Stocking of the tanks in the store

[curiousmanners]

I'm fairly new to this hobby so hopefully this isn't common knowledge but...

I went to a petsmart a month ago and the tanks were pristine... each tank had only similar fish or the fish together that you typically see in fish stores. Fast forward to last week... I go to look at the and I notice a high amount of dead fish, and for some reason large goldfish in some of the tanks (from what i noticed the ones that contained the most dead fish).

So my question is if there is any explanation or potential cause for putting the goldfish in with the other fish (not something I have often seen), and would that have anything to do with the higher amount of dead fish that i saw?

 

[DWilliams]

Goldfish shouldn't be kept with other fish as there cold water fish & produce ammonia.

 

[jlk]

Goldfish shouldn't be kept with other fish as there cold water fish & produce ammonia.

Goldfish are coldwater fish but ALL fish produce ammonia!

Most stores run on a central filtration systems. I have only ever seen one place that specifically kept goldfish on a different system with a different temp. It sounds like this store may have had a change in whomever is running the fish section and as a result, tanks are being inappropriately stocked and maintained which will result in fish demise. Its also worth noting that if a single fish is sick/diseased, every single fish in the store has been exposed to the same pathogen thanks to central filtration.

 

[DWilliams]

Goldfish are coldwater fish but ALL fish produce ammonia!

Most stores run on a central filtration systems. I have only ever seen one place that specifically kept goldfish on a different system with a different temp. It sounds like this store may have had a change in whomever is running the fish section and as a result, tanks are being inappropriately stocked and maintained which will result in fish demise. Its also worth noting that if a single fish is sick/diseased, every single fish in the store has been exposed to the same pathogen thanks to central filtration.

Goldfish produce a lot more then other fish.

 

[jlk]

Goldfish produce a lot more then other fish.

Its all relative. Does a goldfish produce more ammonia than neon or a guppy or other common tropical fish? The obvious answer is yes. But if you compare the ammonia production of a large goldfish to a similar sized/weight oscar, they will be pretty much the same. Large fish with large appetites produce more ammonia, plain and simple.

 

[DavidAl]

This sounds like equipment malfunction, especially if fish were moved around.

David

 

[curiousmanners]

thanks for the answers guys!