Wal-Mart should not sell fish!

[sunsplash76]

Let me first start by saying, that I am not anti-walmart. I love the prices on clothes and shoes & have been a faithful shopper for years. They also make a tasty flavored water, but that's beside my point, lol :?

I went to take a look at the fish they had in their tanks and I was just disgusted with what I saw! I felt like calling peta or the aspca or somebody to help these poor fish. There was a tank of red gourami's and they all had big patches of white spots all over their bodies. Like a white velvet mold or something, it was disgusting. Many dead fish floating about and stuck to the filter decaying even. Then they had a separate tank off to the side which contained the sickest fish I have ever seen in my life. This poor fish had scales sticking out of his body all over, plus he had no eyes on either side. I dunno if he was attacked or if it was birth defects or bad maintenance; but that poor fish looked like the swimming dead. I was surprised it could live in that condition. The tanks didn't look filthy per-say, but the fish were just in bad shape. My heart was bleeding for all these fish. I think they should stick to home and garden and clothes, but definitely no fish!!!!!!!!! OOOOOOOohhhh I am sick from this.
~Melissa~

 

[Jacob Morgan]

I thought they were no longer allowed to carry fsh in walmart. Maybe its just the new supercenters. I know they quit carrying them here for legal issues I thought(this was a few yrs ago and thats just w hat I heard). Carrying live creatures when you also carry food for humans was a no no I believe :-/



Jacob

 

[Guest]

Sunsplash,

Got this from the walmart website, give the home office a call and tell them your experience, maybe something will happen. Also, I'd call the manager of the store you went to. I'm glad the walmart near me doesn't carry fish.

Call Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., at 1-800-WALMART (1-800-925-6278), from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. (CT) Monday - Friday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (CT) Saturday or from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. (CT) Sunday.

To reach the home office, call 479-273-4000.

Mail

Mail your questions or comments regarding our stores or home office to:

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Attn: Customer Service
702 S.W. 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716

 

[swmmnglessons]

I got my first 2 fish at Wal-Mart a few months ago, a black moor and a regular old goldfish. I had to go to the garden department to ask for help in pets and went back to the fish and waited for probably 10 minutes till someone finally showed up. It was 2 young guys and I could tell they knew absolutely nothing about fish. They took a plastic drinking cup to scoop some water into the bag, only after first dropping it on the floor TWICE...Then the guy broke the little flip-top thingy that covers up the tops of the tanks. It was pretty sad. I agree that they shouldn't carry fish, especially since fish can be hard to take care of properly if you don't know what you're doing. Heck, even dogs and cats would be better because at least they can halfway take care of themselves. I also hate those tiny little cups that stores keep bettas in. I know they don't need much more than that but it's still kinda sad. But you can at least be kinda happy that some people do actually buy fish at Wal-Mart and get them outta that hell hole...lol

 

[loganj]

Wally World

I wholeheartedly agree that Wal-Mart should limit themselves to filter floss and containers of Goldfish food. I hate to go in there for any reason. However, on the subject of experienced help, you would not believe how hard it is to get someone with experience to work in a pet store. When you can find someone, as often as not, they steal you blind. Then you hire a high school kid and try to train them. They work a few weeks, soak up lots of your time training them, and then quit because they find out that running a pet store is a lot like work. It's a hard business to be in.
Logan J

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

our walmart supercenter sells fish.....

 

[SleeplessLwd]

I know the Walmart near me sells fish. I personally wouldn't buy my fish from them because I know the people in that dept don't have too much knowledge about fish. Therefore, I'm sure they aren't taken care of properly. although the tanks look clean and the fish don't seem to have any problems, I just have to wonder what sick fish were in the tanks previously that weren't treated because the workers didn't know anything about fish or the diseases and parasites they get.

 

[Katfish]

I Agree

I bought 4 guppyies and 2 mollies the other day and took them home, about 3 hour drive. They made it very well. However the person in charge of the aquariums was a middle-aged woman who seem to know her job well. I recall a few years back i was getting ready to buy 2 redtail sharks and found the aquariums in a mess. It turns out that some kids decided to feed the fish and opened up some flakes containers and overfed the fish (overfed here is an UNDERSTATEMENT). Almost all of the aquariums had food all over the place. The employees where cleaning out 3 tanks and getting all the fish out of the dirty ones. They knew that all this stress would kill off a lot of the fish, that was sad, and all of this due to lack of supervision.

