Don't go to Pets at home/Petsmart!!

[zull]

my pet smart, i won't buy the fish only equipment, got a bad case of ich from there, all the fish survied,

the place where i do buy my fish, deal only in fish, bought our 110g there and all our fish. they care. i really wanted oned of their female guppies and they would not sell it to me for the tank had been sick, they were treating it.

 

[KimmyFishy89]

sounds like the petsmart in America have got their stuff sorted out more, they could probably teach the british ones a thing or two...

WOOAAAH! Hold on there! I REFUSE to buy from my petsmart. The people they hire are teens, who know nothing about fish. I saw two walls of fish hovering at the top, dying and the worse... Dear god... The worse, was an ID shark with his entire lower body gone! I don't know if it was bitten off or not, but it wasn't there! He was swimming, and half of his spine was showing! An entire tank of tiger barbs, bleach white (Not albino, just bleach white.), hovering at the top gasping. I don't even buy supplies there, because petland discounts sells everything for MUCH less, answer any questions I have and won't sell me fish if they are sick/have been sick.

 

[Inchworm]

petland discounts sells everything for MUCH less, answer any questions I have and won't sell me fish if they are sick/have been sick.

What a horror story, KimmyFishy89!

But, I've seen problems at Petland Discount stores. too. It depends on the management of the individual stores, it seems. And too, they always seem to have painted fish in stock which is a nasty practice.

They do, however, have the best prices I've found on tank/stand combos. And, they also do very well with some of their starter packages such as a 10 gallon set-up that includes a hood, pump, etc. for just $28.

But for fish and most everything else, you are always better off supporting the independant shopkeeper even if you have to go out of your way to do so.

 

[guppymonkey]

I almost always go to my petsmart. The locally owned pet stores in my area are very overpriced and don't show any more effort in taking care of their fish. I went to a lfs instead of petsmart because I had heard that a lot of the smaller shops take better care of their fish. I found entire tanks of dead fish and when I told the employees they said that they would clean it when the new shipment came in the next week! They had dead fish and they were overpriced. I am not paying 6 bucks for a pair of guppies! No pet stores in my area are very good. None of them care about their fish departments and they usually ignore customers when they are looking at the fish.

 

[lizard]

I was at a PetCo today to look for some plants. Of course, I had to look at the fish The aquariums were clean and didn't look overstock at all. In fact, a number of them were empty (I'm assuming they were sold out of those varieties). In two tanks (out of over two dozen) I saw fish with ich. I asked a worker for assistance and pointed out the ich to her, telling her that I just wanted to make sure she/they (the store) knew about it. She agreed they had ich, but didn't seem very happy with him for saying anything. Oh well. They also had two of those blood parrots, or whatever those orangey-red hybrids are called. Not very cute... The label on the tank was marked hybrid.

I won't buy fish there. There's a tropical fish store that was recommended to me by a vet, and I'm happy with the fish I got there and the service I got there.

My experience...FWIW.

Yeah, I like to write

Pamela
aka (Writing) Lizard
aka GoatGirl

 

[KimmyFishy89]

...And too, they always seem to have painted fish in stock which is a nasty practice...

Yes I agree I have often told them that painted fish is really cruel, and that it causes cancer to the fish. But "Puppies to Guppies" (Indepentantly owned pet store) also sells painted fish. Its actually really terrible that I can't find a good petstore without having painted fish. Painted fish don't even look that good, they look un natural.

Interesting the only fish store that doesn't sell painted fish is petco/petsmart. But the fish are in bad health

 

[zantetsuken]

My Petco is great other than the fact that they nickname oddball fish stupid names and don't provide and information about them. My Dragon Goby is a perfect example of that. But all and all the guy they got in the fish section is doing a great job and is going as far as to tell me which type of fish is sick right now and not to get it until they are better. The stupid supplier lady was there and I was asking about catfish and she was like "oh, get a couple of them" and he took me around the corner and said that they were sick and she's saying to get some because she's the supplier and she has to. I thought that was pretty cool of him. As for Petsmart, many times I have seen neglected fish or upside down floating usetobe fish, I may be getting a job soon in the fish section and hopefully make a little change. But for one thing the tanks are not even esthetically pleasing to the eyes cuz all they have is usually like one carved marble cave or something in there and very dull substrate or gravel on the bottom. I mean no wonder the fish are so dull. I guess that'd be cool if the fish turnaround was every day or 2 days but we all know that's not the case. Hopefully I can at least make one Petsmart better.

