warranty on fish

[cliff0114]

Here's the deal. I am battling ich in a 55 gallon tank. I have had tanks in the past, like 20 years ago. I have always done the drip method and just put them in the tank. never had a problem.
Until now. Most fish stores only give a 48 hour warranty on fish. Petsmart gives 14 days. IF, we are to use a quarantine tank, (which I am going to invest in, hard headed and learnrd the hard way) don't you think that 48 hours is not enough time to leave in quarantine tank, or discern if it is sick and decide to return him?
I went to Dallas North Aquarium the other day and lots of cool fish. Freshwater exotics. plecostimas (spelling) yellow with black spots ect. but they are very expensive 45.00. Their warranty is only 48 hours. I am VERY leary of spending that kind of money on fish and so little of a warranty.

I have tried to stay away from places like that, BUT, (yep, heres the excuse) I do not like buying fish from petsmart or petco and I have a friend that works there.

After saying all that, (Taking a breath) Is it me or do other aquarists stay away from 48 hour warranties also. IF you do get a sick fish and he dies we are just screwed out of our money. Lets face it, you can't see all sicknesses in fish.

 

[mgamer20o0]

most lfs here once you are out the door too bad. if you are a good customer and say something they might be willing to help. the problem is most fish keepers really dont have any clue how things work. (often since most lfs dont educate their customers) most of the fish that die and have to return i assume is on the fault of the customer not the fish.

with that being said chain stores will only for the most part have the most basic fish. they have the fish to be able to sell the rest of the equipment.

its important to find a lfs with good stock. dont just check the fish you are looking at but the rest of the tanks.

 

[Lowryder]

its important to find a lfs with good stock. dont just check the fish you are looking at but the rest of the tanks.

Good point. I went gourami shopping recently, the ones they had were beautiful. So I checked other tanks, I must have counted atleast 10 dead fish. I turned around and walked out. They had a problem I did not want. I returned to my trusted lfs and bought them. I trust my lfs so much that I dont even qt my new fish, never had a problem.

 

[The_Desacrator]

One of my lfs stores will guarantee any freshwater fish for 30 days. petsmart is 14. another i dunno what her deal is but for turtles she gave us discounts because we were good customers +)
at my favorite lfs, Capital Aquarium, I have never seen a dead fish that I can recall. Either they have great stock, or they clean out the dead ones mighty quick

 

[Bobz]

All TFS suffer losses, on a dailey basis. One of the tasks to be performed before the store opens is to remove the bodies. I am of the opinion that if you buy a fish, you own it. If your not observant enough when buying a fish, you get what you deserve. It is also very easy to kill a fish by improper acclimation, so why should a TFS be liable?
Bob in NY

 

[cliff0114]

All TFS suffer losses, on a dailey basis. One of the tasks to be performed before the store opens is to remove the bodies. I am of the opinion that if you buy a fish, you own it. If your not observant enough when buying a fish, you get what you deserve. It is also very easy to kill a fish by improper acclimation, so why should a TFS be liable?
Bob in NY

They should be liable, for a short while at least. There are alot of diseases you cant see,even to the most trained eye. The agreement when a customer buys any pet is, it is a healthy pet. be those standards noone should be liable for anything they sell, cars,homes dogs cats or fish.

Secondly, I have seen with my own eyes, a local fish store clerk pour a customers water sample into one of the tanks containing fish for sale, I was shocked. Yes they are liable

 

[BigJim]

The big box stores in my area guarantee their fish for fourteen days. One small LFS also guarantees for fourteen days. The other LFS I frequent guarantees for three to seven days depending on the fish. The small LFSs don't have a guarantee on neons or discus.

I think I've returned one fish to any store in the last two years. I won't buy fish unless all the fish in the tank look good and most of the tanks in the store look good. I also believe that drip acclimation goes a long way towards curbing fatalities.

 

[JerryO]

One thing to keep in mind with big box stores is what they do with the returned fish. Many of them are required to flush returned fish so they do not contaminate their stock with something the fish may have picked up at the purchasers house so a return is a death sentence.

I don’t know all of their policies but PetSmart and Walmart both do this near me.

 

[BigJim]

I only return fish if they've died. It's my job to research what's compatible with my tanks.

 

[logansmomma1228]

I do not like buying fish from petsmart or petco and I have a friend that works there.

