Petsmart gone bad
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R
I never buy fish from any 'big' store like Walmart, Petsmart etc. I'd rather pay a little more and pay from private local fish stores. Dads Fish Room always has excellant fish and very well taken care of. Why take the chance and get some disease. If I would see a very rare/hard to find fish, I would quarintine it for 6 months before putting in my other tanks.
I agree that petsmart doesn't take good care of fish. The one i work at isn't that bad. All the people i work with really like animals and my manager used to work for the St.Louis and SanDiego Zoo. We try and take good care of our fish it's just that we are limited to what we can do as far as hospitile tanks and so forth. We do how ever get some rare fish in sometimes. We set up a discus tank with there water chemistry and they have done great. So i guess it just depends which store is close.
I have seen both good and bad at all the chainstores(except wal-mart which always seam not good in my opinion)
Like Nfishboy said they have no q-tanks, so what do they do? I have seen petsmart actually cover the tank glass so you cant see them being treated. I have always felt petsmart in my area is way over priced in their fish. So I usually don't even bother to make the drive.
I was buying ottos there one time and the girl was fishing out dead fish with a net, and when I said I needed fish she picked the same net up to get mine. I made her open a new net then told the manager about that.
Petco's fishroom smell like it needs a water change bad. I usually monitor the fish for a few weeks then if I really want it..q-tank it for 3 to 4 weeks. I never have to fear of disease anymore with the q-tank.
I feel for you guys that dont have a good LFS, I would probebly get frustrated with having to rely on the big chains.
Like Nfishboy said they have no q-tanks, so what do they do? I have seen petsmart actually cover the tank glass so you cant see them being treated. I have always felt petsmart in my area is way over priced in their fish. So I usually don't even bother to make the drive.
I was buying ottos there one time and the girl was fishing out dead fish with a net, and when I said I needed fish she picked the same net up to get mine. I made her open a new net then told the manager about that.
Petco's fishroom smell like it needs a water change bad. I usually monitor the fish for a few weeks then if I really want it..q-tank it for 3 to 4 weeks. I never have to fear of disease anymore with the q-tank.
I feel for you guys that dont have a good LFS, I would probebly get frustrated with having to rely on the big chains.
Well I live in this small town without a petstore at all. The neighboring towns have some nice small ones and some of the big chain ones. Petsmart and wal-mart are about the only ones. The nearest petsmart which is 45 minutes away is not to bad. I have never seen dead fish just floating around in the tank so that's a plus and like NFB said they really can't have a q-tank to doctor their fish up in so some ,like him, probably do the best they can to care for the animals there but they just don't have the resources of the smaller stores. But once again it is a good place to buy supplies from. Our lfs's are very expensive like $100 for a 29 w/ hood and light but only $70 at our petsmart. Just my 2 cents. ;D
R
One of the reasons that I buy only fish at small privately owned fish stores is that usually the owners work at the store and/or more employees. Not that this makes a difference sometimes however, the fish that are being sold puts bread on the owners table. If he has bad fish, he gets less. If he has good fish, he makes a better living.
At the big stores, most of the employees tend to be high school students getting minimium wage or slightly higher. The attitude tends to be "work the 3-4 hours and go home". If they have bad fish, they still get payed. Im not saying that all big stores are the same. Some have excellant employees and products however in my experience, it tends to lean toward the negative side. I guess it really comes down to the qualities of the employees.
At the big stores, most of the employees tend to be high school students getting minimium wage or slightly higher. The attitude tends to be "work the 3-4 hours and go home". If they have bad fish, they still get payed. Im not saying that all big stores are the same. Some have excellant employees and products however in my experience, it tends to lean toward the negative side. I guess it really comes down to the qualities of the employees.
Hey, I'd just like to give props to all those Pestsmart/Pecto aquarist who do try their best to have healthy fish and properly cared for tanks all the while the store manager is breathing down your neck to do stock, help customers, pick up the slack where lazier employees leave off, clean up after everyone else has destroyed your fish room, work withthout q-tanks/filters/UV/meds and other stuff coperate is too cheap to fix no matter how much you scream and shout, answer questions about the smelly hamsters, haul dog food out to cars, etc, etc, etc. You people rock! *thumbsupsmiley* Without you, the hobby wouldn't have anywhere to obtain their fish unless they went to the environment and netted the fish themselves (which is illegal BTW without proper permits). Sometimes I don't think the public understandd the adversity many of those poor people must work under, and still maintain happy fishies for purchase. I only work 40hrs a week folks, at a job that requires 80. The only reason I work for Pecto is because smaller mom/pop stores can't pay me enough or give me enough hours to cover the bills, ya know. Feel free to tip your local aquarist if you like their service or store. Lord knows I'm underpaid and overworked as it is, but I'm in it for the love of the hobby, and I'm doing the best I can.
R
Im glad to hear that some people who work at Petsmart and others really take joy in the hobby and do not treat is as just a job. I give full cedit to them and wish them luck. Like I mentioned in other posts, most people that I have met at these pet stores dont know what they are doing and therefore not only is the service/information terrible/wrong but also the fish quality. To those that actually try to make a difference, get all the "correct" information that you can get about keeping fish. The reason is emphasis the correct is because there is so many myths. For example, one myth I keep hearing is when doing a water change, you change 100% of the water then people wonder why their fish keep dying. Most people are amazed because I have a 90G tank and that must take a lot of time and water to do a water change WHAT!!!! Twice a week! I would like to encourage you to encourage others to do the same. Good luck! *thumbsup2* *thumbsupsmiley*
personally i have no idea what you guys are on about with this store, coz im half way around the globe from you guys, but as bad as it is.... it is upporting this site, perhaps you could keep the insults etc to a minimum. Sure the fisih may be bad there, so why not buy them somewhere else and focus on them for their supplies, im sure being part of a large chain their prices will be lower.
JMO
-Duellsy
JMO
-Duellsy
Agree totoally colesea! I went to petsmart the other day to get some plants and I stood by the ladies working the fish department for almost 2 minutes while one bagged a fish and one just stood and talked to her about how it was her time to leave. Then the leaving lady come back and said she was going to stay a little longer but the other lady finally helped me and didn't really have the greatest of attitudes. I wanted a female convict and I pointed to the one I wanted and she said " wow this will be really fun! How do you know it's a female anyways? Well just great I get to pick out a specific fish!" And the whole time it was in this angry tone and I told her she didn't have to do her job if she didn't like it she could quite. Then when she was bagging up my fish the other girl was laying on the floor watching a lizard, what good employees huh? But like I said there are some who know what to do but then again there are some who are just there to get a check and go home. ;D Now I have 4 cents into the conversation. 
8)
8)MAn, your guys PetsMarts must really suck. Mine is pretty cool and we usually can have long conversations about their fish and what not. Everyone ( most everyone )that works in my store really likes being there and they know alot. Some of the stuff that you guys are talking about should really get some of these people released from their jobs. I will also have to agree with colesea in saying that i do this for the hobby. I might be able to ship stuff out to you guys if you really want something and can't find. Oh yeah, we have one real weird guy at my work. He's dumb and takes used stuff, returned/recovered fish and he has a 4 year masters in physics!!! What went wrong??? If any of are ever in St.Louis, swing by the PetsMart in Sunset Hills and I'll probably be there.