Pets At Home

[Gill]

Just Recently the Stores in My town have Refused to sell fish without testing your water first.

Anyone else's Doing that.

As I am an old Customer, it was not needed, but every Customer was asked to come back with a sample of water B4 they would sell them Fish.

I personally think this is a good practice and makes the staff ask more questions.

 

[ddm18]

Blimey!

I see what you mean - it's a pretty good idea, but I'd be pretty p*ssed off if I'd driven any distance to get there only to be told to go straight home again. I doubt that I'd go back again!

Also - do they somehow keep you on record, or do you have to take water each time?

Certainly quite interesting!

I wonder if other lfs's will follow suit?

Dave

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I have used Pets at Home and have never had to do that, but I have not used them for a while.

I think it's a good idea

 

[pandapops001]

I think its a great ideal purely because at least there are boundaries on who they can sell the fish too, after the advice i'd was originally given from the petstore (just fill and leave to stand for 10 days), i would have been really devastated to lose the fish, and probably would have given up altogether.

I also think that at least if the staff misinform people, the fish will still be safe, and not subjected to impatient kids etc, who wouldnt want to wait until a complete cycle had gone through, i know its inconvenient for some people but i really hope it catches on and my local petstore do this

 

[Gill]

dont know about keeping you on record, but they do have that gaurantee book they fill in.
So they must have those records somewhere.

 

[noelberg]

that is an out-freakin-standing idea!

of course there could be some problems, say if they don't clean the equipment properly. but that is the most novel idea I've heard in a long time. perfectly sensible - it prevents: "duh, my angelfish died in my 5 gallon tank. I think my 12 platies and 13 cories are dying too" ... or the ever popular "What's a cycle?"

 

[Nina7777]

I must say that i have to agree that I would be pretty upset if I drove over a half hour to get there and then had to go home and then all the way back. If there was some way they could notify people to bring a sample before they came that would be better.

Although i do agree that it is a rather good idea!

 

[tstenback]

One of the local LFS here has a similar policy but they will let you buy fish without the sample but you sign that you waive the guarantee.

 

[Sky042]

only problem I forsee is those shops that say anything other than 7.0PH is wrong lemme sell you a bunch of additives to fix that 7.2 of yours if you don't your fish will die.

 

[ChriX]

I'd also be annoyed if I had driven all that way only to find they want to test my water which i'd already have done before deciding to add more fish anyway. I also think it unfair if you waive the guarantee because they can't test your water but you know it's fine - maybe if you wanted to return a dead fish and you brought water and it was tested to be bad they don't refund or replace would be better.

But I do think it is good that they ask questions, maybe just asking a customer if they know what their levels are would be enough, as someone new/impatient child wouldn't know what they were on about.

 

[Sorrell]

Our store that we used to have, would have you bring in a sample for your first fish and then after a few days another until the tank was stocked. We also had a limit on how many fish a person could buy at one time per tank (depending on type of fish and size of tank). I think it worked wonderfully, the people who were serious about keeping healthy fish had no problems with it. The only time we encountered problems in our system is when people would buy the amount of fish that we approved and then go to Wal-Mart and buy 10 more.

 

[Sky042]

Our store that we used to have, would have you bring in a sample for your first fish and then after a few days another until the tank was stocked. We also had a limit on how many fish a person could buy at one time per tank (depending on type of fish and size of tank). I think it worked wonderfully, the people who were serious about keeping healthy fish had no problems with it. The only time we encountered problems in our system is when people would buy the amount of fish that we approved and then go to Wal-Mart and buy 10 more.

Though that can backfire too. Right now I'm doing a fishless cycle on my 46G bow front and I'm using essentially double the reccomended level of ammonia(instead of 4-5ppm I'm going to 8ppm) so when it's done I'll have a very strong bacteria bed. which means that when I go to stock I could put in a significant amount of fish without worry. However I'm sure that'll freak out most of the LFS I deal with.

 

[Sorrell]

Sure, there are of course exceptions to every rule. When I gave my brief overview of our policy, it was mostly concerning a first tank with and inexperienced owner. At least at our store, we got to know our customers very well and we knew who knew what they were doing.

 

[plecoperson]

I work in a lfs! I always offer people water tests if they are worried about their water, unfortunately we have so many customers we cant test everybody's water - they could always buy a test kit and I always explain how to use it! I love telling people how to set up a new tank - then you say "and we will gladly test your water to check everything's ok before you add your new fish in"

we have a limit on 6 fish to buy, no matter the size - they all produce waste after all! If they insist on more than 6, no 7 day guarantee! Unfortunately, not every employee cares as much about the fish as me! I love the fish - unfortunately I cant always be cleaning the tanks and watching the lovely fish. Stupid managers.Puttin me on the till.