Shopping at a local fish store.

Or care when shopping.

Lord Kronouss

I have noticed a very large trend, in the salt water hobby. This trend has been around for as long as the hobby I am sure, I feel it is one that should be broken. I have seen countless posts on forums talking about how some one has some thing bad happen, at a LFS (Local Fish Store) I have seen these posts from newbies, as well as people who have been in the hobby for years. Now I am not going to sit here and cover every type of gripe post, I am just going to cover, the ones “They sold me some thing that is hard/impossible to keep, and told me it was the wrong thing.”

Well let’s start with they told me it was the wrong thing. Now there are many reasons for this to happen. It is your reasonability to know what you are buying, yes they should be able to tell you what is what with the stock in there store but, hey good help is hard to find. Every one gets mixed up from time to time, but if you are buying a coral or fish and you can not ID it, then you should take a pic of it with your cell phone, a camera or your mind what ever you need to do to make sure you can make sure to get a good ID. See if you have to ask then that tells me there is a chance you have not seen it before and may not know how to care for it. Really every on should practice know before you buy.  It is always a good idea to take care when buying new live stock.

To be honest it is your reasonability to know as much as you can, about what you put in your tank before you put it in. It would be nice to have a LFS who put customers above there bottom line. However the store is there to make money and you need to keep that in mind.  I mean a Moorish Idol is a lovely fish and I can not think of a store that would not sell me one even though I do not have enough expertise to care for one.

If you see a fish or coral that you have to have and you know nothing or little about it ask the staff about it. Then you should ask if you can put a deposit on said item so that you can make sure you can care for it then, come home and find all the info you can, do some research. Part of any hobby knows what you are doing, and a big part of this hobby is reading, and asking questions. You should always ask more than one person following the advice of one person is madness.

So in short keep in mind they are there to make money, and part of making money is selling you stuff even if you are not able to take care of it. It is your reasonability to your live stock to know what you are adding, and how to care for it, not your LFS.