Shocked With Pets At Home

[jkilby]

I went into my local pets at home yesterday, just out of curiosity as I was nearby and didn't know of they stocked aquarium supplies and fish and sadly they do. Of all the tanks there, not one had a lighting unit over it, they were flush into the wall and you could barely see the fish by just the shop lighting, whereas my local maidenhead aquatics has their tanks staggered and open so light can get into all the tanks and the larger tanks all have their own lighting. Also five of the tanks had dead fish in them and when I raised this to the member of staff all I got was a grunt in return.

Has anyone else had this experience of this chain shops, or is it a one off?. I for one will not be using them for anything to do with my tank.

 

[Paradise3]

All the P@H's near me are like that. I've never been into one and bought fish because of the state of their tanks. I buy supplies like filters but not fish or plants.

Cheers,
Paradise<3!

 

[JoshuaA]

All shops will get to the point in time that perhaps numerous amounts of fish die, after all they are handling after having them ship from the other side of the world. My "local" Maiden Head although a nice looking store had many many dead fish last time I looked, some of the tanks were like graveyards. Even expensive marine fish were left to die.

Large fish store chains like this however are obviously going to be more well known for bad practice than the smaller LFS most of us bang on about. There does seem to be a trend between P@H and the amount of complaints about stores against them.

We all know that this sort of thread tends to cause a bit of a riot so...

/Flame off

 

[Paradise3]

We all know that this sort of thread tends to cause a bit of a riot so...

/Flame off

Thank you for saying what I didn't want to. Have you sent a PM to an MOD? If not I'm on good terms with ludwig so I'm sure I can pull some strings.

Cheers,
Paradise<3!

 

[Carlovel1]

I went into my local pets at home yesterday, just out of curiosity as I was nearby and didn't know of they stocked aquarium supplies and fish and sadly they do. Of all the tanks there, not one had a lighting unit over it, they were flush into the wall and you could barely see the fish by just the shop lighting, whereas my local maidenhead aquatics has their tanks staggered and open so light can get into all the tanks and the larger tanks all have their own lighting. Also five of the tanks had dead fish in them and when I raised this to the member of staff all I got was a grunt in return.

Has anyone else had this experience of this chain shops, or is it a one off?. I for one will not be using them for anything to do with my tank.

Not all P@H are like that. The Malden store has lighting above each tank. But it is one of the few stores, the rest of the P@H in London seem to have no lighting/lighting turned off. I agree though it is pointless.
And yes, all fish shops will see fish deaths (this is common), but more 'careless' shops such as P@H will see a lot more fish deaths than say...MA. Mostly because they don't give a .... about the fish, they tend to just place them into any tank.

 

[Tizer]

One near me is fine, the girls in there actually do look after the fish. I've seen the lights off at times and its often because the fish have just arrived and i believe less light reduces stress when being transfered to the tanks. Its really down to the quality of the staff they employ.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Thanks for the pm Missy, and personally, I am not qualified and/or equipped to comment on the efficiency and/or qualifications of any P@H... (to mention one), as they are not represented in South Africa (so I have no experience with them - as a whole), but having had a (small) pet shop of my own, (a long time ago) I do know that some of the suppliers are suspect and can put your store in a bad light when a new consignment of fish are placed directly into the display tanks immediately after receiving them......

Dead fish are mostly inevitable in transportation, but should not be for be for public viewing...... (I was fortunate to have some "settling" tanks in a back room, out of public view..... and could move the survivors to the display tanks after 3 or 5 days.....

It happens!..... so, it is not fair to judge any store if they have "non survivors" in their tanks directly after new consignments are booked in..... It is also (IMO) not fair to judge P@H as a franchise for things which were observed at a particular shop bearing their name.....

I've heard more Good about P@H as I've heard about isolated incidents of bad things.... So let's not generalise.....

Let us have this discussion continue as a general topic without pointing fingers, as (mostly)... topics of this nature gets out of hand and one-sided.... Progress will be watched.

 

[lilfishie]

my local one isn't too bad, they have lights and there only off when the new fish arrive, i don't go there very often but when i do i don't see dead fish, they look quite healthy the only thing that puts me off is there prices

 

[jkilby]

I did not mean to set the cat amonst the pidgeons on this one. This was my experience of one store and the response from a member of staff that I received, I have never been into any other P@H, so I was curious if it was out of the ordinary or not. I am aware that loses happen in the fish trade, I don't judge people on that, but I can judge based on customer service and in my experience I wasn't impressed for someone dealing in livestock, would it of been a grunt if one of their rabbits or guinnea pigs on display were pushing up the daisies. Fish may not be everyones cup of tea, they might not be fluffy and can't be hugged, but if a company and I mean any company decides to trade in them, then they have to take it seriously. Maybe, just maybe, fish should only be sold through shops that just do fish, I have three local independant fish shops near me and not one of them have token rabbits in one corner of the store. This is just my opinion, I don't mean to start or fuel any arguments on the subject.

 

[Danbarb]

My local one is pretty poor to be honest, if I am to compare it with aquatics specialists nearby. I'd say it was about half the quality of four of the LFS that I know of. I doubt they're all like that, I must say though that something I have noticed in LFS, and indeed P@H is the quality of the aquatic plants are absolutely terrible. Glad I have a decent site where I get mine from and they're always good quality even though they're shipped from Borneo. =)

 

[Bexx]

I went to P@H recently and the lady there was very good tbh. She was a fish keeper herself and gave me a free assasin snail with her compliments.lol! Once before I went into just look at the fish as I dont buy there because of the price. All of the lights were off and the lady said they werent for sale as they had just arrived and because they are in and out of the tanks all of the time they allow them time to settle in. They werent fo sale all of that day. So from my experiece they have been very good. I suppose it depends on the staff you get. I just dont agree with the advice they give on setting up tanks. x

 

[Joshwainwright]

I've never actually bought from P@H, they seem a little too highly priced for me!

 

[broox159]

I went to my local P@H just yesterday to have a look at the fish, just to get an idea of what i might like in my tank. All of the tanks had lighting and the water looked pretty clear/clean. When i was there a member of staff was checking the tanks for any dead fish and i think he only scopped out about 2 out of the whole lot....i dont know if they did that because a customer (me) was staring intently at all the tanks or if it was just that time of day for it to be done. I cant say that i would actually buy from a pets at home, but im having trouble locating anywhere else near me with a good variety. As others have said, i think it depends on the individual store and staff.

 

[Little_Nemo]

P@H aren't at all that bad on customer service - i for one shop there frequently. Infact If im honest I have an obsession with getting all my pet supplies from there. And both stores I go to are quite nice. I did see lighting above the tanks, and numerous signs instructing customers to refrain from tapping the tanks etc so as not to scare the fish. And I hardly noticed any dead fish. Even a couple of tanks had signs to say the fish were not available to sell as they had just arrived. Personally I've not purchased any fish from there before so therefore cannot comment on the health of fish, however I didnt think their prices were extortionate.

 

[Danbarb]

Seems very hit and miss to me. Shame my local one isn't all that. Wish some of your local stores were here! Perhaps it's just the perspective I am looking at it, but I'll give my local P@H another go soon and keep a more open mind.