Can You Make A Complaitn About A Lfs?

[Assaye]

Kiriyama, that sounds horrific!

BethK - it doesn't matter what species of betta they are or whether angels and bettas are compatible in a proper tank set up with enough space or if they need to compromise in order to make profits. If the fish are stressed, sickly or suffering that should be rectified, irrespective of whethe they are supposedly compatible. Fishkeeping is a luxury and no-one is forced to run an aquatics shop. If people can't run businesses that involve animals in a humane, ethical fashion, they should not be running that business. End of. I would certainly complain. My local MHA is just as bad - loads of fish shoved in tiny tanks with a shocking number of fish clearly sick, bullied or otherwise suffering. Much of the advice was awful as well. A friend of mine got told she could add a 6 inch CAE to her 3 foot tank that already had another CAE in. He wasn't at all bothered that size tank she had or whether it was cycled or not. One of those "yeah, yeah, it'll be fine" types.

I've worked in an lfs and I know exactly how much a supposedly "good" store can compromise on training and fish welfare for speedy sales. It's not OK. I'm not saying all lfs are bad - of course not! But I think when an lfs does forget abut the fish and their (sometimes very specific) needs and starts treating their tanks as vending machines, then they have shouldn't be in the business.

 

[char la]

Kiriyama, that sounds horrific!

BethK - it doesn't matter what species of betta they are or whether angels and bettas are compatible in a proper tank set up with enough space or if they need to compromise in order to make profits. If the fish are stressed, sickly or suffering that should be rectified, irrespective of whethe they are supposedly compatible. Fishkeeping is a luxury and no-one is forced to run an aquatics shop. If people can't run businesses that involve animals in a humane, ethical fashion, they should not be running that business. End of. I would certainly complain. My local MHA is just as bad - loads of fish shoved in tiny tanks with a shocking number of fish clearly sick, bullied or otherwise suffering. Much of the advice was awful as well. A friend of mine got told she could add a 6 inch CAE to her 3 foot tank that already had another CAE in. He wasn't at all bothered that size tank she had or whether it was cycled or not. One of those "yeah, yeah, it'll be fine" types.

I've worked in an lfs and I know exactly how much a supposedly "good" store can compromise on training and fish welfare for speedy sales. It's not OK. I'm not saying all lfs are bad - of course not! But I think when an lfs does forget abut the fish and their (sometimes very specific) needs and starts treating their tanks as vending machines, then they have shouldn't be in the business.

Agreed and well said Assaye.
If anyone has any problem with a Maidenhead Aquatics store they should either speak to that stores manager or contact the head office. They will come down on them like a ton of bricks. A bad sales assistant is letting down the reputation of the company and they wont stand for it. Go to www.fishkeeper.co.uk

 

[angel-al]

maidenhead aquatics are the only fish shop i know that actually label the fish on the tank with size, compatibility and care details on each fish. compare this to the pet shop down the road selling oscars, dyed glass fish, malawis and koi. no advice, no information, inadequate filtration and no guarantee on fish. i dont think you are being fair to be honest. maidenhead have top of the range bubble bead filters, uvs that are changed every 6 months, tanks that are water changed on a daily basis, tested weekly and fish that are quarantined for 4 days and guaranteed for a week. oh and the fighters that come in are actually ordered as females and are seperated as soon as they are identied as males-they look very similar when they first come in.

 

[Assaye]

maidenhead aquatics are the only fish shop i know that actually label the fish on the tank with size, compatibility and care details on each fish. compare this to the pet shop down the road selling oscars, dyed glass fish, malawis and koi. no advice, no information, inadequate filtration and no guarantee on fish. i dont think you are being fair to be honest. maidenhead have top of the range bubble bead filters, uvs that are changed every 6 months, tanks that are water changed on a daily basis, tested weekly and fish that are quarantined for 4 days and guaranteed for a week. oh and the fighters that come in are actually ordered as females and are seperated as soon as they are identied as males-they look very similar when they first come in.

She's not been too hard on them at all. She pointed out that these fish were in an exceptionally stressful situation having been packed into a small tank, clearly the worse for wear and were bullying their tank mates. It doesn't matter if the sales assistant knew or not - he should have gone to look, agreed there was a problem and offered the promise of a solution. If no solution was avliable and they fish had to endure such conditions he should be been polite and apologised to Beth and that store needs to have a huge re-think of how it does things.

 

[juggernuts]

I Like Lamp

 

[BethK]

maidenhead aquatics are the only fish shop i know that actually label the fish on the tank with size, compatibility and care details on each fish. compare this to the pet shop down the road selling oscars, dyed glass fish, malawis and koi. no advice, no information, inadequate filtration and no guarantee on fish. i dont think you are being fair to be honest. maidenhead have top of the range bubble bead filters, uvs that are changed every 6 months, tanks that are water changed on a daily basis, tested weekly and fish that are quarantined for 4 days and guaranteed for a week. oh and the fighters that come in are actually ordered as females and are seperated as soon as they are identied as males-they look very similar when they first come in.

