Betta (which the guy who already said he knew nothing about
fish, chimes in that you can't keep a male betta in with any other fish
or he will kill them all...Oy), so I tell her that if she wants to go
that route she'd need a bigger tank, etc etc....
I talked her into just getting the male Betta for the 1g she had now,
(she wanted to buy a bright yellow African Cichlid for a different 1g
tank because her other son didn't like Bettas, and I convinced her
against that as well). I then recommended she get online and research
tropical fish and their requirements, etc.
So now I'm off to get a replacement on a dead Oto for a new Oto.
Go to check out and she gives me change back. I say what's this for,
it's an even exchange. She said you returned an Oto (looking at my
receipt) and got a crustacea. I said noooo, I got a Oto.
She said No...and showed me the number on the bag. She says see...this
numbr is for the snails.
I told her again, I got an Oto not a snail.
She asked what an Oto was, I said Otocinclus cat. It's an algae eater.
She then tells me it doens't look like an algae eater.
By this point I was sarting to get a little aggravated because there
was a line building up behind me and to just call the guy, and get the
right numbers and that's all that needed to be done.
It took 20 friggen minutes for her and the manager to figure out that
the guy in the back didn't know the difference between a snail and an
Oto...and that all they needed to do was get the numbers for an
Oto....which by the way were on the original receipt that was in their
hands the entire time. I even said it twice....can't ya just take the
numbers off there?
The answer was no. ::shakes head::

Man you're so honest - if they can't get that right, and you told them
twice, you should have just said, forget it, I don't have time for
this, gimme my change for my "snail"

OMG. That story was WAY better then mine.