Saltair
Aquarium Advice Freak
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.
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.