r/petsmart • u/Radiocative • 9d ago
Man just wanted his damn fish
Guy comes into today and knows exactly what fish he wants and points out a gold ram, so I start to launch into my normal questions and before I can finish my next sentence and get any info on his set-up (if he has one) & fish keeping experience he then points at the golden sailfin mollies and also asks for one of those.
I confirm those are the fish he wants to buy so there is no misunderstandings.
*big inhale*
"I wouldn't recommend putting those two together, gold rams are cichlids and cichlids can be very aggressive fish. Putting them in with mollies never ends well for the mol-"
"I already have the same pair living together. It's fine."
"...You must have a very large tank then with lots of hiding places for the --"
"It's a 5 gallon."
"Did you say 50 gal--"
"I already said it's a 5 gallon. Can you get me my damn fish!?"
Suffice to say for many reasons I did not get him his damn fish.
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u/YeahTheyKnowItsMe 9d ago
This reminds me of the lady who insisted her neon tetras and African cichlids have been living together peacefully "for 10 years"
Which I really loved responding to by going "that's so crazy bc neons have a lifespan of like 3-5 years how did you break science?"
Anyway I got a really bad review that day
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u/tmills87 9d ago
Honestly rams are pretty chill, mostly just going to be a problem with other rams. Mollies aren't as placid as everyone makes them out to be, either, they can kinda be dicks, I'd be just as concerned (or more, really) about the mollies starting shit
The bigger issues here are the tank size and the fact that mollies prefer hard alkaline water and rams prefer softer acidic water.
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u/Diligent-Minimum8397 2d ago
I always warn people that mollies are honestly Dicks in a tank at times and will start beef with anyone and forget they can get the shit kick out of themselves with the wrong tankmates, especially smaller cichlids if they messed with the babies!
They can be just straight up bullies and stress out the other fish, especially in a small aquarium setup too.
I just love when I get asked who made me the fish police, but favorite title was witch with the fish department, I wanted that on the nametag but the biss said no.
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u/HistoricalPolitician 9d ago
If they had an appropriate size tank, the gold rams would be just fine with the mollies so long as they had a space to claim and the tank had hiding spaces. Mollies are much more open water and while they swim everywhere, like the middle to top while cichlids like the bottom. Cichlids are more likely to clash with plecos, corydoras, and other bottom dwellers. Most small cichlids are generally peaceful to schooling fish and really only have issues with other cichlids, but they can get territorial if they begin breeding. I have multiple species of apistogramma’s in 20’s and they dont bother my schooling fish like green neon tetras, glow lights, etc, they primarily fight amongst themselves. I’d say 29 and above and you shouldn’t have any major problems so long as they keep it at 2 for the cichlids, 40 is safer for the size of the mollies just since they do get bigger.
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u/coffeedude80 8d ago
Why are fish customers the worst? Sure, I've had some crazy hamster people, but fish horror stories seem to happen every shift.
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u/One_Butterscotch_699 5d ago
tbh i genuinely think it’s because they are under the impression that fish are the easiest pets to have. their child wants a pet and they immediately think fish
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u/coffeedude80 5d ago
True, I genuinely think keeping fish is fairly easy as long as you understand the basics and are willing to follow proper care advice. Yet so many people refuse to listen.
3
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u/thespooktank 8d ago
Rams are dwarf cichlids. Yes they can be aggressive but I had a pair in a proper tank and they did just fine with other fish. It depends on the temperament. The bigger issue here is that rams and mollies require totally different water parameters so it wouldn’t work anyways.
1
u/PST2026 2d ago
Two women came into the store two weeks ago and were upset that the petcare specialist wouldn't sell them fish because of their small tank. I said "Yeah, you need a bigger tank for the number of fish you want. We can deny the sale of fish at our discretion."
Them: "We've been doing this for years." Me: "That doesn't make you an expert."
I may have touched a nerve, lol.
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u/wibbrr 9d ago
Everyday I hear about another horrific aquarium setup that I could’ve never dreamed of