Exiled
Fish Herder
Dear Mr. Devine, I walked into the Petco located at West Farms Mall in Farmington, Connecticut on March 2, 2006 and found the usual aquatic catastrophe that in over two years of visiting the same Petco has never improved. I have never bought fish from this Petco store and never will. The reason is that the workers there do not care for these animals properly resulting in suffering fish; fish that are extremely prone to disease. I do not intend on supporting this practice. Today (as well as every time I go to this Petco to look at the aquarium conditions) there were dead fish in nearly every display tank, the African cichlids had sunken-in concave bellies indicating that they were in a state of starvation. Bags of shipped fish were dyeing in the worst way--suffocation. There were grossly incompatible species housed with one another. For example, figure eight puffer fish with tetras and African cichlids with South American riverine species. What's the big deal?, you might ask. When highly aggressive fish are kept in the same tank with less aggressive fish, the less aggressive fish are terrorized, leaving them stressed, and prone to sickness. This is an unnecessary cruelty to impose upon these animals They also have different needs regarding water parameters and eat different types of food. Housing incompatible species together results in the compromised health and comfort of both.
There seemed to have been a shipment of fish that came in today as bags were floating in the tanks. Generally this is good practice to allow the temperature of the water in the bags to approximate the temperature in the tanks, however this good practice is trumped when the conditions in the bag are so awful that they themselves are lethal to the fish. The fish were trapped in the bags in numbers that were appalling, gasping for breath at the surface (when all the oxygen has been depleted from the water) where a good percentage of them were dead and decomposing in the bags, making the levels of ammonia and nitrites in the bag thoroughly toxic. The water was brown and filled with debris. At this point, any knowledgeable aquarist would know that it is absolutely critical to get them out of those bags immediately. The bags were left unattended while hundreds upon hundreds of suffering fish languished in miserable conditions waiting for the worker (who was nowhere to be seen) to let them out. I was shocked by what I saw today.
It was tragic to see marine species in these awful conditions as well. There was a lion fish whose spines were all broken because the bag it was in was too small for it. The fish was stuck in an upside down position and was struggling frantically to turn over and in the process breaking its fins and spines. When I finally found a worker and told him about the lion fish, I got an attitude from him as if my request to turn the bag over was a bother for him and that it was generally none of my business. Well technically that's right. Petco will get none of my business.
I urge you to hire knowledgeable responsible employees for your aquatics department or cease selling live fish altogether. A copy of this letter is also being sent to appropriate animal cruelty prevention groups and to Petco executives and customer service contacts.
Sincerely, and with hopes for change,
There seemed to have been a shipment of fish that came in today as bags were floating in the tanks. Generally this is good practice to allow the temperature of the water in the bags to approximate the temperature in the tanks, however this good practice is trumped when the conditions in the bag are so awful that they themselves are lethal to the fish. The fish were trapped in the bags in numbers that were appalling, gasping for breath at the surface (when all the oxygen has been depleted from the water) where a good percentage of them were dead and decomposing in the bags, making the levels of ammonia and nitrites in the bag thoroughly toxic. The water was brown and filled with debris. At this point, any knowledgeable aquarist would know that it is absolutely critical to get them out of those bags immediately. The bags were left unattended while hundreds upon hundreds of suffering fish languished in miserable conditions waiting for the worker (who was nowhere to be seen) to let them out. I was shocked by what I saw today.
It was tragic to see marine species in these awful conditions as well. There was a lion fish whose spines were all broken because the bag it was in was too small for it. The fish was stuck in an upside down position and was struggling frantically to turn over and in the process breaking its fins and spines. When I finally found a worker and told him about the lion fish, I got an attitude from him as if my request to turn the bag over was a bother for him and that it was generally none of my business. Well technically that's right. Petco will get none of my business.
I urge you to hire knowledgeable responsible employees for your aquatics department or cease selling live fish altogether. A copy of this letter is also being sent to appropriate animal cruelty prevention groups and to Petco executives and customer service contacts.
Sincerely, and with hopes for change,
/www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/443442871
...
How long did it take you to write that? I can't believe how bad it is, I've never seen fish bagged up like you said they were except one time when I went to a pets supermarket (similar to petco) and they had around at least 30 CAE in one bag and they were all moving around fast and bumping into each other. 
Big aplause Exile. The Petco here in my area is the same way. Poor lighting, associates who don't care if you can find them at all, dozens of dead fish in tanks covered in algae. Just up the road is the Petsmart store where I do most of my business. It's usually always clean and well taken care of and has aquatic personnel who know what hey are doing. 
A medal for your actions.
