Has anyone ever complained to a chain store about their fish care

[Saltair]

My local Petco is really starting to aggravate me. I am pretty new to the hobby and their prices and selection of equipment is the best around, but there tanks are awful to look at. There are dead fish everywhere, and my real complaint is they are generally left for awhile. I was there last night and one tank had a carcass ripped apart as the other fish in the tank fought over it. Another saltwater tank had a dead fish being held upright with its head in the air while a school of hermit crabs feasted away at the tail end. They also take no notice of obviously sick fish. They had a clown fish in “observation” that was lying on its side under a rock. I saw no gill movement so it looked to me like they were “observing” a dead fish. Other tanks had fish swimming around upside down. The real heartbreaker was the Oscar tank. I love Oscars and really hope to have one someday, and I stood in Petco last night and watched one swim around in circles on its side before settling to the bottom and shuddering every few seconds while I assume it slowly died, after several minutes of watching and looking for someone to tell I finally had to move on. Not sure it would have mattered I have pointed out dead fish before and just get a shoulder shrug, but that fish needed to be euthanized.

Now to be clear I am no PETA tree hugging environmentalist, no offense to anyone intended here trying to make a point. I fish, hunt, have worked on commercial fishing boats, and still work in support of the commercial fishing industry. That said I cannot stand to see cruelty and mistreatment due to simple carelessness or ambivalence. I swear even the Oscars would be better off at my house in my 30gal than in this place, no I am not going to do that, but watching this little house of horrors does bring the issue up as an ethical question.

Has anyone ever tried complaining to management at these stores about conditions like this? Are they common? There is a regional chain across the street that has almost no equipment and there fish selection is not great, but the fish are healthy and you rarely ever see sick or dead fish in with the fish for sale. You do see sick fish in QT from time to time. Ok. Rant over thanks for reading.

 

[hdultra]

Unfortunately this is a common problem with many chain stores. For us here in Missouri. That exact problem had made the news. There were allot of people disgusted by the same thing you were describing. So since then our local stores have cleaned up their act.

If I was there in your shoes. I would have brought attention to it to the manager in the store. That manager is not doing there job. Then go back from time to time and see if he/she fixed the problem. If not take to their corp office. And make them aware of the problem. If its still a problem take it to the BBB and then the news.

It's all about sales with most chains (Profit) over Loss. They will sell you everything you don't need.

Stay on them.

Like I said. I have never seen any dead fish in our Petsmart, Petco and the local dealers. If I do their going to hear about it. Weather it does good or not. At least you feel better for saying something.

So next time your there let them know about you concerns !!!

Good Luck.

 

[mudraker]

I agree with everything you said.

It is a worldwide problem from what I can tell from this forum and my own experiences.

I've complained so many times, and actually wrote a letter to petco corporatate office once. They sent me a coupon for some trashy additive no one really needs.

When you point out dead or unhealthy fish they either shrug their shoulders or say they'll be taking care of it. But they rarely do. I've pointed out dead fish in tanks, returned the next day and its still in there. Maybe its their way of saving on food, letting the other fish eat dead ones. I don't know.

And don't get me started on all the bad advice they dish out to newbies. A typical newbie post on this forum alone goes something like this: I bought a new five gallon tank yesterday, along with five goldfish, a tetra, two sharks, an angel fish and two plecos. I added the bacteria from the bottle like they said, but two of the fish were dead this morning and one of them is swimming funny. Is it normal to see white spots on new fish....blah blah.

The manufacturers are just as squalid, picturing five or six gold fish in 3 gallon tanks on the box, and all the snake oil "cycle boosters" conditioners and worthless additives....

Thanks for letting me rant.

