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my lfs is the only family owned store within 30 miles so i go there a lot problem is there rude an see me coming, ive been keeping planted tanks for awhile now an used to go there for plants so they started ordering some different types prolly cause they new id buy them wich is cool but they would never have a price on there plants when i would ask i knew they always jacked the price up just for me cause they knew id buy'em, i drew the line when they had a 8-10" lace an when i asked how much she said 30$ huh? stopped buying my plants an would take the drive for better service, now that i don't really buy plants an kinda bored with them iam trying my hand at pleco's, so ive gone there an asked what they could get an they kinda blew me off like "ah just what u see" so stopped going recently went back and they had got some cool species for them anyways, at first they just had what was labeled l204 but while looking at them i knew they were deff. not they wanted 30$ they had two an i bought them looked them up in data base here an there some type of hypan just dont know wich one either l129 l270 l340 or who knows so i tried to tell them that they were not l204 a panaque an they got upset with me an kinda rude, so i let that be , know they got some l200 that are cool for 65$ they tried to get me to buy them but i think thats little to much they actually look like there in the end of there lives pretty big an they have these big white scars on a couple then they got these white spot ancistrus that they wanted 60$ for i seen one that was dead an a clown pleco panaque maccuss was feeding off of it i was buying some of these maccuss cauase the ones i bought earlier had grown to look not like a maccuss anyways when i told the girl i wanted some clowns i pointed out that i think there white spot had died i also seen two laying upside down she said oh no he's not dead thats just the color they are an when she tried to catch the maccuss she said oh he is dead that sucks we just got these fish two days ago i said yeah i think there a little more delicate then ur common pleco she was upset again another time few months ago id seen they had juvenile bristlnoses for $3.99 they had like 50 of them si figured it was a local breeder i decided to get some why not i was on the other sside of the store an the employee asked if needed any help with anything i said yea id like 4 of the juvenile bristlenose she looked at me funny an said oh where are they so i took her to the tank she says yea those are just commons tried to correct her she was pissed told her to look it up on the internet its a wonderful thing. so anywho thats my lfs just thought id vent

whoa
wall of text!

punctuation? alinea's?
ever heard of those?

this is unreadable.

Wet-handed,
Please keep in mind that this is an international forum. Postings like the one above will be very difficult to read for non-native English speakers and will not translate well via a translation program. Actually, I am a native English speaker and found it very hard to read.

As to your fish store experiences, they sound like the types of experiences I have had with US fish stores myself. High prices, small selection, rude and untrained minimum wage staff, and then the owner wants to whine to you for 30 minutes about how the new chain pet store in town is putting him/her out of business.
-Shane

sidguppy wrote:whoa
wall of text!

punctuation? alinea's?
ever heard of those?

this is unreadable.

Ever heard of using sentences? You know, those basic cross language concepts that begin with capital letters? What on earth are alineas? Note I think you used an apostrophe completely wrongly there too.

What gives you the right to comment on this initial post if you can't write either!?!!?!? I have just searched your other posts and all I read is equally badly written attitude.

In my opinion your 2 posts are also not particularly constructive.
What gives you the right to criticize someone who actually has made ​​many useful contributions?

Wow, I was just venting my frustration. I guess I did not realize about the international thing wont happen again. Here in America we text a lot.

Hey wet handed... Don't be put off.
Shane makes fair comment.
Some places have rude staff, it's a shame u don't have alternatives... Mail order???
Post some photos of your fish... Let your fish do the talking

I am actually working on the pics.Just waiting for the timer to kick on the light. Thank you wrasse, i've much respect for Shane

Those chain pet stores would not be putting them out of business if they would actually help there customers strive for a clean tank, i once heard my lfs tell a lady "the reason your fish died was because u bought them at meijers " now i will admit buying guppies from the grocery store is not ideal, but ive done so many times with good results, she should have explained a better acclimation process, cycling of the tank an so on. Instead she just wanted the sale to go to her

I agree with Shane and others when I say that punctuation and spacing are important. Especially when typing more than a single sentence.

I had a difficult time reading the post and it gave me a headache.

Unless it's one sentence, each post should be treated like you are writing a letter and not a text. Even if you are sending it from a smartphone.

Andy

Shane wrote:and then the owner wants to whine to you for 30 minutes about how the new chain pet store in town is putting him/her out of business.

Haha! So true! I only go to my LFS when I know I'm going to have at least an hour to spend enduring the whining.

Narwhal72 wrote:I agree with Shane and others when I say that punctuation and spacing are important.

I completely agree. Being accurate in your communication is very important on any type of forum.

IMO, text messaging is another thing that is contributing to the dumbing down of the current generation. Do they make kids actually sit down and write complete paragraphs with pencil and paper in school anymore? Not attacking anyone here, just wondering.

