Never Again!

[Gruntle]

So I went to a big yellow chain-store pet shop in my local area looking for a few more Cherry Barbs to restock my tank after some hot weather and unfortunate losses.
 
I walk in, go straight to the wall of tanks and was finally greeted by the teenager in charge of fish. "Do you have any Cherry Barbs?"
 
"I don't know, I'll have to ask." Finally I get the answer that yes, indeed they do have Cherry Barbs.  They were in a tank which had a black substrate, black background and low light so I didn't see that they were red (I had a good 15 minutes to look at all the tanks before she noticed she had a customer).  They had several females, so I bought the 4 healthiest. They had zero males.
 
A week later I saw the same chain-store pet shop in a different location. So I wandered in, spent 15 minutes by myself and was eventually approached by the teenager in charge of fish. "Do you have any Cherry Barbs?" (knowing they didn't, their lighting was better and I could identify all of the fish they did have, i.e. the Bettas in little plastic cups and a few varieties of goldfish).
 
"I don't know, what do they look like?"
 
So that chain of stores is now firmly on the "don't even bother" list of potential sources of livestock. Which is a shame, the local store used to have a number of extremely knowledgeable and friendly staff ("You really don't want to buy those fish, they won't suit the conditions").

 

[NickAu]

I am not allowed into our local " big yellow chain-store pet shop " , I have upset management once too often, Because when I hear things like " sure sir you can have 3 Black ghost knives in a un cycled 20 gallon, they dont grow too big " , It makes my blood boil.
I even heard them say that its OK to put a baby Clown loach in a 5 gallon cube, " Because fish only grow so much in a small tank "
 
Big yellow chain-store pet shop is technically correct, those fish wont live long enough for it to be an issue, I always used to call them out on things like that, Then one day the manager came up to me and suggested that maybe I would like to shop someplace else.
 
People who love their pets do not shop at Big yellow chain-store pet shop.

 

[Baccus]

I'm lucky my local "big yellow chain store" is not actually an easy shop to get to, plus I tend to always be in the furthest lane from it as I zoom past towards one of the two privately owned pet shops that I generally prefer to frequent.
 
The "Big Blue Chain store" is even harder to get to for me because its so much further away than my preferred shops, the only real use I ever have of the chain store pet shops is when I need a certain product that my preferred shops either are sold out of or don't stock, and I cant wait for the item/ product to arrive from online. I have not purchased any live things from either of the chain store shops but simply because the stock they have is a few sad Siamese Fighters, maybe a couple of hermit crabs, standard goldfish, neon tetras and a couple of corydoras and of course the standard fodder of guppies, platties, swordtails and if your lucky mollies but nothing remotely challenging to keep.

 

[cooledwhip]

I went into my local big chain store to purchase some fish for my 20 gallon I had set up. Keep in mind I knew nothing about cycling, so I decided to buy a pleco to clean the little bit of algae to make it clear for the actual fish. (I know that was dumb)
 
I went in, I asked for an algae eater and they recommended me a standard giant pleco without asking if my tank was cycled or what size it was. 

 

[Gruntle]

The only reason I go to Big Yellow Chain Store now is for food. My Endlers love the Hikari Tropical Micro Pellets (and so do I, because I can easily crush them into powder for the fry). My favourite (not really that local, it's a 20 minute drive) fish shop has far better livestock, but they have a limited range of foods, mainly flake and pellets.
 
Horses for courses I guess, a quick 10 minute walk for food, and a "plan what you really need to buy" drive on the weekends for fish.

 

[cooledwhip]

The only reason I go to Big Yellow Chain Store now is for food. My Endlers love the Hikari Tropical Micro Pellets (and so do I, because I can easily crush them into powder for the fry). My favourite (not really that local, it's a 20 minute drive) fish shop has far better livestock, but they have a limited range of foods, mainly flake and pellets.
 
Horses for courses I guess, a quick 10 minute walk for food, and a "plan what you really need to buy" drive on the weekends for fish.

I agree with you but I would suggest buying a massive bulk order online.  You can pay about half the price for every single package if you buy in bulk online.

 

[Far_King]

 i.e. the Bettas in little plastic cups
 
 
So that chain of stores is now firmly on the "don't even bother" list of potential sources of livestock. Which is a shame, the local store used to have a number of extremely knowledgeable and friendly staff ("You really don't want to buy those fish, they won't suit the conditions").

 
That would be enough for them to be on my no visit list.  A totally unacceptable way to keep a fish.

 

[Gruntle]

So I get a text message from Big Yellow Chain Store, "we missed you, here's a 30% off anything in the store voucher."
 
Time to cash in and pick up a spare light tube for my AR620T, which run to about $25. So I mosey in, but there's now only a few different light tubes, a single brand of fish food, and only API products (rather than the more extensive range they used to have, including Prime). 
 
Bye, bye, Big Yellow Chain Store, and the owner of same, who appears on a reality TV show offering startup funds to budding entrepreneurs. Apparently the way to get ahead in business is to tell people what they want instead of asking what they need.

 

[Baccus]

The 30% off bribe is one I would have happily ignored, especially after you went there and discovered the range of stock was so greatly reduced.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thats a pretty poor bribe and bad business management of a fish store that pretty much just about profits, not about the customer needs or the fish welfare.
 
A shame really but thats the reality of a lot of chain store LFS.