Lfs Standards Dropping Lately?

[Paradise3]

I admit blue ocean does have a few ill fish but they are treating them before selling them. They have a marine tank next to the counter for example and that clearly says on it under treatment. Anyway night peeps.

Xxx~misscosmo~xxX

 

[Gilli]

OMG they should be shut down!

I never cease to be amazed how much some shops get away with just because they are fish! If it were animals being treated badly and kept in poor conditions there would be an uproar! Fish Crazy above said a shop had 2 male bettas in a tank fighting - imagine the press if it were 2 pitbull dogs left in a pet shop cage tearing each other apart! I would have asked to see the owner of the shop and demmanded he do something about it!

Fish are living creatures that feel pain and stress - why do we write them off so easily, and why do shops get away with it?

 

[Always Learning]

Try managing 50-100 tanks and serving at the same time...

No excuse - there should be enough staff to cope especailly with the welfare of the fish. The trouble is most fish shops just look at it as a business and dont really bother too much about the welfare of the fish - they are cheap enough from the wholesalers. If shops did care they would give out more information on the care of fish and not just a quick sale!

One of the things I'd like to see is a simple fact sheet on each tank for every fish in stock. Max size, suggested aquarium size, aggression, temperature and things like that. It's dead easy to do and wouldn't cost much, seeing as you could even do it at home. A simple 'caring for' fact sheet too covering the basics would help thousands of people out, as a lot of people just decide they want fish, go buy a tank and sling some in...
Granted, some people genuinely don't care, but those that do would appreciate it and you just might bring someone else into the hobby, rather than them give up after a couple of months as their fish keep dying. I can't see any downsides to this and it's not like you're going to have to explain to customers all day, taking up your time for maintaining the store.

 

[kaivalagi]

Try managing 50-100 tanks and serving at the same time...

No excuse - there should be enough staff to cope especailly with the welfare of the fish. The trouble is most fish shops just look at it as a business and dont really bother too much about the welfare of the fish - they are cheap enough from the wholesalers. If shops did care they would give out more information on the care of fish and not just a quick sale!

+1

Quick sales is all they want, for the most part. I took a peek at wholesale prices one of my cheaper LFS were paying when they left the invoice print out on the counter. 3" almost adult Blue Acara selling for £6 a pop, bought in for £1.10 - what a mark up!

 

[Always Learning]

99p HERE

 

[MewMew42]

Try managing 50-100 tanks and serving at the same time...

No excuse - there should be enough staff to cope especailly with the welfare of the fish. The trouble is most fish shops just look at it as a business and dont really bother too much about the welfare of the fish - they are cheap enough from the wholesalers. If shops did care they would give out more information on the care of fish and not just a quick sale!

+1

Quick sales is all they want, for the most part. I took a peek at wholesale prices one of my cheaper LFS were paying when they left the invoice print out on the counter. 3" almost adult Blue Acara selling for £6 a pop, bought in for £1.10 - what a mark up!

that is the base price that the lfs pays, then on top of that is shipping and handling then VAT? 1.10 as a base price for a fish is pretty expensive!

The sheets are a good idea, but there are fa too many fish to do this for, besides i like talking to people its very impersonal otherwise

fish do come in to lfs in very bad shape, theyve just been shipped in from hundreds of miles away thus the need for oxygen is greater than the need for water!

all in all, just because your lfs is going a bit weird, dont write em off just yet

 

[MrNiceGuy]

i guess i have lower standards than the rest of you. i could literally go to any fish store around me (about 5 of them) at any given time and find a dead or dying fish.

lol and i dont understand where the sympathy line is drawn. i mean, to my knowledge even great fish stores sell feeder fish which are always kept in outrageously overstocked tanks... and even someone buys them the fish are generally eaten alive shortly after.

dont get me wrong, if i had my way thered be no abuse... but i dont understand why anyone would feel sympathy for some fish and not others.

 

[nessar]

Pets at Home are good alright theyre not very knowledgable, but they try bless em. They asked me whjat size tank I had, what other fish in it, how long it had been set up, did I have a filter etc.... and their dead fish are usually in tanks marked as "under treatment. currently not for sale" .

Although I did notice a beautiful lavender betta struggling to swim and get off the gravel, in a tank full of tetras, and I was told when I said something to the man that was the "fish man" apparently that "he's just resting he's lazy".

But overall good I think. Fish are usually healthy and prices for their 5 gallon tanks are great - only £20!! Although like most LFSs they dont advise properly about goldfish.

You know, my stepmum worked in advertising and she told me about a study. If you have a good experience you tell 1 person, but if you have a bad one you tell at least 3.

EDIT: and to the person above, they dont sell feeder fish I asked specifically as I wanted wild-type guppies

 

[Paradise3]

The P@H near me run on 1 filter and they don't have the tanks marked as under treatment even when fish are ill.

