GGGGRRRRRRRR LFS made me so angry

[FighterFishy]

Well i was running low on food this weekend so on sunday i took a trip to my lfs to get some and also a new betta. Looking around the other tanks as they were very busy i noticed that nearly every tank had at least 1 dead fish and they were covered in like a cotton fungus (only the dead) After waiting nearly half an hour and still not even been acknowledged i decided that i would go to he other shop down the road.

I found a lovely betta (vt) and told the guy behind the counter who went to find a net while i waited by the tank the betta was covered all down the left side in this cotton type fungus.

I told the guy what i had seen and he laughed and said oh well never mind we have more coming on tuesday i will "see" to this one.

I offered to take him anyway but they said they had a policy of not selling ill fish.

I looked around to see if they had any more but i noticed quiet a few fish had this.

Coincidence or just poor care on both these shops fault ?


Sorry just needed to rant.

 

[SuckerLove86]

it sounds like a whole lot of neglect going on in your lfs. i've seen this kind of neglect in stores here and it drives me mad. normally, a lfs here will have one person that's actually a professional, and the rest are kids in need of a job. now, i don't mind that as long as they know what they're doing.

but it's this kind of neglect that makes me doubt people.

these are lives they're dealing with.

 

[Candyco]

My god that's disgusting..... There's so many shops about that have ignorant staff that don't have a clue about how to look after animals. It's a very rare occasion that you will find a shop that all the animals are kept in good health.

You say at least 1 dead fish in each tank? They shouldn't be selling from any of those tanks at all. And 'see to that fish' sounds very ominous too, it's not a ripped cereal box on a shelf shat can go in the bargain bin!

Oooooooh shops like that make my blood boil too!

One of my lfs's had a dead Silver Shark in his tank.... not sure how long it had been there but it didn't have any eyes left and the others were looking terrible too. Called the man over who disposed of the deceased and quarantined the tank... swithing the lights off too.

Pity the RSPCA don't care too much about fish from my experiance.

 

[yossie_ika]

hmmm...I've been seeing that lately in my lfs too....dead fish....then when I tell the owner/attendee....they just ignore me...

 

[FighterFishy]

I know !

I mean i dont know everything about fish but common sense tells you that if it has something growing on its head then there is something wrong.

They were so busy trying to sell what fish they had living they couldn't care less about the fish that had died.


Looks like it's back to bettaman for my bettas at least i know they are well and cared for.

ffxx

 

[Candyco]

2 true.... come 2 the conclusion now that the lfs ur used 2 is always the best! Kept trying new 1's but always end up back where we started!

 

[SuckerLove86]

candyco is right. if a lfs proves itself worthy consistently, then stick with it and trial others with mild caution.

believe it or not, the fish lady at my local walmart has proven more useful than any of the pros in town. from what i hear though, this makes me lucky.

 

[619 Fish GOD]

I have to agree with suckerlove
There 1 good guy at my lfs and the rest are just kids

 

[619 Fish GOD]

I have to agree with suckerlove
Theres 1 good guy at my lfs and the rest are just kids that need a job and have fishy IQ of room tempeture

 

[FighterFishy]

LOL ! room temp is being a bit generous. I'm sure there are some very knowledgable people out there and if you are can you come work in my lfs please

Its just a shame betta man is miles away from me and i have to do it all via email and photos but his fish are so great it's worth the wait.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Luckily I haven't seen too much illness at Pets at Home. Occasionally there is a dead fish, and I saw a lovelly goldfish with half a tail due to fin rot but it's not too bad. At least they don't do dyed fish. And I saw some babys in the male Molly tank... LOL, I think they must have a imposter

 

[Inchworm]

The saddest part of the tropical fish industry, IMHO, is the sad conditions that the fish must endure during shipping.

They are crowded into small containers and often left this way for considerable periods of time. During shipping, they might be kept in unheated trucks, or vehicles left out in the sun to overheat. The water becomes badly polluted from their wastes and bacteria multiplies.

By the time they reach the lfs they might have already contracted bacterial infections or ich. Or, they might already be dead or dying. I think it is the mark of a skillful lfs that they can save as many of them as they do.

Bettas, because they must be kept in individual containers, and they must be small because water is heavy, very frequently arrive in advanced stages of finrot. Chain stores, which often hire people with no knowledge of fish, are usually the worst when it comes to caring for fish that are in compromised health.

This is why I usually advocate buying fish from independent lfs rather than chain stores. Their employees are more likely to be dedicated fish keepers who know what to do to get these poor little fish back in shape. Simple economics also indicates that they will do more to save the fish and thus protect their investments.

If you take the time and effort to locate a good, privately owned lfs, and get to know the owner and the employees there, you will not be disappointed. It's worth the trouble to travel further too.

 

[DeadlyAlliance]

I have been lucky in that department. I have seen many petshops that dont care about the fish in the tanks. But i found one that does care they are very helpful. I have only seen one dead fish in one tank in all of the 30 or 40 tanks they have and its always like this. everytime i go i have never seen a bunch of dead fish. Not all stores are like this.

 

[DarkSide]

Gah, my LPS is perfect, I have never seen a dead fish yet, other than the feeder minnows. They have a policy to check the tanks every 30 minutes to check for dead fish.

But know to my local Wal-mart, All their goldfish have dropsy pretty much alll of the time, and they check the tanks every 60 minutes, for dead fish, which there always is, and thats not supposed to be happening at a good pet store.

Oh their walmart tanks are pretty much this post box cube, give or take 1-2 inches.

 

[phil]

Hi All

I can only add (after visiting several lfs`s in my area) that the standard of staff in some of the lfs`s leaves a lot to be desired.

Luckily we do have a couple of lfs`s that I rate as very good - this is where I now buy my fish from - the only time I go to the others is when I want something like food or other bits (not plants).

Yesterday I went into one lps in town and went to see their tanks - on the whole a very good and varied display but in the angel tank was one poorly fish swimming on it`s side - I reported this to one of the assistants who stated "well we`ve added some treatment to cure it" - there was also another 20 odd angels in there too!

Phil