sadly, this industry thrives off people like that.

i was unfortunate enough to be that person in the beginning. i think i went through 7 pairs of clowns before i had a pair sucessfully live for more than 3 weeks.

regardless if youve been doing it for 2 weeks, 2 years, or 2 decades, the dollar purchases the fish with the price tag on it at the lfs.

i will praise you for steering the customer in another direction, but thinking long term, i doubt they would last long enough to keep a smaller fish and then buy a larger tank. its hard to say how long they would even stay in the hobby considering how much coral, fish, supplies and equipment cost, not to mention the time invested. if he wanted the fish bad enough, he probably went down to another lfs and picked up one there, or something else.

which is why i love this site, and the many others out there. wealth of information that can be shared by first hand experiences, not by someone at a lfs(whose lights get shut off if their bills dont get paid, ie tell you whatever you want to hear to make a sale)

sorry if this post sounds like im irritated, i just spend buku $ going to a 300gal from a 90. its a happy irritated though