Boycott the walmart fish!

[NinjaSmurf]

I'm kinda half and half with walmart too. Sometimes I can get really great fish, and other times it's like they are all plotting to keel over and die. I got my pictus at walmart and it wouldn't eat for a few days and got ich from a chill. (faulty socket the heater was plugged into) He's doing fine, but two out of three of the guppies I got croaked. Personally I just pick out the best looking ones and try to rescue what I can. Luckily I think someone at the local walmart here knows what they are doing because of the q tank. The problem is that no one person seems to be the designated fish catcher and you get the occasional nut who stabs the net into the tank of skitsy fish and you can only watch in horror as they all freak out and slam against the tank walls. Perhaps if they just had someone who's whole job was taking care of the fish things wouldn't be near as bad. I know I'd take the job.

 

[plysha]

boycotting them will do nothing.

boycotting may not do anything to save the fish. but telling someone they are sick will All I have to do at zanesville walmarts is tell the manager and he looks in to it....some walmarts are good but not all.... if walmarts would let someone who knows how to take care of fish work there and only for the fish people may buy more from there... I had 5 fish from walmarts and they all lived a year I just couldn't fight what they had anymore i tried everything white spots got the better of them. I'm not saying walmarts fish are bad but unless you know how to take care of the sick ones... my one fish from walmarts I had it 4 days and it died so I took it back and got my money back,...... My husband won't get any fish from walmarts he doesn't like how they are treated....

 

[silent_one]

My walmart is usually ok. But, yeah sometimes the fish look really bad. They at least keep their bettas in fairly large containers at mine.

 

[wrs]

i love my walmart, it has all kinds of bettas and nice fish, its great. its better then some of my lfs

 

[plysha]

Zanesvilles walmarts keeps the bettas in very small plastic cups and I really do mean plastic cups... Newark walmarts keeps them in small bowls
B)

 

[wrs]

i think that the platic cups are better IMO. At least they arent kept in little itty bitty bags. I have one that keeps them tied up in bads and thrown in tank! The bowls are small, the plastic cups are 1/2 a gallon and its easier to take them home in. They could also jump out of the bowls, but they cant out of the plastic cups because they have lids, and when you say cups do you mean like a drinking glass or a i cant believe its not butter tub?

 

[plysha]

I mean like not even a 5ounce. cup

the fish can't even move... I think it is so mean to keep them in that.
I've also seen how they keep them in bags at the top of the tank. there's not that much air in a bag. My husband use to work at a fish store when he lived in England.. and he loves fish. we both hate to see the fish at walmarts and how they are making them live... we have to go down that way though we have dogs.

 

[cation]

The bowls are small, the plastic cups are 1/2 a gallon and its easier to take them home in.

Try 1/2 to 1 _cup_, not gallon, per plastic cup.

 

[Fishkiller]

Yes we all know animals are abused in many cases. But there is nothing that you can do about it without making some leftistm liberal whack job protective group that wont let you eat fish for food, and will come after you if your tank iss to small. YES there are people who are that crazy

 

[gto_cowgirl]

Boycotting walmart is a little extreme. First i don't think they will really care because how many walmarts are across North America? They probably have enough money to make up for all those losses from you boycotting and there will always be people out there that buy fish from walmart no matter what you do.

I have even seen dyed fish at the walmart near me but i didn't really do anything about it because i dont see a huge corp actually caring enough. I have also heard horrible things about petco (what they do to live near death animals and so forth) but i still buy from them if the price is right. Sometimes other stores do not have what petco has and i need it other times its cheaper all depending on the situation. I didn't say i liked shopping there and i think about their animal cruelty problems every time i enter but to me one person isn't going to make a difference.

Sometimes i'm quiet amazed the stories i hear of what a knowledgable pet person has said to some of these stores and actually changed something there. I also have a problem with Petsmart because of the guppy hobby i have gotton myself into. They only sell guppies in male/female pairs. Now how stupid is that when you need 2 females per male guppy.

So in general i do not like many of the huge petstores but i care enough about my pets to go out and buy what they need at a budget price. There is one mom and pop pet store around here which is GREAT! except for their prices. I can't stand paying 5 extra bucks for something i can get way cheaper somewhere else.

 

[plysha]

gto_cowgirl

I agree with you..... Petsmart and petco want to much for some of there stuff, but making you buy one male one female its your fish if you want all males then they should let you have all males. If they tried that with me I would make them show me papers saying that I have to buy them that way...

there are some things that are cheaper at petsmart then walmarts. the best place i have ever seen was just the other day at PetLand now they don't keep the dogs to well but the fish are very well taken care of. there was one place in newark a guy owned it and he had fish of all kinds i'm not sure if he's still there but he always took really good care of his fish.....
there are some people that are just in it for the money and others who just love fish......
I get all my stuff at walmarts cause the prices are good unless I can find it somewhere else thats cheaper

 

[wrs]

wow, thats bad keeping them in those size cups. at mine theyre in 1/2 gallon tub things, i tested them when i fillled up my one gallon and they filled it up.

 

[SnowyzMom]

That is SO gross reading about the horrible conditions some fish are kept in.
We are lucky here as the Walmart fish department manager is a fish hobbyist and she's always right on top of treating any fish for ick etc and she refuses to sell any fish for at least 48 hours so they can settle(they get trucked 2000 km from Toronto!) and destress. She says since she instituted that rule alot more fish have survived being bought and taken home by customers. No kidding....

The only thing that does stress me is that nobody there seems to have a clue how to keep fry(molly or guppy). They stick them in a teeny plastic fry tank in the larger tank and leave them such huge flakes of food they all starve and die. Well anyways they all die off. SO sad.....these are fry that get born enroute to the store in the semi. Sigh....I just don't think fish are little robots, they deserve a half decent chance at life just like we do, and decent treatment!

SnowyZMom

 

[GuppyDude]

lol id love to have that job!

 

[tossitup]

Some of the fish at wal mart are in bad condition i must say. but i guess in some of the the tanks the bad environment makes the fish stronger, because all of the fish i have bought from wal-mart will not die. they are the oldest ones i have and they are real pretty. So i am a little disturbed at the condition of the tanks, but i cant buy them all. I am satisfied with the fish i have and that all i can do about it.