Pets At Home

[andywg]

I've never been a huge P&H fan, but it is my nearest fish shop and so handy for essentials like food. I always take a peek at the fish, can't help myself. my local store (Ashton under Lyne) seems to have improved lately and the tanks seem better maintained. However, last visit I did see a dead betta in a tank, ripped to shreds... he had been with neon tetras I had already decided to buy a beautiful guppy I had seen, so as the sales lad was bagging him up, I did ask casually whose daft idea it had been to put a betta in with tetras? He said that they always kept them with tetras, so I told him that tetras are nippy and can kill a betta. He seemed genuinely surpirsed and said he would let his boss know that they weren't compatible, and asked me what fish they should keep them with... so I told him, keep them alone, or with corys/otos. He really seemed to take this advice to heart and I will see next time I visit if this advice has been heeded! In my opinion, if they are willing to learn from their mistakes, then that is good.

I am not having a go personally tibby 25731, but part of this story is the problem. Many people, myself included, have never had any issue with keeping bettas in with neons and other fish in community tanks. How can you be sure the neons caused the death rather than fed on a dead body? Is it really a mistake to do what many people have done without any problem?

There is no absolute right or wrong in fishkeeping, especially with stocking. Applying rigid rules such as bettas alone or with corys/otos is one of the reasons why so many on this forum have problems with lfs staff.

 

[nicnak]

I'm new to fishkeeping but have 2 fully cycled takes now and i've visited 4 fish shops,one being my local pets@home in crayford,kent.To be honest i've had more advice from them than any of the other independant places.The other places sold me fish without a word... just bagged them up.And to be honest pets@home fish look as healthy as any of the other places i visited..... ive seen dead bettas at all of them.

 

[newfishy]

this didnt happen at a p@h, but at a local us walmart....the staff forgot to change or add any water to the betta cups for so long all the water dryed up and all the bettas were dead and crispy. I told the manager on duty and he was utterly apalled that his employees were so lazy. from now on the betta water is for most parts clean and filled. though the employees now give me dirty looks when I walk threw the fish dept.

 

[stormy78]

I'm not a P@H fan at all but I nipped in my local one, Oldbury, last night to grab some dog chews! I nipped over to the fish sections for a quick look and there was a couple looking to buy some female guppies. Based on past experience I expected the assistant to bag them up without a question but she didnt. She asked the following questions:

How big is your tank? It was around 70L
How long has it been running? 9 Months
Do you do regular water changes? Every 2 weeks
How many other fish do you have? About 9
What are they? 2 x Guppies, 2 x Dwarf Gourami, 2 x Clown Loach (she advised them these would get way to big fo the tank) they couldnt identify the rest.
Do you have live plants? Yes we do

She also advised the people buying the females that as they had 2 males already they should really get 4 to 6 females so that they are not harrassed and that they would be at their stock limit.

So I would say its a pat on the back for that particular assitant at Oldbury P&H!

 

[kreacher]

My PAH in Great Yarmouth is great, the tanks were not over stocked and all looked very clean without dead fish. As my three tanks are full i didn't take any but did watch this one lad selling some and he asked lots of questions and seemed to know what he was talking about so i would be more than happy to buy fish from there.

 

[ryanp15]

My PAH in Great Yarmouth is great, the tanks were not over stocked and all looked very clean without dead fish. As my three tanks are full i didn't take any but did watch this one lad selling some and he asked lots of questions and seemed to know what he was talking about so i would be more than happy to buy fish from there.

I live in yarmouth!

 

[Kribster]

Thanks for all the replies ppl - to the guy who saw someone with a tank & fish - we do check, those fish were proberbly for a different tank.

 

[gemzie78]

From my personal experience i would not shop at p at H again because when i first began to collect fish, I went into the store and chose goldfish. Once i got home all my fish began to die due to worms. The fish that i had bought had a long worm hanging off its body but as i didn' know much about fish so i still still bought it. The worms killed all 6 of my fish. I believe that the staff should not have sold this to me as they new what it was when i took it back. Every fish i have had from p anf h has died and through personal experiance i wont return.