Stupid Petsmart

[Flex26]

I gave my 6gal. Eclipse to my dad. Of course, he wanted to get some fish. So, he takes a trip to Petsmart to purchase some fishies. Well, he gets a molly (I'm okay with that ) But Petsmart also sold him what I think is a Colombian Shark/Catfish. I checked out the Freshwater Profiles on the site and it says they can grow to 10 inches!! I saw another website that said they have been as big as 24 inches.

What the hell was Petsmart thinking selling a fish that gets 10 inches big for a 6 gallon tank?

It's actually a cool fish. Very active. And my dad liked it. So, I can't really blame him. But I can't believe that Petsmart didn't try to talk him out of buy that fish!

Sorry about my anger!! I'm enrolling in anger management classes tomorrow.

 

[catfishmike]

thats a common problem whit petchains,they embelish the info so that you don't know that the half-dollar sized pacu you just bought is going to get to 3 feet around.perhaps they assume that most people are such bad fishkeepers that the fish will never live to get to a full grown size.not only that a columbian shark lives in a brackish enviroment most of it's life not fresh

 

[amishfignewton]

well, at least now you have a reason to get a new 180 gallon tank! and it was DAD's fault!

 

[depthC]

Well you cant totally blame the store. When ever i go to a petstore i tell them what fish i want and they get it. I dont socialize with them and they never ask well what size tank are you putting it in with and so on. So they are just doing there jobs, but like non-chain stores they could ask some questions, but then again most of the workers dont know anything about fish its just a job to them and there isnt much else to it for them.

So just tell your dad he will have to get a BIG tank or return the fish.

- depthC

 

[Antwan]

I don't see why your furious about them selling your dad a fish that'll get that big in years, YEARS!!! I think your over reacting. Besides, when the fish gets that big in 10 years, donate them to someone or put an ad inna quarterly or somethin. I know alot of people in my town that would love a full grown fish. Some people don't even want to mess with a little 3 in. fish thats from Petsmart. By the way, your 20 gal. tank is understocked. Sorry for the bluntness, just my opinion though.

 

[catfishmike]

do you know that for fact antwan?most fish that reach those kinds of size reach it quickly so that they can join the food chain.there are some that don't grow quick but many that do.a well taken care of pleco can grow to a foot in one year.any time you have to get a new tank in one year thats too fast(unless you just want more tanks )i just think that the point is that no one is intested in being misinformed.just like people who get a pleco and the kid at the petchain store tell's the customer that their new pleco will only grow to the size of the tank.yeah right.now you have this fish and he's getting big so what do you do?either buy a new tank or get rid of a fish you have raised for some time now.i don't just get rid of my fish,sorry but i get attached.you also have to figure alot of time parents get a tank for their kids and kids don't give up pets easaly either.

 

[colesea]

Why aren't you furious at your dad for not researching the species of fish he was interested in before he purchased them for a six gallon tank? There are plenty of resources on the 'net as well as in books that could've allowed an intelligent individual to learn that a ten inch fish would eventually outgrow a six gallon space.

So as you see, the perspective goes both ways. You can no more get angry at the Petsmart people for doing their job then you can get angry at your dad for buying a fish he likes.

It is not a matter of where to place the blame, but a matter of where to accept the responsibility for one's actions.

I've worked in LFS, and I have asked the "questions" you make mention of, and have more often than not gotten slapped in the face for such. Since I don't enjoy being harrassed or hassled when I shop, I stopped hassling my customers. If they want said fish, who am I to judge?
~~Colesea

 

[Flex26]

The fact is I blame myself which is why I was so mad. I feel bad because I couldn't teach my dad everything I've learned here. But I've had time to cool down. Everyone is right, I am just over-reacting. I'll take amishfignewton's advice and buy that 180 gallon tank and put it on my dad's credit card. That will teach him!!


Antwan, thanks for the heads up on the 20 gal. However, the tank is still cycling. I should probably mention that fact on the list. I'll go do that right now.....

 

[Antwan]

I disagree catfishmike, most fish don't grow that fast at all, but ther are exceptions, such as the pleco. These are domesticated fish we are dealing with here. Wild fish grow faster, get bigger, and are meaner. You cannot compare wild fish and domesticated fish together, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. And you say that people get attached to their fish? I do too. But I also consider the fishes needs, too. I think you should have fun with your tank, but I also think that you should'nt do anything at your fish's expense.


So, unless your feeding that Columbian Shark super shark fin steroid elixer, I would'nt worry too much about that shark getting big any time soon. Although you could charge that 180 gal. to your dads card and say you're gonna "cycle it at your house till the shark gets big enough." Sorry, Flex

P.S. I would get that Columbian shark at least 2 other Columbian sharky friends, they get really nervous without backup.

 

[SoulFish]

Actually many wild caught fish will never get as big as they can in aquariums, wild caught severums are usually around 6-7" but in aquariums reach over a foot no problem, also many rift lake cichlids wild caught adults are only 4-5" while in aquariums they can reach 7-8" easy, in the wild they do not have as good and steady of a food supply, columbian sharks will out grow a 6gal in no time, 6 gal is very small even now it is too small a tank for how active they are, a fish does not need to get as big as the tank to outgrow it

 

[Somonas]

the problem is, if an employee refuses to sell a fish to a customer, they get fired.
They are under no obligation to tell a prospective customer that a fish is too big for a tank. Pet smart only cares about the $$$.

 

[Doomhed]

I would not recommend listening to Antwon, as he has killed alot more columbian sharks than Most. Get a bigger tank or returnh the shark. it will grow to about 8 inches in one year, or just die.