 

[OhNeil1969]

Bravo Saltair,

You bring up a very good point. I encountered the same type of situation a couple of days ago at my local chain pet store. While there buying items for our dog, I found a 10 gallon molly tank with 5 dead fish on the bottom and 1 more dying right in front of my eyes. That wasn't the only tank with dead fish. It seemed like a good 30 to 40 percent of their tanks had sick or dying fish. And like your situation the sales associate present didn't even seem to care. In my opinion, not only is it cruel, but it's not very good business sense. Because of that sight, I will never again buy fish from that store. A sales associate at another mom & pop LFS in the area explained to me that most of the large chain pet stores that sell fish have all their tanks tied together with 1 large filter/sump (I'm inclined to believe him as I witnessed while performing a water change at the chain store that there was only 1 fitting for the siphon). This way, any break out of disease in 1 tank will quickly spread to all the others. This store really is just a breeding ground for diseases. And if you're not careful, they'll infect your tank at home. Maybe that's the plan, infect our tanks so we'll have to come back and by more medicine and more fish. I think the best way to show our dissatisfaction with the situation is to do what you're already doing: make people aware. Complaining to management at a chain store will do very little in my opinion. We need to hit them where it hurts: at the cash register. Looks like I'll even need to find a new place to buy things for my dog.

I guess it time for me to get off my now.
Again, thanks for bringing up a good point.

 

[fort384]

Completely agree, especially with mudraker about the awful advice. It is the same story over and over on here with new posts.

My own personal choice is to not shop at petsmart. It was easy when I lived in Phoenix and had an amazing LFS (shout out to aquatouch if you live in that area). The prices are high but the products/specimens were amazing, and the advice and experience--priceless.

Now where I am at petsmart is the only Option. So, I buy 99% of what I need online (including plants and animals). In fact the only thing I bought at petsmart since moving here were 6 neon tetras. The other hundreds of dollars I have spent on aquarium related items was spent at small operation online suppliers. Yes it costs more, but it comes with peace of mind.

 

[jessibell]

The Petcetera here in Kamloops is absultely awful in their fish department. I've only been in there a couple times and every time, I leave angry. They once had a tank full of male guppies that were COVERED in ich, some of them could barely swim and several were dead on the gravel, and I watched an employee looking at this tank saying "It's, like, some kind of, like, parasite or something?" She scooped out one gupp that couldn't swim anymore and garbaged him. And of course their tanks are all on the same system so you know they've all been exposed to it.

Their employees are also rude, unhelpful, uneducated, and they follow me around the store because they think I'm shoplifting *LOL*

 

[XimeD]

My local Petco is actually pretty good, I've only once seen a dead fish there. My local petsmart however is terrible!!!!!!

I haven't complained but I don't shop there anymore. I too get most of stuff online. I haven't ever started one of those online signature things, but do you guys think it would be a good idea to start one? maybe if enough people signed it, the upper management of these chain stores would take it more seriously? IDK, the old strength in numbers thing.

 

[Jason7894561230]

Can we get a moderater to move this to "The Lounge" because i dont think it should be here

 

[mgamer20o0]

the truth is they dont care. they dont really make money on the fish they have them so they can sell the rest of the stuff that goes with fish. go to lfs and hope they are better.

 

[jenatron]

I was thinking the same thing mgamer. Complaining probably won't do a thing. You think they care up in corporate? No. They're about money. 1 person makes no difference to them.

 

[warthog76za]

I had to deal the weekend with someone who works at a petstore but has no clue! When I needed the medication for my swordtail....I explained to the woman from the start that I have Assassin Snails and Shrimp in the tank as well and she gives me this product and tells me, "i know what Im talking about" At home when I read the slip inside the packaging....it states there...contains copper & "Not to be used with invertebrates" and I thought had I gone on the word of this petstore employee, I could have had a catastrophe on my hands.

 

[OhNeil1969]

I had to deal the weekend with someone who works at a petstore but has no clue! When I needed the medication for my swordtail....I explained to the woman from the start that I have Assassin Snails and Shrimp in the tank as well and she gives me this product and tells me, "i know what Im talking about" At home when I read the slip inside the packaging....it states there...contains copper & "Not to be used with invertebrates" and I thought had I gone on the word of this petstore employee, I could have had a catastrophe on my hands.

