Do you really need that? (1 Viewer)

[Team Turtle]

Was in a LFS yesterday and a lady was in there with her two kids. Both probably 10-13 years of age and they had talked mom into buying them their first fish tank. Now I know how business works. Sell more stuff, make more money. But as the sale person was talking to this mom with two kids in tow..the sales person kept saying oh you need this, you need this or your fish will die, oh you need this and don't forget this as she filled up this lady's basket. And then came the fish. Brand new tank. Basket full of products, colorful gravel and probably 20 fish. Fake plants and a bottle of prime. I wanted to interject but stopped when the lady asked the sales person. Do i really need all this stuff? Waiting for that answer seemed like a lifetime. The sales girl calmly shocked her head yes and replied. Well, if you want to be successful in this hobby. I have to vent here a moment. The hobby has all this stuff but no one ever really explains why, or even if you need it. I feel that is a real problem. Maybe it's just me but have you ever stopped and asked yourself, do i really need this? Anyone else ever stopped and helped a new hobbyist? What would you have done in this situation?

 

[frankc]

That is a sticky situation. You don't want to tick off your LFS and be unwelcome in the store, but you hate to see a potential new hobbyist be turned off of the hobby because it's too expensive and they're not successful. And selling the fish with the tank is just irresponsible, and since it was a kids' first tank, I'm guessing it wasn't big enough for 20 fish even when established, let alone when brand new.

While it is good to see kids starting with something better than a 1 gallon goldfish bowl with no equipment whatsoever, like how I started, it is pretty easy to get more than you really need. I definitely tend to run my tanks with less equipment than a lot of people.

 

[Team Turtle]

I'd 100% agree on the irresponsible part. I'd agrue the best way to keep a customer coming back is to make them successful. Not setting them up for failure out of the gate. Most people i talk to say "i don't have time for a fish tank" or "it's too much work". But after explaining i have 10 tanks at home and send a few hours a week doing water changes i learn something along the lines of...i got fish threw it in the tank. It got cloudy so i asked my lfs and they sold me some chemicals...few days later my fish died..so bought more fish, more chemical, fish died. So i quite.

 

[Cody]

Yeah, that's a tough one. I probably wouldn't have said anything either other than "hey, check out MARSH. It's a great source for info" or something like that.

 

[Cina05]

Was in a LFS yesterday and a lady was in there with her two kids. Both probably 10-13 years of age and they had talked mom into buying them their first fish tank. Now I know how business works. Sell more stuff, make more money. But as the sale person was talking to this mom with two kids in tow..the sales person kept saying oh you need this, you need this or your fish will die, oh you need this and don't forget this as she filled up this lady's basket. And then came the fish. Brand new tank. Basket full of products, colorful gravel and probably 20 fish. Fake plants and a bottle of prime. I wanted to interject but stopped when the lady asked the sales person. Do i really need all this stuff? Waiting for that answer seemed like a lifetime. The sales girl calmly shocked her head yes and replied. Well, if you want to be successful in this hobby. I have to vent here a moment. The hobby has all this stuff but no one ever really explains why, or even if you need it. I feel that is a real problem. Maybe it's just me but have you ever stopped and asked yourself, do i really need this? Anyone else ever stopped and helped a new hobbyist? What would you have done in this situation?

Knowing what I know now, after killing lots of fish, critters, plants, and corals in my short 6 years keeping fish, I might not have interjected at that moment, but I definitely would have tried to say something before she got to the checkout. I think it's even more stressful to spend all that money and then wonder what went wrong when everything dies. Especially when it's for your kids. They have to deal with the dead fish too, and that sucks when it can easily be prevented.
I have stopped a couple situations, mainly by being a "nosy fish hobbyist" and taking over the conversation from the salesperson to start giving advice and directing them to the local aquarium groups and recommended they check out some youtube channels, or to Google nitrogen cycling before getting started or putting anything alive in the tank. Honestly that was at like petco or petsmart. I haven't come into that situation at my LFS. The ones I frequent have mostly been super helpful over the years. There's a couple here that I felt were just trying to get my money, and gave me bad advice, but I just don't use them anymore.

And I really should be more like you and stop to ask myself "do I really need this?" I'd probably have saved hundreds (maybe thousands), and have a happier husband ?.

One thing I love about this hobby is that there's a wealth of knowledge available and a whole community of people who like to help.

 

[Cody]

Knowing what I know now, after killing lots of fish, critters, plants, and corals in my short 6 years keeping fish, I might not have interjected at that moment, but I definitely would have tried to say something before she got to the checkout. I think it's even more stressful to spend all that money and then wonder what went wrong when everything dies. Especially when it's for your kids. They have to deal with the dead fish too, and that sucks when it can easily be prevented.
I have stopped a couple situations, mainly by being a "nosy fish hobbyist" and taking over the conversation from the salesperson to start giving advice and directing them to the local aquarium groups and recommended they check out some youtube channels, or to Google nitrogen cycling before getting started or putting anything alive in the tank. Honestly that was at like petco or petsmart. I haven't come into that situation at my LFS. The ones I frequent have mostly been super helpful over the years. There's a couple here that I felt were just trying to get my money, and gave me bad advice, but I just don't use them anymore.

And I really should be more like you and stop to ask myself "do I really need this?" I'd probably have saved hundreds (maybe thousands), and have a happier husband ?.

One thing I love about this hobby is that there's a wealth of knowledge available and a whole community of people who like to help.

"Do I really need this?" could apply to life in general, but sometimes it's fun to buy stuff just because! Looking at you, fake gold and diamond grill on amazon at 2am after drinking all night....

 

[Cina05]

"Do I really need this?" could apply to life in general, but sometimes it's fun to buy stuff just because! Looking at you, fake gold and diamond grill on amazon at 2am after drinking all night....

As I'm literally on Amazon looking crap I don't need ???

 

[Cody]

As I'm literally on Amazon looking crap I don't need ???

 

[Reefahholic]

She definitely needed it all. Lol