Pets At Home Cycling Advise

[Phishy25]

Just popped to my local Pets at Home store to get some plants as they are on offer there and I can pick exactly what I want. Had a nosey at the fish and saw a sign "When purchasing new fish, set up aquarium, leave for 3 days before adding fish".

Good luck fish is all that I can say

I feel really sorry for the fish, they had a huge pair of angels in a tiny tank for £30 the pair. Want to rescue some, but I have never had much luck with their fish and stopped buying them years ago.

 

[Skins]

Just popped to my local Pets at Home store to get some plants as they are on offer there and I can pick exactly what I want. Had a nosey at the fish and saw a sign "When purchasing new fish, set up aquarium, leave for 3 days before adding fish".

Good luck fish is all that I can say

I feel really sorry for the fish, they had a huge pair of angels in a tiny tank for £30 the pair. Want to rescue some, but I have never had much luck with their fish and stopped buying them years ago.

What there saying is buy your tank and equipment preferly from us and then come back in three days and part with some more of your hard earned cash.
When those fish die you go back and buy more fish and so on. Becomes a "cycle" but the wrong one.

Keith.

 

[Aqua Tom]

I only use P@H for plants & food etc. I wouldnt buy fish. Last time I was there with my wife she was loking at the Angelfish & asked if we could have one. I pointed to the tank next to that one which had a dead clown loach in it & said "dont think so". I then spent a few mins studying the tanks & I would say at least 50% of them had dead fish in.
If they treat the fish in store this way, then they sure as hell aint worried about what happens when they sell them. hence the "3 day & its ok" rule they have.

Disgusting!!!!

 

[Phishy25]

I just dont understand why they don't educate people! There was even a couple buying loads of tropical fish whilst holding a tiny plastic sponge bob tank for their kids I can assume they weren't going to be added to a fully cycled aqaurium

 

[Skins]

I just dont understand why they don't educate people! There was even a couple buying loads of tropical fish whilst holding a tiny plastic sponge bob tank for their kids I can assume they weren't going to be added to a fully cycled aqaurium

I'm afraid its grab, grab, grab....

 

[SensesFail]

I just dont understand why they don't educate people! There was even a couple buying loads of tropical fish whilst holding a tiny plastic sponge bob tank for their kids I can assume they weren't going to be added to a fully cycled aqaurium

I'm afraid its grab, grab, grab....

People need to research the hobby before jumping in I must say and pets at home should be selling the tank and saying this is how you cycle it and refuse to sell them any fish that day (when I say that day you can't stop them coming back in speaking to someone else and buying a fish all you can do is advise) I know a friend of mine bought a little tank for a goldfish and pets at home where I live wouldnt sell her the tank and fish on the same day.

I don't understand why people don't research first. I bought my first ever fish tank 5 months ago but before that I spent hrs upon hrs researching what I need to do to the tank etc this is where I learnt the cycling theory and stage! And where I found you guys to help me! Takes nothing to research and its free! Before I did this i had the thoughts keeping fish can't be that hard but oh how I was wrong and iv really enjoyed the experience up to now! I'm pleased I researched and took my time because my tank is all lively and the fish are swimming!

 

[Liamm]

The policy is that only one fish can be sold after the tank has been set up for 3 days, and they will also replace fish free of charge that have died within a week of purcahse.

 

[Phishy25]

People need to research the hobby before jumping in I must say and pets at home should be selling the tank and saying this is how you cycle it and refuse to sell them any fish that day

To be fair, I didn't listen to their conversation...but they didn't look the sharpest tools in the box

I wasn't allowed tropicals as a kid because my parents admitted they didn't have a bloody clue how to keep them alive! We had to settle for goldfish that unfortunately lived their lives in a plastic bowl with no flitration. But they were regularly cleaned/water changes etc. The poor things would survive weekends in plastic bags at the fayre so they were hard anyway

God I sound old now, big 3-0 this year

The policy is that only one fish can be sold after the tank has been set up for 3 days, and they will also replace fish free of charge that have died within a week of purcahse

I think that is a pretty cruel policy Do they actually make any money on fish then if they have to constantly give them away

 

[SensesFail]

People need to research the hobby before jumping in I must say and pets at home should be selling the tank and saying this is how you cycle it and refuse to sell them any fish that day

To be fair, I didn't listen to their conversation...but they didn't look the sharpest tools in the box

I wasn't allowed tropicals as a kid because my parents admitted they didn't have a bloody clue how to keep them alive! We had to settle for goldfish that unfortunately lived their lives in a plastic bowl with no flitration. But they were regularly cleaned/water changes etc. The poor things would survive weekends in plastic bags at the fayre so they were hard anyway

God I sound old now, big 3-0 this year

The policy is that only one fish can be sold after the tank has been set up for 3 days, and they will also replace fish free of charge that have died within a week of purcahse

I think that is a pretty cruel policy Do they actually make any money on fish then if they have to constantly give them away

30s not old lol I'm 24 so not far away! Therenis so much to learn in the hobby my friend has a fish tank with no filter the shop told him he didn't need it if he just did water changes frequently. I hope he does I said buy a cheap filter has to be better than nothing but he's going with the water changes lol. He should buy a test kit but you can only advise lol

 

[Skins]

People need to research the hobby before jumping in I must say and pets at home should be selling the tank and saying this is how you cycle it and refuse to sell them any fish that day

To be fair, I didn't listen to their conversation...but they didn't look the sharpest tools in the box

I wasn't allowed tropicals as a kid because my parents admitted they didn't have a bloody clue how to keep them alive! We had to settle for goldfish that unfortunately lived their lives in a plastic bowl with no flitration. But they were regularly cleaned/water changes etc. The poor things would survive weekends in plastic bags at the fayre so they were hard anyway