Glad to hear you were able to avoid that catastrophe. It seems to me that companies today aren't following the free market/competition model of economics. Rather than providing us with a better product or service so that we'll shop at their establishment as opposed to the competition, many companies seem to be working on finding new ways in which they can steal our money by selling us stuff we really don't need. I'd be more likely to shop somewhere that I can trust and that provides create customer service. Instead, many stores simply think of "creative" ways to get us to spend money unnecessarily. That is the impression I get when I hear stories like yours.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I just usually post on the internet advising people not to shop there and never buy my own fish there. I wrote a piece on my blog about my first few experiences with chain stores. It gets quite a few hits (people just stumble on it I guess) which hopefully makes people think.

 

[shadyfish]

My local petsmart consistently gives me dead feeders plus close to 25% of their tanks have ICh breakouts I've complained numerous times gotten 4 refunds and they still haven't cleaned up their act, it all comes down to this you can't expect someone getting paid minimum wage to actually care 100% about their job stay away from the chains I drive 45min out of my way just to get to an actual fish store and its allways been worth it. Sometimes bigger just isn't better

 

[Tim Wheatley]

They make more money from the equipment, why would they care about the fish themselves? Honestly folks, find another fish store.

 

[jenatron]

It's easy for you to say "find another store" if you have one. Some places don't have LFS's, they just have chains.

 

[OhNeil1969]

They make more money from the equipment, why would they care about the fish themselves? Honestly folks, find another fish store.

I think we've all gotten the message and are looking for new and better places to shop. I guess the real question here may be: why are we allowing these things to happen in the first place? I know my LFS is in this business to make money, but why is it that treating the fish in such a poor manner equals profit for the store? Yes, I know they make money off the tanks, chemicals and accessories. In fact, they should just give the fish away given how little they depend on them for their financial success. I just feel like we've let companies get away with a whole lot in the name of a cheaper price for us and greater profits for them.

Just adding my 2 cents. It's a thought that has been on my mind for a while now.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

It's easy for you to say "find another store" if you have one. Some places don't have LFS's, they just have chains.

You're on the internet. Order fish from a reputable online store. I also moved a tank 1000 miles with the fish in buckets so know a LFS doesn't have to be on your doorstep for you to get fish home, I realize some people might have a bit of a drive to get to a store, but surely you just adapt.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I think we've all gotten the message and are looking for new and better places to shop. I guess the real question here may be: why are we allowing these things to happen in the first place? I know my LFS is in this business to make money, but why is it that treating the fish in such a poor manner equals profit for the store? Yes, I know they make money of the tanks, chemicals and accessories. In fact, they should just give the fish away given how little they depend on them for their financial success. I just feel like we've let companies get away with a whole lot in the name of a cheaper price for us and greater profits for them.

Just adding my 2 cents. It's a thought that has been on my mind for a while now.

It isn't just fish. It's the whole dynamic of the stores. They don't care about the dogs and cats they sell any more than they have to, either. They make more money from the cat litter, cat food, litter trays, dog beds, etc, etc etc, than they do the animals themselves. It's the same as how they make money on the filters, tanks etc, the fish are worthless.

The ideal pet store to me just sells the animals. It's pretty simple to see that when the majority of a businesses stock is it's animals they HAVE to care for them. If (like chain store) the majority of the stock is the accessories, the animals become less worth, then when you add the fact that these employees need to know about fish, cats, dogs, reptiles, etc, etc, their fish specific knowledge becomes nil...

 

[Tim Wheatley]

...and also, let's face it. If you buy a fish and it dies, the chain store can always sell you a medication, a pH pill or something to help 'fix' the problem. A fish dying is actually more business for them.

I wouldn't actually be surprised is managers are briefed on how to use particular types of fish death to sell particular products afterwards, rather than preventing the death in the first place.