Poor customer service

[Ram3500]

I am not happy about this demon polyp eating monter. Buyer beware yellow gobies are far from reef safe. It has caused so much damage in less than a week. I spent half a day trying to catch this mofo I think I may have to add a predator fish to take him out befor he destroys my Sps. If you can't answer a customer question ask a coworker who has more knowledge than yourself.
http://http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o794/groundhogdog/Mobile%20Uploads/1E93A496-8162-4B4C-9E8F-6D5A62C9F325_zpsei4dfowq.jpg (http://s1343.photobucket.com/user/groundhogdog/media/Mobile%20Uploads/1E93A496-8162-4B4C-9E8F-6D5A62C9F325_zpsei4dfowq.jpg.html)

[WarDog]

Yikes buddy, that's brutal!

[brisco]

At one time I was trying to invent a dart gun to remove pesky damsels! Maybe there is a market for that.

[shiftline]

Yea. I loved mine until he started munching on sps polyps

[gobytron]

Wow.

I used to keep a clown goby in my sps tanks.

They would nibble and the odd coral would get upset for a while but never any permanent damage unless to frags from time to time.

Sounds like you've got an exceptionally problematic one.

Any lfs should have been able to tell you this could happen.

[Ram3500]

I have managed to catch one. One more to go I think I will be able to avoid corporal punishment. I used a turkey baster and basted him into the net :) I am sure the polyps will recover. This is what it looks like when it's happy.

http://http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o794/groundhogdog/Mobile%20Uploads/89286A52-2617-4337-8B01-276247F81C8B_zpsy6ldxr5z.jpg (http://s1343.photobucket.com/user/groundhogdog/media/Mobile%20Uploads/89286A52-2617-4337-8B01-276247F81C8B_zpsy6ldxr5z.jpg.html)

[soapy]

You could also syphon it out with a bit of big tubing.

[soapy]

Here is an older thread that talks about these gobies. It seems it is the bright yellow ones that are the worst offenders. I had one and it was also eating the acro's.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=1121

[Animal-Chin]

Poor customer service may be a bit strong. Yellow Goby's are considered reef safe for the most part, I'm sure any fish store worker would tell you that. Liveaquaria lists them as reef safe.

Best a store worker can do is tell you the norm. If you're not sure when you're at the store google it up on your phone then make your own call.

[gobytron]

It's pretty common knowledge to anyone who's been around that these gobys may nip at sps.

If you work at an LFS, you should mention this to anyone who is buying one.


This is the kind of nuance that you trust your lfs to help you with.

Perhaps that is expecting to much though.

[The Guy]

My little yellow clown goby has not gone after any of my corals, but I have mostly softies and LPS very little SPS,

[PFoster]

Simplest solution.
Google the fish before you buy it.

Live aquaria generally has a decent write up on the fish.

[shiftline]

Every fish has a different personality! Never know

[gobytron]

personality and intrinsic behavior are two pretty different things.

[Ram3500]

Poor customer service may be a bit strong. Yellow Goby's are considered reef safe for the most part, I'm sure any fish store worker would tell you that. Liveaquaria lists them as reef safe.

Best a store worker can do is tell you the norm. If you're not sure when you're at the store google it up on your phone then make your own call.

Simplest solution.
Google the fish before you buy it.

Live aquaria generally has a decent write up on the fish.

Yes I should have done a quick google at the store and I normally do research a fish before adding to my reef day but I didn't. I asked the employee what he could tell me about the Goby and he almost seem irritated
by my question. His reply was something like they swim around and like to perch on corals from time to time I guess he was having a off day.:biggrin:

I work in customer service and when it gets busy It hard to stay enthused all the time but if a customer asks me a question I do my best to answer and if the question goes above my knowledge I will do research to get them correct information. I understand that we all get burnt out and have off days and some people just don't gel well. Most of the time the customer is good there. That being said I am not calling out any location in my OP.

I just wanted to let the peeps know Yellow Gobys are little buggers and if he goes near my my orange passion I am going to feed him to my wife's cat:twised:

[fixerupper]

I'm with Ram on this one.
So often we hear about the impact that online vendors have on the brick and mortar businesses. The competition for our sales dollars can be fierce. Whenever possible we like to support our LFS even though they may cost a bit more. Their strong suit should be product knowledge and supporting impulse purchases by having a decent inventory and decent staff.

They have the ability to interact with a customer immediately which is something online vendors struggle with. If they screw up one of their (few) advantages over their online competitors they simply don't deserve our business. Look, I don't expect the employee at my LFS to know everything, but there's nothing wrong with saying, "I don't know but I can find out for you". If they pretend to know and give me false information it can have dire consequences for my tank. That hugely disrespectful of their customer base and their sales will eventually reflect that.

It's more and more common for me to go to my LFS to see if they stock some staple item only to find they don't. Ok, no worries. I explain my need and offer them the opportunity to fill that need with a suitable product they might carry. This brief dialogue is usually met with impatience and an attitude like I'm wasting their time. Sorry, if I've made the effort to drive across town to shop at their store they'd better have 3 measly minutes to interact with me in a positive manner. lately, the communication and service I've been getting online FAR surpasses what has been offered at stores. If the brick & mortar shops can't figure it out they're not going to survive.

.

[toytech]

Recently was looking for bulbs locally , I run 2 coral + and 4 blue+ and found the coral plus , they where out of blue+ called a week latter " Do you have any blue + in stock yet ? No , and we don't know when we are getting them in but we have coral + its the same , its a blue bulb with a hint of white ." Um im sorry but when you only have 3 kinds of bulbs you should know the difference between them , but then never have any in stock anyway, I will spend my money online every time now .

[Ram3500]

I still have no luck catching the little bugger. I have spent close to a hour each night trying to catch him but he is a cunning warrior. As soon as I get the net in hand he is on a full out defensive. His brain is smaller than a gran of rice but he is owing the tank. The only positive thing is my yellow tang resents his vibrant coloration and wants him dead . Unfortunately my pink lemonade polyps are fully retracted so he has moved on to my cali tort. Any one have a lion fish they would like to rent out for a week or two? Very frustrated :(
http://http://i1343.photobucket.com/albums/o794/groundhogdog/Mobile%20Uploads/6B33CE43-7062-4896-A2BD-D07729B63F36_zps5ucco4rm.jpg (http://s1343.photobucket.com/user/groundhogdog/media/Mobile%20Uploads/6B33CE43-7062-4896-A2BD-D07729B63F36_zps5ucco4rm.jpg.html)

[The Guy]

I'm told that when your tank lights are off and you shine a flashlight on them there blinded and you can snag them that way. Never tried it myself, but it's worth a try.

[toytech]

That works best after lights have been off for a few hours , then the fish are dormant and get stunned when you blast them with light . You can almost catch them by hand then .

[Animal-Chin]

I don't know your tank but here is how I got my 6 line out.

My tank is 6 feet long and packed full of rock and coral, I was NEVER going to catch this guy with traps or nets so I started a mini tear down. I took everything out of 1/3 of my tank, the coral and rock and left it empty. I then made a cheap plastic divider that was the dimentions of the width and hight of my tank that I could slide in to divide the tank. I put it half way in so there was still a large opening under it. I then chased the wrasse to the empty side of the tank but instead of catching it I slid the divider down and trapped him on the empty side of the tank. I could then easily scoop him out as there were no obstructions.

Then put the side of the tank back together. It was a pain but better than a full tear down. Some fish are just uncatchable.

[mrhasan]

This should work pretty well if you are desperate and want revenge:

http://diyworkplace.ru/uploads/posts/2015-07/thumbs/1436997439_6.jpg

Jokes aside, I have also read about the sudden flash of light. And apparently, red nets also help since fishes cannot see red that easily.

[soapy]

I got one of these guys out with a bit of 3/4 inch ID tubing using the syphon method. The syphon pull is pretty hard if the fish gets close to it at all he will get pulled through. I chased the fish around a bit with some grabbers until he settled in a place he thought was safe then I slowly moved the syphon to where he was and bingo he went down in a flash. This doesn't hurt the fish either.

[Borderjumper]

I caught a nasty 6 line once by using a mirror as bait in my little homemade fish trap, he couldn't stand not trying to fight with him self!

[Snappy]

Many fish are hit & miss. I have a yellow clown goby and love it but I have a 400 gal tank full of sps colonies so he seldom spends too much time in any particular coral.

[brisco]

I just picked up an arrow decorator crab. The lfs DID tell me that they are not entirely reef safe. Love the guy but now he is wearing all of my fire and ice polyps on is left arm! Looks like a bouquet of flowers lol!

[Ram3500]

I'm told that when your tank lights are off and you shine a flashlight on them there blinded and you can snag them that way. Never tried it myself, but it's worth a try.

I got one of these guys out with a bit of 3/4 inch ID tubing using the syphon method. The syphon pull is pretty hard if the fish gets close to it at all he will get pulled through. I chased the fish around a bit with some grabbers until he settled in a place he thought was safe then I slowly moved the syphon to where he was and bingo he went down in a flash. This doesn't hurt the fish either.

:hail:I have succeeded !!! I waited for about two hours after lights out got my trusty mag flashlight blinded the little bastard. Then I sucked him out with 3/4 inch tubing using the siphon method directly into my sump.Thanks to Laurie and Soapy the two methods worked great together.

[sumpfinfishe]

I have to throw in two cents here regarding the whole customer service issue. Sure it is great to have staff who know something about what they sell, however this is a very complex hobby, its not like a simple cat or dog market when it comes to buying the thousands of creatures that we all maintain in our mini ecosystems. Everyone who has a reef tank/ fish tank stocks it with there own personal preference of fish, corals, sand, rock, and equipment. Many people who work in fish stores may not even have a tank at home or they are new emloyees so we must remember to do our home work when making such purchases. I was once told by Eric Boreman that if a person can keep a thriving reef tank then you can basically consider yourself a mini marine biologist. So if someone at a store who does not have the extensive knowledge to answer a question regarding livestock or equipment remember that to be a successful reef keeper means reading tons of books and magazines, or countless hours of online articles and post, or simply years of experience in this hobby. A person cannot expect that just because someone works in a fish store that they can provide all the answers to your questions or provide the level of advice you want, especially if they are not personally involved in the hobby or if they have little hands on experience. Even if they have the experience, you simply cannot expect a fish store employee to sit down with every customer to spend 10 minutes listening as to what you have in your tank at home so they can advise you what to add or not. The responsibility is that of the hobbiest not a store or employee.

[fixerupper]

Agreed.
OTOH many of us aren't saying they should.
But if they don't know they should attempt to either find someone who does or admit they don't know. Anything else is well, LYING or crappy service. Shops that consistently have that calibre of staff don't deserve our business or our sympathy when (not if) they fail.