Horror at local pet shop!

[Tiffi]

I went to a local petz shop yesterday to check what fishes/aquarium stuff they have.

Horrible! At least 10% dead fishes in the tanks. Of the rest there was a good part already sick. Algae everywhere, even in the little plant tanks. That way you'll pay so-to-speak for the algae to bring home .

And then there was this one costumer, who had algae at home in his tank. All the shop assistant told him was to take some algae treatment and done. AAAAArrgh!

For all beginners I just wanted to state here once more, that just a little bottle of algae treatment is not going to help your problems! First of all that stuff is not good for your live plants and can kill them. Second there must be a reason why there is algae in your tank (not enough wpg, no CO2, nutrients for the plants missing to growout the algae, etc.). If you don't bother to find that reason, the algae will come back and all you have won is that you can add algae additives the rest of the aquarium's life.

Well, I gave that guy a little piece of paper with the URL of this forum. He looked a little crazy at me, but I told him that she shop assistants help was bullsh#@$#$% and he can get the real answers here .

 

[greytgrey]

I love that last smiley you used!

I don't like it when I see a lot of dead fish in the tanks! Its nasty and bad for business!

 

[Tiffi]

Well, you should think so, but still there are people buying those diseases. I went straight back out, they are not getting a single cent from me - not even for fish food!

 

[greytgrey]

good idea. I bought a fish from walmart 2 weeks ago*ashamed*. All my fsh from walmart have lived for like half a year which is good for me. I don't like how they treat their fish though. I bought the fish there because the tank looked healthy. My fish is doing fine.

 

[vero]

I call my fish the "Survivors".

The lfs closest to my house always have 4-5 dead fish stuck on the filter intake (and I mean... dead, like dead a while ago and their bodies are white and half chewed up). A lot of their tanks are infected with fin rot. The person working there told me they never test the water and hardly ever change the water. The thinking is along the line "people tend to fuss around too much with their aquarium and that's why they are not successful".

It sickens me.

 

[Guest]

First of all i would like to say that it is very sad to see places where they don't even bother to scoop out the dead fish, clean their tanks... etc. And its sad but true but the fish stores are out there to make a prophet, even if it means suggesting you add horrible chemicals to your tank.

Second I would like to say that Algae is not bad or harmful... it is just not asthetically pleasing to see in an aquarium.

Second there must be a reason why there is algae in your tank (not enough wpg, no CO2, nutrients for the plants missing to growout the algae, etc.). If you don't bother to find that reason, the algae will come back
.

TOO MANY watts per gallon would cause algae... not to little. I only have 30 watts in my 55 gallon tank that is semi-planted with low-light plants and I have NEVER had an algae problem... the problem arises when you add too many WPG without a CO2 injection and plants. Also the plants will help to compete with the algae for the nutrients in the water

Algae is not bad, it is simply unnatractive. Many fish graze off of the algae... catfish, plecos, etc. And if you have these kind of fish you even have to supplement their diets, weather you want catfish and plecos or not, you may see algae begin to grow in your tanks, and then the best way to get rid of it is to either clean it off, lower your WPG, or add plants and CO2.

 

[Tiffi]

Well, if you have something like "no" light in your tank, the plants can't really grow and take the nutrients from the algae neither. And that's most times the case for people that buy there. Only little lighting that comes with the tank and little plant growth (yes I know all the other componetns that come into play) or no plant at all (with maybe to much wpg).

Anyway, the point is that I can't believe that people don't try to inform themselves somehow or still buy there with at least 5 dead fish in one tank. Even if they don't have the ability to recognize other illnesses of still living fishes. When would there be the point to say: Wow, This stuff looks horrible. I wanna see if I can't find something better.
If there wouldn't be so many people still giving those stores their money, walmart and many others (like the one I"ve been to) would recognize that they can't sell this way.

 

[Zagz]

It's sad to see lfs's not care about the fish they carry. All you can do is be responsible and not support a fish store that treats their fish like that. Unfortunately there are far too many uneducated people out there that will not know the difference and will continue to buy from them.

 

[Stuart]

The sad fact is that there are more poor LFS than there are good ones.

These websites are by far the best resource for learning how to care for your fishes

 

[Lonewolfblue]

One thing I want to say in here, don't buy fish from Walmart, lol. I went down there yesterday, and they had a bunch of dead fish, and some tanks had bags full of new fish in them. And some fish in the bags were close to dead. Went back today because I'm looking at the inexpensive 55 Gallon tank, and the bags were still in there, and some of those fish were dead. Talk about sad. Wish there was something that could be done about places like that.

