My first bad experience at Petsmart

[bwayne400]

We've always had good luck at our local Petsmart. The manager over fish is very knowledgeable and I have seen him on more than one occassion actually teaching his employees about the behaviour, care and compatibility of the fish. They always ask questions when someone wants a fish about what type of tank, tank mates etc.
Well, he must have left. We went in last night just to look around since they get their new fish on Weds. The tanks were horrible, with microbubbles, algae and bacteria blooms. I don't know when I've ever seen worse. But the most horrible thing - ottos, danios and balas had jumped out of the tanks and had died on the floor. I watched as the only employee working picked up at least 8 dead fish and threw them back in the tank. I asked him what he was doing and he said that "it's alright - the other fish we'll eat them". He then explained the conditions of the tanks as normal.
I left in disgust.

[afilter]

Most unfortunate.

We are having almost the same discussion in this thread:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewto...057&highlight=

[Menagerie]

Yuck!!! Write a letter or call the district store. You can't toss in dead fish!! That's disgusting.

[thanew]

hrm.. had a bad experience yesterday.. went to the store, besides the fact that there were many dead fish and no one was even attending to the fish section (not a surprise imo) but then I spot some parrotfish.. yes the "dyed" fish... one was dead.. the otheres were floating around aimlessly... sadly this is not the first time i spotted painted fish at this same store.. i spotted some painted glass fish too...

so my letter has already been written and its being sent out today.

-thane

[Clown Monarch]

This is at a Petsmart? Wow. I could see something like that happening at Walmat, but certainly not a pet store.

[cat0623]

I am having the same issue in my tanks. It is this **** full moon that has lasted forever and a day. My problems are with the balas, barbs, and danios. I think that this is their normal breeding season also? Aren't they a little jumpy then too? If Petsmart would just put a cover over the tanks, then......well, duh!

[Regen311]

Unfortunately, due to my location, and lack of mobility being a college student, the first place I found within a 45 minute radius to buy fish was either wal mart or pet supplies plus. I chose pet supplies plus, because I first of all wouldn't trust fish from wal mart and second they looked terrible. I was new to the whole fish thing, I basically just adopted some guppies my sister had which had babies (I got 4 babies) and I had bought a molly at home (an hour and a half away). I wanted a female molly for my male, and read that 2 females per male is a good combination. Unfortunately, at that time, I had no idea how to tell them apart (males and females). So, when I got to the pet store, I asked the woman working with the fish if she knew the difference between male and female mollies. She said yes, so I showed her the colors I wanted and asked for 2 females, 1 of each color. Things were fine untill a day after I added the 2 "females". My male started chasing the one around, to the point that after a week, it just hid under some rocks and wouldn't even come out to eat. I found the original molly who was the agressor a new home, and finally the scared to death "female" came out of hiding and is now happy and healthy. i found out "she" was a he. Thanks pet supplies plus!! It's so easy to tell these fish apart (males and females) if you know how to do it. Why lie about your knowledge? I just don't get it, and I lost a beautiful fish because of the mess and totally stressed another out. I wish there was a LFS in this area. And also, why don't fish stores inform you about cycling? When I bought my tank so I could take it to school with my sister's fish, i just set the thing up. A week alter I panicked when I started reading about taking care of fish and discovered that my fish were going to die if I didn't do something. I bought all the supplies at the LFS where I got the molly, told them about my sister's guppies, and everything. They didn't say a word, but helped me pick out all the supplies I would need. Drives me crazy. That should be a basic thing to tell any fish owner. If I had a pet store, I'd make up little brochures or something to inform people so they don't kill all the innocent fish.

[X the Outsider]

The unfortunate thing is most customers don't care. I on a daily basis tell people about cycling, and the nitrogen cycle. Most of the customers don't care, because they are only fish. Those are the words I hear most days. While some people do care, and generally want the info; you do get mentally beat down by some of the negative ones after awhile.

But as far as putting dead fish in a tank; thats just wrong. With some people it doesn't surprise me. My friend worked at Petsmart, and she said she saw the GM twice for the two months she worked there. So it's probably management issues.

[Drake]

In response to what Clown Monarch said, you would really be suprised at people who work at places like Petsmart. They are probably the biggest morons to ever work in the pet business. I recently purchased a Turquoise Severum and the guy who was getting the fish chased it around the tank for what seemed like forever. When he finally got it, he some how poked a hole in the bag and had to pour it into another bag. By that time I thought he was dead for sure. I got him because he was fairly large with several other of the same cichlids that weren't even as close as the size he was and he was only around $5. On the same day before I bought the cichlid I found a great deal on a Marineland Penguin 150B Power Filter which was mislabed for $20 instead of $30. Thats just one example of the people who work at Petsmart.

[X the Outsider]

Originally Posted by Drake

In response to what Clown Monarch said, you would really be suprised at people who work at places like Petsmart. They are probably the biggest morons to ever work in the pet business. I recently purchased a Turquoise Severum and the guy who was getting the fish chased it around the tank for what seemed like forever. When he finally got it, he some how poked a hole in the bag and had to pour it into another bag. By that time I thought he was dead for sure. I got him because he was fairly large with several other of the same cichlids that weren't even as close as the size he was and he was only around $5. On the same day before I bought the cichlid I found a great deal on a Marineland Penguin 150B Power Filter which was mislabed for $20 instead of $30. Thats just one example of the people who work at Petsmart.

How does any of that make the employees morons?

[Drake]

Because he almost killed the cichlid.

[freshwatergal]

Ya know...it's threads like these that make me upset. It's not the easiest thing in the world to net a fish in a tank at work, especailly when you want that one specific fish in a group of 20.

I work at a lfs and always try to inform people on their choices before they make them. People get mad at me and tell me they want it anyway, so where do I go from there. If they want to be the "morons" then so be it. If i refuse to sell them a fish then I get in trouble!

I am in the process of starting my own business where I can do things the way I want! So until I don't have to listen to "upper management", I will try my hardest.

[dralarms]

am in the process of starting my own business where I can do things the way I want! So until I don't have to listen to "upper management", I will try my hardest.

You go girl. Shoot if I had any kudos I'd give ya some. How about an IOU

[Acer]

sorry might be a dumb question,,, but what are microbubbles??