God I sound old now, big 3-0 this year

The policy is that only one fish can be sold after the tank has been set up for 3 days, and they will also replace fish free of charge that have died within a week of purcahse

I think that is a pretty cruel policy Do they actually make any money on fish then if they have to constantly give them away

30s not old lol I'm 24 so not far away! Therenis so much to learn in the hobby my friend has a fish tank with no filter the shop told him he didn't need it if he just did water changes frequently. I hope he does I said buy a cheap filter has to be better than nothing but he's going with the water changes lol. He should buy a test kit but you can only advise lol

Theres no hope for me then, i'm 41 next month.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I wish I had known what I know now when I first thought of setting up my tanks. One assumes that the staff at your LFS has a clue what they're doing, but sadly they really don't. They're trained in running the till more than the care of the fish they're selling!

You may shoot me for saying this, but the best luck I've had buying fish was at Walmart. I can only assume that they get regular shipments and so their fish are fairly young, not having had time to cook in their tanks very long. And their tanks are automatically regulated and quite clean. I didn't see any dead fish there, whereas the LFS right next door had dead fish in several tanks. One would think if they want to stay in business they'd figure out what the heck they're doing!!! It makes me furious.

We're going to try another LFS (this one a mere hour away, one way) that has come highly recommended by friends. *crossing my fingers*

At any rate, it's easy to say "do your research before starting the hobby" but I think all us newbies thought that asking a gazillion questions at the LFS WAS doing our research!

 

[SensesFail]

I wish I had known what I know now when I first thought of setting up my tanks. One assumes that the staff at your LFS has a clue what they're doing, but sadly they really don't. They're trained in running the till more than the care of the fish they're selling!

You may shoot me for saying this, but the best luck I've had buying fish was at Walmart. I can only assume that they get regular shipments and so their fish are fairly young, not having had time to cook in their tanks very long. And their tanks are automatically regulated and quite clean. I didn't see any dead fish there, whereas the LFS right next door had dead fish in several tanks. One would think if they want to stay in business they'd figure out what the heck they're doing!!! It makes me furious.

We're going to try another LFS (this one a mere hour away, one way) that has come highly recommended by friends. *crossing my fingers*

At any rate, it's easy to say "do your research before starting the hobby" but I think all us newbies thought that asking a gazillion questions at the LFS WAS doing our research!

I travelled an hr one way for my fish I think it's worth it if the shops really good and has high reviews. What's 2 hrs when you have the fish hopefully for quite sometime trial and error I suppose since then iv found a nice little family run pet shop the staff are really friendly and helpful and the tanks look very well looked after. Seems a busy shop with many customers seem to be returning ones knowing the staff abit.

 

[Liamm]

People need to research the hobby before jumping in I must say and pets at home should be selling the tank and saying this is how you cycle it and refuse to sell them any fish that day

To be fair, I didn't listen to their conversation...but they didn't look the sharpest tools in the box

I wasn't allowed tropicals as a kid because my parents admitted they didn't have a bloody clue how to keep them alive! We had to settle for goldfish that unfortunately lived their lives in a plastic bowl with no flitration. But they were regularly cleaned/water changes etc. The poor things would survive weekends in plastic bags at the fayre so they were hard anyway

God I sound old now, big 3-0 this year

The policy is that only one fish can be sold after the tank has been set up for 3 days, and they will also replace fish free of charge that have died within a week of purcahse

I think that is a pretty cruel policy Do they actually make any money on fish then if they have to constantly give them away

Can you imagine the look on peoples faces if we told them they have to leave their tank running for 6 weeks + ? We would never sell anything and would lose all competition to other aquatic stores, I'm not trying to defend the policy, but it is some pretty rough ground which comes down to ethics I suppose. I try to give people as much information as possible to ensure that they fully understand what they are taking on.

This does remind me of a question I've been wanting to ask on here for a while though, I never see anybody mention bacterial supplements, other than media specifically taken from cycled filters, why is that?

 

[This Old Spouse]

People need to research the hobby before jumping in I must say and pets at home should be selling the tank and saying this is how you cycle it and refuse to sell them any fish that day

To be fair, I didn't listen to their conversation...but they didn't look the sharpest tools in the box

I wasn't allowed tropicals as a kid because my parents admitted they didn't have a bloody clue how to keep them alive! We had to settle for goldfish that unfortunately lived their lives in a plastic bowl with no flitration. But they were regularly cleaned/water changes etc. The poor things would survive weekends in plastic bags at the fayre so they were hard anyway

God I sound old now, big 3-0 this year

The policy is that only one fish can be sold after the tank has been set up for 3 days, and they will also replace fish free of charge that have died within a week of purcahse

I think that is a pretty cruel policy Do they actually make any money on fish then if they have to constantly give them away

Can you imagine the look on peoples faces if we told them they have to leave their tank running for 6 weeks + ? We would never sell anything and would lose all competition to other aquatic stores, I'm not trying to defend the policy, but it is some pretty rough ground which comes down to ethics I suppose. I try to give people as much information as possible to ensure that they fully understand what they are taking on.

This does remind me of a question I've been wanting to ask on here for a while though, I never see anybody mention bacterial supplements, other than media specifically taken from cycled filters, why is that?

I'm told that by the time the bacteria reaches the consumer, it's most likely dead and therefore useless.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Because on here they're widely regarded to be rubbish!


When you advise people do you tell them they're taking on a fish in cycle and will need to do daily water changes? Maybe that would be a compromise for places that need to make money but care about the fish too.