Your pick

 

[catfishmike]

ok i got a few things.your right soulfish ,that was a bad comparison.i'm allways thinking of non aquarium fish anyways and i shouldn't bring up things we aren't going to deal with anyways.antwan that doesn't change anything my original question is this do you know for a fact?i'm not tring to show you up or anything but i haven't been able to find much info,i was hoping you would have some cause you seem to be interested in shark cats.so do you have any hard facts to share with us?doomhead says 8 inches in one year,so we have a start as to size and growth.let's get more info.and last i read the original post wrong anyways i thoughyou were talking about those little tags that they have at the store right under the tank.my bad guess i should read more carefully.

 

[Nativefish Boy]

HAHA!! I this has no relivence to the topic but Petsmart does suck. thats why my last day is the 22nd of thsi month. But on the plus side, i know have two jobs. One at a auto parts place and the other at a local fish shop just down the street. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

 

[beaver8888]

well i would never trust walmart/petco/petsmart and alot of other LFS's around my house i would just look up some info before you go buying

 

[colesea]

Nativefish, you're leaving petsmart!!? Shards, I remember when you started there, how much you loved it. Congradulations on getting the other two jobs, and thank the powers that be you have escaped the awful employee abuse that goes on in places like that!

As far as Columbian Catsharks go (aka silver tipped sharks), I looked up the information on PlanetCatfish.com. Honestly, no matter what size it eventually grows to, they are, in my experience, a fairly difficult keep, and are pretty incompatable with a basic community tank. While little babies can live in fresh water, many of these beautiful fish never reach their full growth potential not because of lack of tank space, but simply because the aquarist doesn't change the freshwater conditions over to brackish/marine ones for the adult. That and the fact that they are very nervous and skiddish, often kept singly, making unstable community habitats stressful for them.

Go to PlanetCatfish.com, they have the best information for this species that I have found on the web.

Actually Somonas, I wonder if pet shops are under obligation to tell people about its products. Its that whole Consumer Information Act thing, and I wonder if pet sales are covered under it. I'm almost sorry I thought of this, can you immagin the lawsuits!? People suing petco/smart under the Consumer Information Act because the employee didn't inform them the fish would grow three feet!! Most pet shops place identification stickers (at least I know petco does) on the tanks with some information, such as size, on the tanks, but they can't make customers read those tags. Half the time you're lucky if the fish in the tank are properly identified anyway (as was the case with my sterbais being 'assorted cories').
~~Colesea

 

[Angelfish]

My Petsmart is actually really good about giving out info. When I go in I tell the sales person exactly what fish I have in my tank, how big it is, temperature, ect. Then I tell them what I like, and if its not apropriate often times they will say "That fish could out grow a 29 gallon, how about (show alternative) instead?" The sales person can give the best info, when given info.

 

[Antwan]

Wilds will always be bigger, faster, keener, hungrier, meaner, etc.

Hey Doomhed, if you read further, you'd see that they died from ich....and thats kinda twisted that you make it a point to breed your guppys for oscar food....

Anyway, I think it depends on many different variables, different diets, different strains, different conditions, different regions etc. For example, different regions have different sizes of the same fish because of the different resources and predators. Every researcher that studies fish has their own ideas and stuff, so catfishmike, we could be showing eachother other people's facts all year, but I still think wilds will always be ahead of the pets for multiple and logical reasons. I'm just saying that the majority of fish don't get to be as bigger or better as their friends out in the wild.

And Soulfish, they do have a steady food supply in captivity, but wilds have to be bigger and better to stay ahead of the rest, it just makes sense. In the tank, the cichlid don't have to worry about the bigger fish or bird thats gonna eat him, in fact, decades of domestication have already lessened their instinct to do so. I know that for a fact. Just look at the canine, or better yet the flying lizard. There are a few different islands seperated so many miles apart and flying lizards live on all of them. Might I add, this is a recent discovery and I'll look it up to get the details. Anyway, one southern most island had regular flying lizards, but as herpetologists went farther north on the chain of islands, they saw that these lizards, had smaller wings. It was because of the gusts of that island prohibited them to glide without being slammed to the ground. Last time they checked, all flying lizards were equal, and that wasn't even centuries ago. I rest my case man......this hurts my brain too much....

 

[toodles]

In a perfect world, the petstores wouldn't even sell fish like that.....they wouldn't sell pacu's, or red-tailed catfish, some of the gars, arrowannas, etc....and they wouldn't push the sales of fish like oscars. On the saltwater side, moorish idols, scallops, coco worms, mandarins, these and more are either difficult to keep or darn near impossible. At the very least, make these kinds of fish "special order". Pet store owners/corporations know that most people do not have the tanks or ability to support these kinds of fish. If the store owners don't know, then they should!!! This is their business, they should know the in's and out's of it.
Equal blame has to go on both the customer and the employee. The employee should know enough and care enough to try and guide the customer to an appropriate choice. After all these are living creatures in the employees care. And the employee should be educated in what they are selling! I understand how difficult some people can be. That can happen in any kind of sales job, but the employee should at least try.
The customer too, should be able to realise that fish are living creatures with needs. It takes very little effort to find info on any animal you might want to keep as a pet. The internet, the library, or a book store. All are excellent places to check. Unfortunately, most people can't be bothered to read their DVD or VCR manual.....how likely are they to read up on fish before they buy????

Although I'm not a Petsmart fan, one thing I do like about them is the fact that they have that little ID card under each tank with info about the fish. Too bad nobody really reads them though.......

 

[Flex26]

I read those little ID labels at the bottom of each tank, Toodles. Actually, I wish they said a little more (e.g. pH requirements, soft/hard water, etc). In any event, I find the labels quite helpful.

I didn't realize everyone felt so strongly about this. But I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. I was just trying to vent my frustration with my dad, Petsmart, and myself. But thanks, everyone, for voicing your opinions and experiences.