After saying all that, (Taking a breath) Is it me or do other aquarists stay away from 48 hour warranties also. IF you do get a sick fish and he dies we are just screwed out of our money. Lets face it, you can't see all sicknesses in fish.

Agreed. Most places around here have either 7 or 14 day warranties. I can't even see a 48 hour warranty being fair at all to the consumer. A lot of people QT their fish for a good month to make sure. Especially if you do have something expensive like that pleco you are talking about; not only do you lose your friend but you lose a lot of money.

Good point. I went gourami shopping recently, the ones they had were beautiful. So I checked other tanks, I must have counted atleast 10 dead fish. I turned around and walked out. They had a problem I did not want. I returned to my trusted lfs and bought them. I trust my lfs so much that I dont even qt my new fish, never had a problem.

There are some places around here that I absolutely refuse to patronize because there are always dead fish and sick fish in their tanks. Now I know that diseases happen and fish are going to die, but when the fish are sick or dead every time I go in there then there is a problem. It just gets to the point where obviously the employees are not doing their jobs.

They should be liable, for a short while at least. There are alot of diseases you cant see,even to the most trained eye. The agreement when a customer buys any pet is, it is a healthy pet. be those standards noone should be liable for anything they sell, cars,homes dogs cats or fish.

Yes they are liable

+1

I would have to agree with a previous poster (mgamer i believe it was) that the best thing you can do is find an LFS that you can trust and stick with them. I have my reputable LFS where I have never seen dead fish, they take care of their tanks. I saw one fish who injured from a fight once and they were doing everything they could to take care of him.

You could test them by asking them a few questions about something you already know and see if they know or just give you a blank stare and try to sell you something.

Perfect ex: I asked my trusted LFS if I needed RO water for my FW tank and they said it isn't something that I absolutely need and didn't try to sell it to me. Then I went to Petsmart and asked if they otos for my 10 and the employee tried to sell me everything from a common pleco to a school of tiger barbs and some cichlids. For a 10 gal tank.

Done with my rant now lol long story short I agree with OP on this one

 

[sarahh]

IME some chain stores keep salt levels in the tanks high enough to suppress any illness that would be obviously apparent in ideal water parameters. Thus, you bring home the fish, and a few days later.. bam... ich, columnaris etc..

i would think that if a LFS is not happy to take responsibility for the animal, then they can keep it.

My local guy in petsmart is wonderful... he told me to go to a different LFS if i wanted healthy fish... weirdo... but i owe him some of my tanks for it

i stopped a fella in walmart the other day telling a customer that his goldfish would be fine in a betta bowl... i mean really?

 

[logansmomma1228]

I know I always end up helping people out when I go into Walmart or Meijers. I always have to go through the fish stuff, even though I will never buy any fish there. It's funny I went to meijer's once to get some feeder snails and the worker had no idea what I was talking about. She tried to sell me them for 2.49 a piece. I said hah no thanks. Went ot my fav LFS and got like 20 of them for 1.06 lol

 

[sniper]

One of my lfs stores will guarantee any freshwater fish for 30 days. petsmart is 14. another i dunno what her deal is but for turtles she gave us discounts because we were good customers +)
at my favorite lfs, Capital Aquarium, I have never seen a dead fish that I can recall. Either they have great stock, or they clean out the dead ones mighty quick

They alwAz have deAd fish there and it looks kinda nAsty there I live in Sacramento too you should cheCk out aqua workz on powerinn if you kno were that iz

 

[corrado33]

I don't think my LFSs have any warrantees (I may be wrong), but I have never once seen a dead fish in either of the smaller ones. I've seen plenty in wal mart, and in Petsmart and Petco.

I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but I walked into a LFS the other day and I saw a fish getting bullied. (It was a busy day or else I'm sure someone would have caught it) I told the clerk about it and they were actually upset. They promptly removed the one getting bullied and put it in a tank by itself to recover. (Probably should have removed the other one, but at least they did SOMETHING.)

Regardless, that's probably the best LFS around here. I honestly don't have any idea if they have a warranty or not. I have, however, cashed in on a warranty from petsmart before.

Oh and on the responsibility, I hear some LFSs make you bring in the dead fish, and a water sample to prove it wasn't your fault.