I obviously didn't get anything that day.

 

[d9hp]

I have bought two algae eaters and four ghost shrimp from my local walmart, the tanks there are spotless, unlike some petstores. I have gotten to personally know the man who keeps the tanks clean and he really knows his stuff, after a year of learning. He is always running magnets on the tanks and making sure they look well-kept-up. There are some dead fish in them at times, only when he isnt working tho. The tanks and kits there are a great deal aswell. I got my entire set-up, except some fish from there and i am highly impressed. Maybe you have to find a good one.

 

[hisc1ay]

Yeah, the first time I bought fish at WalMart, the clerk there was actually THERE, and he was an older man who was telling me about his fish at home, and he's been keeping fish for a number of years, and it was really good. It's just that you probably don't have to be skilled in the fish world to work that department. I don't think I've seen in any other walmart I've been to someone actually in the fish department taking care of the fish. But I used that store for all of my fish needs when I was in Rochester, and my favorite Betta came from there. I still miss Vinny.

-j

 

[pondmom]

I was just at a local Wal-Mart today and in "every" tank there was at least ONE dead fish!!
I walked up to the tanks to look at these poor fish and they all had the look on their face..."take me home"
I felt do sorry for these fish!!
How crewl.....

 

[Grant R]

God, this place sounds absolutely terrible.
Maybe this post should be saved and used in a potential petition against this place, to stop stocking fish.

 

[fishfreek]

Grant,

Wal-mart if your not familiar, not sure if they have a presence in GB or not. Wal-mart is the largest retailer in the US. They are famous for coming into an area and putting all of the mom&pop shops out of business by underselling them.

 

[Brandon]

I think the Walmart in my area purposely make their fish look pitiful swimming around amongst dead tankmates so people will want to rescue them from their less than optimal environment. A marketing scheme if you will. I hope not but it sure seems that way. What amazes me is the fish prices at Walmart usually exceed prices in lfs's. Walmart is making too much money selling fish as is. I guess from their prospective why take any extra measures for the fishes sake when the $ figures at year end show a profit (a large one at that from what a guy who delivers fish to Walmart stores told me) in the fish department.

 

[robertmarda]

The Wal-Mart near me has fish and often they aren't as well kept as in pet stores. However, these fish usually appear healthy. I like the fact that they have fish because this is the only place I can go at 11PM to shop for fish. I wish all pet stores were open until midnight.

Of course, now that I am ramping up my breeding program, I can't consider many of the fish at Wal-Mart because they aren't a very pure stock, except perhaps the albino tiger barbs and tiger barbs.

 

[Grant R]

Grant,

Wal-mart if your not familiar, not sure if they have a presence in GB or not. Wal-mart is the largest retailer in the US. They are famous for coming into an area and putting all of the mom&pop shops out of business by underselling them.

Oh right, beleive it or not, the UK has it's equivelent, probably being more than one. Luckily, they don't stock fish and I'm glad after hearing about the way they would probably be treated / cared for.

 

[tyler]

i have gotten some rather nice aquatic plants from wal-mart, but i don't touch their fish anymore.

 

[Grant R]

Luckily, plants don't have feeling or emotions !!

 

[SquishyFishy]

Walmart

I agree, most Walmarts are terrible when it comes to fish. The other day, I was at a walmart and there was a tank where almost every fish had ich all over them. A few weeks before, they had a whole section with paper over the tanks that said, "Not For Sale" because they were all sick. However, I have been to walmarts with clean tanks and seemingly healthy fish. In the past week I have bought 2 bettas from Walmart. I looked at Petsmart too, and even though they were $1.50 less at Petsmart, they looked healthier and prettier at Walmart. Walmart also has lower prices on some of the chemicals and fish food than petsmart also. I have bought fish from both places though. Anyways, I guess it just depends on the store!

 

[michealprater]

ive heard they get shipments of bettas and the workers no so little they put them all in the same tank. duh.