 

[Stuart]

They floated fish in the bags for 24hrsd??????? omg

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I'm going again tomorrow and see if they are still there.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

3 bags were goldfish of different kinds, and 1 was full of 2" bala sharks. Was about 25-30 bala's in the bag, and I counted 6 dead for sure, and about 5 or 6 bala's looking pretty sick. The bags were pretty big bags that hold about a gallon of water or so. But still, 24 hours is much too long. I float my bags in my tank about 30-40 minutes and then take some water out and put some tank water in the bag and let sit about 5 minutes, then I empty the bag and fish into a fish net in a bucket, and put the fish in the tank. I don't pour the stores water into my tank directly. But that's how I do it. Wonder if Walmart even has a knowlegable person in the fish department. Maybe I should apply, lol. They would definitely have better looking tanks and fish. lol.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Question for you all. How do places like Walmart, LFS's, small pet shops, etc, stay in business when so much of their stock dies off due to improper handling, or just employees that have no idea about fish and proper tank setups?

_________________
26G Community:
1 Bala shark - 5", 1 Red Tail shark - 4", 1 Rainbow shark - 3 1/2", 1 Albino Rainbow shark - 3", 1 Golden Dojo Loach - 8", 1 Dojo loach - 4", 2 Fire Eels - 9" each, 4 Chinese Algae Eaters - 1" each, 1 Bolivian Ram - 1", 6 Glowlight rasboras - 1" each. 55G/75G coming soon.

 

[RoK]

Well, a Walmart will definitely stay in business even with poor care to their fish because of the large amount of other stuff they sell. If it's a very small fish store, then yeah, they are in trouble, unless they sell a lot of other stuff.

 

[woo]

I went to the Petco by my house a few weeks ago..so pathetic. Honestly, I'd say 30-40% of the tanks had at least one dead fish, and then there's a worker floating bags and he didn't even seem to mind. 8O

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I go to the Petco here quite often, good place for fish. The guy that works there went to school in that field, and does a great job.

 

[Tiffi]

If you want it to stop, which is especially important for stores like petsmart, superpetz, etc. (well, walmart probably won't stop unless they really don't make any money with the fish department):
Don't buy there anymore!
Lfs are close to being bankrupcy because they can't keep up with the cheap prices from Walmart and other and you still go to Walliworld or elsewhere to get your aquarium assecoires/equipment!

Just don't buy there!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I got my first aquarium here at Petco. But most the accessories I ordered online. I got a couple things at Petco and our LFS, but mostly buy online. The tanks I was looking at at Petco are just a little expensive for me, so I'll stick with the 55G from Wallmart here in 2 weeks. Would have liked to get the 75G at Petco. Will have to save for a bigger one later.

 

[LydiaGreen]

Walmart isn't SO bad... not every single one of them -- it depends on the management at the store and the people they have staffing the pet department. In Canada, they have a policy of rotating staff through the different departments every year or so. Even if you get someone who actually cares, by the time they have learned enough to be competent, they get rotated out and to a different department and you start over again with someone new who doesn't have a clue. If you are LUCKY they actually care about the fish and WANT to learn how to do it properly.

The guy currently running the pet department at my locally Walmart, actually does care. When he started, he was clueless... but, as he got to know me, now he asks me for advice on what to do with whatever problem. If I don't know the answer, I'll refer him to a website that is known for that species (ie. loaches online, odd-fish.net, etc.) where he can get some knowledgeable advice. He TRIES. One day, he come up to me in the store and said he was going to call me because he had two problems he needed help with. 1) a tank full of sarosa goldfish that all looked terrible -- I have only seen pics of septicemia, but that's what it looked like. I think they ended up loosing them all. 2) they had just received a batch of ADF's and never having had them in the store before, had NO clue what to do for them. The Walmart in the next town told them to make it like an iguana tank! Once I explained the care that they needed and that they were fully aquatic he was able to tell the next town's Wally World why their frogs kept dying 8O

So, at least this one ASKS for help. He TRIES really hard to do the right thing.

And another thing, some of us don't have a choice about where we shop. There isn't just the financial aspect of needing to save the bucks by going to a big box store instead of an LFS -- some of us don't HAVE an LFS to go to. There are a lot of places where Walmart is all that you have and you would be more than happy to have a Petco or Petsmart as well. As it is, I have to drive an hour and a half each way to get blood worms for my frogs and botias from an LFS in another town. My only option for a GOOD LFS with LOTS of variety, is driving four and a half hours into the city.