Xxx~misscosmo~xxX

 

[crazychris]

99p HERE

Wow, shows what a big mark-up some lfs are making!

 

[Gilli]

Try managing 50-100 tanks and serving at the same time...

No excuse - there should be enough staff to cope especailly with the welfare of the fish. The trouble is most fish shops just look at it as a business and dont really bother too much about the welfare of the fish - they are cheap enough from the wholesalers. If shops did care they would give out more information on the care of fish and not just a quick sale!

One of the things I'd like to see is a simple fact sheet on each tank for every fish in stock. Max size, suggested aquarium size, aggression, temperature and things like that. It's dead easy to do and wouldn't cost much, seeing as you could even do it at home. A simple 'caring for' fact sheet too covering the basics would help thousands of people out, as a lot of people just decide they want fish, go buy a tank and sling some in...
Granted, some people genuinely don't care, but those that do would appreciate it and you just might bring someone else into the hobby, rather than them give up after a couple of months as their fish keep dying. I can't see any downsides to this and it's not like you're going to have to explain to customers all day, taking up your time for maintaining the store.

Spot on! This is something ive posted ages ago along the same lines and it should be made law- we are talking about the welfare of living creatures here!! Although not everyone would read it , some would and if it even stopped a few fish from going through hell it would be well worth it! It doesn't have to cost the shop anything as they dont even have to hand a sheet out to everyone - just have a small card on each tank stating adult fish size, conditions needed, compatabilty and feeding requirements. How hard is that? It would also cut down on the work of the fish shop assistants from customers asking questions about the fish! They should also have to hand out a leaflet to people buying new tanks on how to cycle them.

 

[-Craig-]

Pets at home ask way way to many things, i just say yeah, yeah Lol, but pets at home have healthy fish but not the fish i want usally, normally i go to a lfs that it is called World of Aquatics they sell reptiles, tropical fish, gold fish, ect, they have some veru healthy fish there, i have never seen a fish dead or dying there in 4 years of going there, and all fish stores apart from World of Aquatics and pets at home have had poor fish since the last 5 monthes, alot more dying too.

 

[Honeythorn]

Even if leaflets on species sold cannot be printed ( someone somewhere would dream up the excuse it would be too expensive ) at the very least the information cards displayed on most tanks in fish stores should be made much bigger and clearly visible. In particular, maximum adult size and preferred tank size should be largely and clearly stated on all tanks for all fish.

As it is I have noticed that every store I have been in has these cards, and the size and species information on it is in tiny print that no one looks at due to it's size.


Or perhaps stores should place a large , absolutely unmissable sign at the entrance to the fish area/store, stating questions such as :



Does your tank have a filter/heater ? If not, our staff can advise , as these are an essential piece of equipment for a healthy tank

Have you researched the type of fish you would like to buy? Information on species is clearly displayed on all tanks and further details are available from staff

Have you checked your tank is large enough for the adult size of the fish you want to buy? Staff can advise on stocking choices for your tank

Information for newcomers to fishkeeping on cycling , basic tank care and new tank set ups available, please ask staff for details



That sort of thing. I think such sign would encourage custmers to think more about what should go in their size tank and ask questions , instead of just waltzing in, not reading the species info and going " I'll have some of those "

 

[silverrabbit]

Actually, one store I go to occasionally for a browse is Wildwoods... their stock was terrible when I was there a couple weeks back. I informed the girl that the palembang puffer had gill maggots and the female bettas had what looked like columnaris... she just looked irritated and walked away

Not impressed and disappointed as I wanted a Miurus puff and an EBJD from there, but no way after seeing that.

I think quality of stock coming in has gone down.. even my FAVE LFS of all time has had some issues and has been low on stock for a while. He said he's been having issues with suppliers and recieving a lot of either sick or dying fish. Even so, I think stores should be making more of an effort to look after the fish once they are in the shop and under their care.

I've found an amazing shop in central London where the stock AND staff are fab - they make sure you have a filtered, heated (if required) tank that is big enough for the species you are purchasing. The labels on the tanks also have very good info on size and requirements etc. The guy even made sure I had above 20l for a betta lol

 

[Nyu]

I think we're quite lucky over here actually (New Zealand). I have two main ones, one that's called Hollywood Fish Farms, and Animates which is a pet store. But both, everytime I've been in there, have had literally no dead fish (of course the odd one or two). The only thing I can complain about really, is the fact that they sell those little blue plastic tanks that have no filter, are tiny, and say that they can be used for tropical fish like platies? And they had about 3 tanks that seemed to be slightly overstocked but it was only the one breed of goldfish. They always seem to put the compatible fish together. They also had some krib's in today, so gorgeous <3 And they all seem relatively healthy. But the staff are always quite knowledgeable, and when I turn 16 I will be sending in my CV to the animates :3

So yeah, I feel really bad for you guys D: