LOOOOONG time no post, sorry it has to be a rant lol.
I work in a certain big chain pet store that will not be named (we don't suck though, I promise)... any way, I am really, REALLY sick of customers demanding a "cleaner fish". I am also really tired of getting this line "I had this cleaner fish for years and it just died", as in it just died because it ran out of algae and was never fed.
I just wish people would stop expecting the fish to compensate for over feeding and lack of water changes and only buy the fish because they want it and are prepared to provide its individual needs. People are always so shocked when we tell them their algae eating fish or bottom feeder is going to need a specialized sinking food based on its dietary needs.
And seriously, the plecos we sell are BIG DIRTY FISH. They really want to grow to be around 2 ft and should be allowed the proper space to do so... and they poop constantly. Goldfish have the bad rep for being dirty but the pleco tanks always take us way, way longer to clean out. Plecos are poop machines! So really, while it may kinda sorta be cleaning the algae off the sides it's turning it in to stinky, yucky, nasty poop. Poop that turns into ammonia.
head+desk
I work in a certain big chain pet store that will not be named (we don't suck though, I promise)... any way, I am really, REALLY sick of customers demanding a "cleaner fish". I am also really tired of getting this line "I had this cleaner fish for years and it just died", as in it just died because it ran out of algae and was never fed.
I just wish people would stop expecting the fish to compensate for over feeding and lack of water changes and only buy the fish because they want it and are prepared to provide its individual needs. People are always so shocked when we tell them their algae eating fish or bottom feeder is going to need a specialized sinking food based on its dietary needs.
And seriously, the plecos we sell are BIG DIRTY FISH. They really want to grow to be around 2 ft and should be allowed the proper space to do so... and they poop constantly. Goldfish have the bad rep for being dirty but the pleco tanks always take us way, way longer to clean out. Plecos are poop machines! So really, while it may kinda sorta be cleaning the algae off the sides it's turning it in to stinky, yucky, nasty poop. Poop that turns into ammonia.
head+desk