Wet-handed, welcome to Planet Catfish. Please work on improving your grammar and punctuation and I'm sure you'll fit right in--you seem to know quite a bit about planted tanks and plecos! And yes, many LFS's unfortunately have ripoff pricing and bad attitudes.

Scleropages wrote:Do they make kids actually sit down and write complete paragraphs with pencil and paper in school anymore? Not attacking anyone here, just wondering.

Yes, they do (but the kids aren't very fond of it). I just finished correcting 112 letters in English and there are too many students that end with "greetz" instead of "yours sincerely", despite the fact they've been told several times not to use text language.
Luckily they also made "regular" mistakes

For obvious reasons the Dutch exams contain(-ed) more text language.
I hope this trend can be reversed, but it's going to be difficult.

Just out of interest, I looked over the Dutch Biology exams - the questionaire. It was 20 pages, so an awful lot of reading indeed

I had to look "greetz" up on google--had no idea what it means.

1. Greetz - A term often used incorrectly by non English speaking people who insist on "greeting" people at the end of their message.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=greetz

Scleropages wrote:I had to look "greetz" up on google--had no idea what it means.

1. Greetz - A term often used incorrectly by non English speaking people who insist on "greeting" people at the end of their message.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=greetz

In Dutch it is usual to greet people atthe end of a letter - so I can imagine why somebody aho speeks Dutch would do so in an English letter too

But, as stated, it is incorrect

Shane wrote:As to your fish store experiences, they sound like the types of experiences I have had with US fish stores myself. High prices, small selection, rude and untrained minimum wage staff, and then the owner wants to whine to you for 30 minutes about how the new chain pet store in town is putting him/her out of business.

I can't agree more, it's the same in the UK with the exception that often the owner is nowhere to be found. However, there is clear distance between those shops and the good ones. My LFS is a noisy, dingy and a bit smelly and parrot cichlid haven that wouldn't look up-to-date in a 1980's movie - and it could do so much more.

While (by UK standards at least) many have travel distances to get quality fish, cool species and good advice, it's always worth it. The good UK shops are getting into mail order too (mail order from other sources is a variable experience I've found). While mail order is already common in the US, in the UK, for example, this means that the £110 of fuel I've got to burn to drive to get to the fish can be spent on courier costs and an extra £50 of fish (and all the green benefits too)! OK, I don't get to see the fish and meet people, but 10 such trips a year is a lot of cash!

It's why it's important to support the good fish stores.

Cheers,

Jools

Jools wrote:It's why it's important to support the good fish stores.

Indeed.

It is sad to see the decline in well run family owned fish stores. However, the well run family store is not dead, at least not in Michigan.

Jackson isn’t too far from Detroit and there are some good stores in the Greater Detroit area. About an hour away from Jackson is a store called Fantastic Fins. This is a great store for people who love catfish and you will find enough species and types to keep you very happy. There are also several other general aquarium stores that don’t specialize in catfish but have great selections of fish and are worth the time to visit as you never know what you will find.

You are also close to Lansing where Preuss Pets is located and I don’t think there are very many aquarium stores in the country that are better than they are, plan to spend some time if you go.

The good stores are out there, even if there are not as many as there where at one time, you just need to look for them and then support them when you find them.

Do they make kids actually sit down and write complete paragraphs with pencil and paper in school anymore? Not attacking anyone here, just wondering.

I do! At the start of every class the teacher gives us a topic and we write for 15-20 minutes! Even so my english isn`t the best!

I have heard of fantastic fins recently, saving up for 4-6 of whatever nice plecos they have when i get there. There is another lfs near them called somethings phishy, ive been making the drive to them ,about 45 mins. from me but they have been well worth the drive. They also have a nice selection an well versed staff an some cool plecos. I'am not stupid ,it just may look that way, whatever though. Have a great day a school.

I went to fantastic fins friday. It was a good experience. They had a good selection of plecos of all sorts, veteran staff that raised an bred plecos was my first time seeing l46 in person an many others as well. I ended up buying four Hypan. Contradens, the guy was awsome an hooked it up with buy 3 get one free.

Glad it was a good experience for you.

BTW, you keep using the word "an" when I think the word you mean to use is "and". I don't think I need to tell you that there is quite a difference between the two.

Its cool i guess I will only post on planet catfish when I need a I.D.

wet-handed wrote:Its cool i guess I will only post on planet catfish when I need a I.D.

Now you should have used "an".

Cripes. I feel like we're scaring the kid away with our assessments of his grammar and word usage. Don't be a stranger, Wet-Handed. Just please strive to improve your English skills--it is important not only for this forum, but for you.

Ever want to take out a red marker and mark the computer screen when you see bad grammar? Warning: I laughed so hard the first time I saw this... make sure you don't have anything in your mouth when you click this link: http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail43.html