She's not been too hard on them at all. She pointed out that these fish were in an exceptionally stressful situation having been packed into a small tank, clearly the worse for wear and were bullying their tank mates. It doesn't matter if the sales assistant knew or not - he should have gone to look, agreed there was a problem and offered the promise of a solution. If no solution was avliable and they fish had to endure such conditions he should be been polite and apologised to Beth and that store needs to have a huge re-think of how it does things.

Thanks xx

I wrote them an email over the weekend and got a reply back today. What set me off, was a friend visited them yesterday and said that there were 2 dead bettas in there and only 2 angels, one was again, on it's side. She pointed it out to the stuff, took a guy over there and showed him. She then said she stayed another hour (buying a new tank and ordering stock). Revisited that tank before leaving and nothing had been done.

They said that their manager had rectified the problem this morning and thank you for informing us

No the point really............but hey ho

I'm not having a go at Maidenhead, as I usually find them rather helpful but the situation of those poor fish, was terrible and could defo have been avoided!

 

[char la]

There is a point Beth. Because of your email their head office didnt just phone them up and tell them to sort out that tank, they will get on to the partner of that store and tell them that its getting complaints and to sort it out. If nobody speaks up about these things then they dont get fixed.

 

[The Haunt]

That sounds horrible! :[ I've seen bettas at the pet stores in my town, usually I visit them cause I go with my sister who has fish tanks. Anyway, I've learned from her complaining that usually if it's a chain store they won't do much abut it. :[

But some fish stores do take good care of their fish. Does that one usually take good care of their fish? It might have been a simple error on their part.

 

[BethK]

Their tanks are clean and their fish are usually well kept but I don't think they know much about betta compatibility. I've seen a male betta in a tank with 30 odd mollies/guppies/plats and the bettas are going at them. I did tell the staff that, in a very polite way and even though there were 2 staff members standing around doing nothing, they didn't remove it. That same betta was in that tank a couple of hours later with a dead guppy floating. They only removed it when I was on my second visit of that day.

Not the first or second time there have been betta issues, i just think their staff need betta training lol

There have been times when a couple of 'floaters' have been found but I suppose when you're cramming 20 odd fish into a 20 - 30 ltr, there are gonna be losses.

 

[The Haunt]

Yeah, lol. xD I know a fair bit about Bettas and I know that they're really territorial! ; And they dont like other fish. Well, my sister had female Bettas and they attacked each other.... She has a male Betta in a tank with guppies, actually, and he gets along fine. But he's a bit withdrawn. So.
I used to research Bettas a lot. I would help my sister with her Betta research! That was when she was just deciding to get one. A few months ago or something.... edit: Well that was actually a year ago. She knows a lot now.

 

[char la]

They could train them all they want about Bettas, but from my experience of the amount of Bettas that pass through our store, no two Bettas are alike! They are completly unpredictable. We've had male Bettas in with male guppies, small neons, dwarf gouramis, angels, all without any issues.
We even had a male that insisted on jumping into the tank next door to be with another male but never touch each other.
But then on the other side of the coin we've had customers return male Bettas because they've attacked male guppies or other fish, or eaten or killed small fish. I will state now that when we sell our male Bettas, customers are always informed about their reputation with male guppies.

Granted they should have moved the male Betta if it was attacking the other fish, but at least it was in a filtered tank and not a pint glass like you see in many other stores.

"There have been times when a couple of 'floaters' have been found but I suppose when you're cramming 20 odd fish into a 20 - 30 ltr, there are gonna be losses."

They dont have 20 odd fish in a 20 - 30 litre tank. Each tank does hold approx. 40 litres, but they're part of a 4500 litre system (sometimes more!) with a filter 3 foot high by 2 foot wide. And the losses are down to the length of travel and stress the fish go through comming from abroad almost every week. You just seeing a couple shows that they are looking after the fish because if they weren't you'd see a hell of a lot more!

 

[MewMew42]

"There have been times when a couple of 'floaters' have been found but I suppose when you're cramming 20 odd fish into a 20 - 30 ltr, there are gonna be losses."

They dont have 20 odd fish in a 20 - 30 litre tank. Each tank does hold approx. 40 litres, but they're part of a 4500 litre system (sometimes more!) with a filter 3 foot high by 2 foot wide. And the losses are down to the length of travel and stress the fish go through comming from abroad almost every week. You just seeing a couple shows that they are looking after the fish because if they weren't you'd see a hell of a lot more!

lol its true, our filter system is ridiculously big, along with 6 55w uvs, the water is constanty being turned over in a 3215L system, this does make water changes very easy though just a couple of turns of a handle hehe

 

[char la]

lol its true, our filter system is ridiculously big, along with 6 55w uvs, the water is constanty being turned over in a 3215L system, this does make water changes very easy though just a couple of turns of a handle hehe

Ah yes, i love the ease of backwashes! lol! i need the same system at home!