wal-mart MURDERERS -poll

[PondFond]

Hey, I just want to say how disgusted i am with wal-mart's fish dept. Over half their fish are dead all the time. The tanks are covered with algea and there are usually more fish stuck to the filter than there are alive. Vote so i can see what others and you think so i know i am not alone in the battle. Hopefully they might hire better staff that accually have knowledge about fish if you complain. I was in there and they had oscars in with guppies. and there was only one guppy still alive but he looked like he might have already been in one of their mouths.

 

[fishfreek]

While I agree they proably should sell fish I dont think they should stop. Every walmart is not like the one you have the misfortune of living close to.

I have never seen an oscar in a walmart that I have frequented. About the largest fish I have seen them carry are goldfish.

I do think they should have some level of compency testing for those in the fish deptartment but I also know that its workers in departments around the fish department that often end up having to do the work.

I would like to see states adopt a law that requires stores whom sell live animals including fish to pass a certification as well as get recertified yearly on copetance, cleanlyness, sanitary levels, etc.

 

[PondFond]

Yes it would be nice if the states adopt a law that requires stores whom sell live animals including fish to pass a certification as well as get recertified yearly on copetance, cleanlyness, sanitary levels, etc. But what government has time to worry about fish. Besides i'm in canada and it wont do anything for the fish around here. I guess the wal-marts in canada are differant. Although i live on a border town and when i do come to the states i dont see a differance in the fish dept. Thanks for your replies

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I think they should stop selling fish, but not the fish supplies. I've seen a small tank with 6 Oscars in it before. Poor conditions.

 

[TankGirl]

One of the Walmarts here has an extremely dreadful fish department, and it is always depressing to go through there so I avoid it. They do have good value on some supplies, so yesterday I cruised through and an employee was netting the dead fish, which from what I could see was 10-12 fish per tank. All stuck to the filter. They just about always have oscars, sometimes pacu.

In general, the Walmart employees in our metro area are overworked and hostile in all departments, so the best option here would be to ditch the live fish department altogether. They have a serious morale problem here, to the point where I avoid going there if I don't have to. I hope that is not the case elsewhere.

 

[xerobob]

I have to admit, I have seen my fair share of dead fish at Walmart. I don't believe anyone really takes care of the tanks, they just dump in fish and hope they sell before they die.. Try explaining to a 3 year old why so many are dead, then ask yourself, why do they even try to sell them. I'm grateful I have salt water fish, cause they don't sell them here in Connecticut.

 

[whitetiger_CJ]

Although I agree that most wat marts have problems with their fish, We shouldn't bash them all. there are some that do have a knowledgable staff. although they are rare, they should be recognized, not ridiculed. I believe that walmart just needs to clean their act up. Thats just my opinion

 

[aquaxeden]

our walmart has competant staff , but they can oly work with walmart gives them . extremely overstocked tanks where a third of the fish are dying or dead . 30 oscars in a 25 gallon , come on! they should stop seeling fis altogether

 

[Toker95]

*my* two cents...

I like the idea of walmart selling small and simple fish. I've seen Oscars and Koi in walmart, which I think is a huge mistake, despite tank conditions, fish like those should be purchased with the full knowledge of what they are getting into. A website I frequented when I first got a tank constantly stressed a key fact on each specie it profiled... - You should be committed to the full growth of this fish upon purchase, a tank size of X is recommended at first, and eventually a tank size of Y is optimal.
- i.e. they clearly let you know how big a tank you should be providing by the time its an adult.

Anywho, *I* think WalMart should be forced to partner with a LFS in the area. That way a fully knowledgeable and caring employee of a LFS can monitor and care for the fish in sickness, and could probably supply Walmart with the fish themselves. That way walmart isn't stocking tanks with oscars, but filling them with pretty variations of guppies, goldfish, mollies, danio's and assorted other hardy, good first-tank fish.

A partnership would benefit both, first timers can get ultracheap supplies and fish at walmrt, the LFS gets the business from the people who stick with it and want to expand/upgrade past what Walmart can provide, and Walmart's image improves dramatically.

------

Now on another note, I live near 3 walmarts, Elkton, MD... New Castle, DE and Dover, DE. Each has its own respective level of quality since I've been paying attention. Elkton's isn't bad, New Castle's isn't kept very clean and Dover is a sad sight. What dissapoints me more, are the LFS that have quality issues. Sadly Petco outperforms most of the stores in my area, at least wrt cleanliness and health of specimen.

Anyway, enough rambling from me...

 

[fishfreek]

Thank god im not going insane. I saw another post with the same topic in the pond forum and I knew I responded to a walmart thread today but i couldnt find my response.

Please refrain from starting multiple threads in multiple forums on the same subject. Gets very confusing to everyone as to what thread they responded to.

Thanks.

 

[ringfinger]

Any of you college/high school students out there should go to your local Walmart and offer to work the department for them. The two stores that I go to each only have ONE halfway knowledgeable employee working half the time. They would do fine with more TLC.

 

[whitetiger_CJ]

Im in both High school and college, but I am already working for a petstore

 

[PondFond]

great idea. You get some knowledgable staff in there and you happy healthy fish

 

[fishyfishyfishy]

Remember that Wal-Mart is a very large corporation... Even if the CEO of wal-mart decided that wal-mart stores should hire more knowlegable staff for the fish dept, it would be hard for him to maintain that expectation throughout the thousands of wal-marts nationwide. It would be up to individual store management to do such hiring, which would inevitably lead to management not doing this job well. Wal-mart should stop selling fish because it is obvious that they cannot guarantee quality control in this department.

 

[PondFond]

another great point. you see the answer is still unknown :?

 

[Guest]

I think that walmart should keep selling fish but have a QUALIFIED(cant stress that enough) staff to take care of the fish

i like walmart but they NEED QUALIFIED staff members!

 

[RoK]

I'm grateful I have salt water fish, cause they don't sell them here in Connecticut.

They do sell saltwater fish in Connecticut. They may not in your area but do in mine.

 

[FishLover14]

Our Wal-Mart always has dead fish in it and one day just 2 see how much they knew i asked what is the tank size to keep an Oscar in the lady pointed to a 1gal bowl and said you could keep 1 in that. I think Wal-Mart should juts stop seelling fish altoegther. They always have TONS of dead fish in the tank and 80% of the bettas are dead.

It really is sick the way they treat live fish.

 

[Guest]

heck if i worked at walmart i would tell them everything that i have learned and i would keep my walmarts fish live healthy and ICH FREE!

wow sounds like im running for a campaign

 

[X the Outsider]

The unfortunate thing is Wal-mart doesn't pay well, and most people with fish knowledge won't work there. And if they did they still have to follow store rules. I work at Petco, and have come close to losing my job for not following the rules set by Petco. I have one of the top Aquatic departments in the region, and have got them to give me a LR/invert tank. (second in the region) So I know Wal-mart won't care about any employee who would stand up for the fish.

It's upper management we have beef with not the employees. The employees have to follow the rules; while upper management only sees profit.