 

[ticman]

Hi all,

New to the forum but enjoying the information.

I have a PETCO and brand new Petsmart 6 miles away. Both are immaculate and well cared for. Both have knowlegeable staff in their fish depts. Petsmart seems to carry larger fish than PETCO. I have not purchased any fish as my 54 gal bowed corner tank from ALL Glass is fully stocked and doing quite well.

Mike

 

[Inchworm]

New to the forum but enjoying the information.

Hi ticman and welcome to the forum.

Why not start a thread in the newbie section and let everyone know you're here?

 

[Jo]

but writing a letter is a good idea im going to do that thanks

I haven't quite got round to doing this yet, but I was in there the other day buying some medicine for my tank (because my lfs was closed, before I look like a hypocrite!) and I was once again looking at the fish, when some people came up and were chatting about buying one of the illest looking mollies I have ever seen, needless to say I couldn't hold my tongue anymore and mentioned to them that I thought that it (and a couple of it's tank mates) looked ill and perhaps they should try going to my lfs, which had some chocolate, black, white and baloon mollies, all of which were looking healthier.

They said thanks, and didn't actually buy anything this time, so I hope to bump into them in my lfs next time I go...!

(I then left the shop fairly quickly as the attendant was looking at me as if I was a trouble maker and might be about to set the rabid bunnies on me...!!) but thats just the wimp in me talking!!

 

[KimmyFishy89]

I wen't to this AMAZING fish store yesterday. It was simply called "Pets" and boy did they have some amazing fish! They had these fish that look like underwater grass hoppers. I think they where called Asian Butterfly Fish or something like that. All the fish looked like they can pull 200 pounds by their fins (Meaning they looked really healthy ) They were a tad more expensive, but for 3 dollars more you get 5 years out of a fish. They where selling freshwater stingrays, huge catfish, a real shark, it was amazing I am going there to buy fish from now one

 

[Jo]

WOW! sounds fantastic..I'd never be outa the place!!

 

[KimmyFishy89]

They had some nice marine fish too, made me consider saltwater

I am going today to get some live plants for my new tank. I am gonna be there for like 2 hours

 

[Jo]

WOW...I still love marine fish, but getting a salt water setup is more of a long term plan, although I was pleased (well you know what i mean) to find that my lfs had a flood when I went (no one was harmed!) so no one could serve me for a good half an hour, which gave me time to stare at the gorgeous clown fish that was waving too me in an excited manner, and the really attrective shark catfish and completely bore my housemate to death with staring at the fish for so long!

 

[andyt_uk]

having read this thread i visited my local pets at home just to see whats going on - i am happy to say i was very impressed with what i saw -- and not just because the young girl looking after the fish was v nice looking

but she was very knowledgeable, i had my two year old who proudly announced they had tiger barbs in a tank (she's so clever) and the assistant noticed and started chatting (young children are such a babe magnet)

they had a couple of hospital tanks on show, and she told me how they were treating ick in one of them, and talked about the fish she has at home and how she wants a bigger tank.

only slight downer was when some guy came along asking after the fighter they had in a tank of guppies - and she asked him alsorts like did he have one, what fish has he got how big is the tank etc..
he gave all the right answers so she sold him the fish, she later told me she wasnt convinced he was the right owner for a fish like that, but as he had given the 'right' answers didnt feel she could refuse to sell it.

i did think he sounded suspicous too, cant say what, just wouldnt surprise me if he wanted to fight it, or purposefully try feed it live fish just for fun - but i could understand why she didnt feel she could refuse.

but i guess this just goes to show each shop is different, and it probably isnt the chain itself that has the problems - just the local management