Spitting MAD at Walmart! ARGHH!!!

[Doomhed]

here is the gist of it- the more affluent the area a store is located in, the prettier the fish tanks will be but the less the staff will actually need to know about fish. they only need to keep things pretty.

for example- my local petsmart and petco are on the border of a very affluent area of RI. their tanks are clean but half the people working there don't know a damn thing about fish. I saw as one of the girls at petco almost sold a man 2 baby Oscars for a 20 gallon tank, and she claimed to be able to make sure there was "1 boy and 1 girl".

after I interrupted her and told the man what Oscars require, he went and bought a 90 gallon tank and still bought the little (under 2 inch) Oscars, with the goal of transferring them after the 20 feeder guppies I had him purchase cycled the tank for a month .

 

[jamiejay09]

i dont understand ??

i dont understand why places like walmart sell fish anyway..? i live in england and ASDA is our version of walmart and they dont even sell fish food lol.. i go to places like japanese koi co. which is in bedford a 15 minutes drive from me. its a HUGE store and one of the biggest pet stores on the planet ( true) it sells everything you could imagine ! its the best. best quality fish.best qaulity food.best qaulity equipment and great helpful staff who are educated very well to do there job. heres the link... you will be amazed !

Japanese Koi Company - Products - Service - Information <<<<ENJOY

 

[littletankbigworld]

Law: I meant to say hardness/softness. Not pH. I apologize. I typed it wrong. I asked the employee about soft/hard water and she told me all the fish they sold had the same preferences.

 

[littletankbigworld]

jamiejay:

Me neither. It would do them wonderfully to stop selling fish! Or get some employees who actually know what they're doing!!!

 

[Newman]

Petco is no better these days apparently.
Got back from one today and saw one guy get the "smallest" goldfish an employee could get him for his 1 gallon tank for his grandchildren i suppose.
Another guy said he had 4 female bettas in his 10 gallon tank (a sorority i would assume) and he wanted another fish. the employee had to ask a more "knowledgeable" employee and the other replied "NOOO!!!!" is he crazy? not recommended." lol
I really wish I worked at a chain store so I could at least make some decent recommendations...that guy with the bettas might have been able to add another female or an oto/ few cories into that tank =[

 

[littletankbigworld]

I'm hoping for a summer job at Petsmart.

 

[bassbonediva]

Another guy said he had 4 female bettas in his 10 gallon tank (a sorority i would assume) and he wanted another fish. the employee had to ask a more "knowledgeable" employee and the other replied "NOOO!!!!" is he crazy? not recommended." lol
I really wish I worked at a chain store so I could at least make some decent recommendations...that guy with the bettas might have been able to add another female or an oto/ few cories into that tank =[

Gah! I hate it when people (especially pet store employees) buy into the myths about bettas. Luckily, the people at my Petsmart (where I generally get my females 'cuz they have a better selection) are into bettas as well and a couple of them even have a group of females in their community tanks at home.

 

[RexyTexel]

It's not that I'm on their side, it's just that as pet owners, we should be responsible enough to not support their practices by giving in and rescuing the fish.

We should know well enough that these corporations are in the business of selling things and making money for their shareholders, and not necessarily to be deeply knowledgeable about what they sell. As the pet owners, we should be the ones whom are knowledgeable about what we're getting before we get it.

Rather than complain about it, we should be more proactive about bringing these issues into light and making sure they're changed or stopped. Complaints without action won't do anything.

Don't get me wrong, if given the chance, I'd sign a petition that would outline what these super-giants should be doing to ensure proper care of their fish, or otherwise shut-down that department completely.

Thank you! I work for Petsmart and when I worked in the fish department I did all my homework but you can't expect every employee to do that. I always got so angry when customers came in there asked for a guinea pig(I know...not a fish) and then asked me "So how do I take care of it?" Not realizing that guinea pigs can live as long as 10 years! And they most certainly are not like hamsters!

I agree that as pet owners you should do your homework first before you get involved with any animal. Not expect the employees to know every single bit of information.

Also I don't know if some of you know this but the tank systems in Petsmart are connected. The feeder fish have their own seperate system, though. What I'm saying is that people get angry when the dragon gobies and mollies don't have brackish water but the problem is we can't put salt into the system sometimes because all the tanks are connected. So if one tank requires salt all the tanks will get salt. Of course this depends on how new the Petsmart is. Some of us run off the old system and some run off the new system.

 

[mistercoffee]

Thank you! I work for Petsmart and when I worked in the fish department I did all my homework but you can't expect every employee to do that. I always got so angry when customers came in there asked for a guinea pig(I know...not a fish) and then asked me "So how do I take care of it?" Not realizing that guinea pigs can live as long as 10 years! And they most certainly are not like hamsters!

I agree that as pet owners you should do your homework first before you get involved with any animal. Not expect the employees to know every single bit of information.

Also I don't know if some of you know this but the tank systems in Petsmart are connected. The feeder fish have their own seperate system, though. What I'm saying is that people get angry when the dragon gobies and mollies don't have brackish water but the problem is we can't put salt into the system sometimes because all the tanks are connected. So if one tank requires salt all the tanks will get salt. Of course this depends on how new the Petsmart is. Some of us run off the old system and some run off the new system.

Yep if one tank has ich they all have ich.