Some People...

[ZooKeeper]

I was in Petco the other day looking around the aquatics, and a lady was asking an employee a question. I couldn't help but eavesdrop, since I grew up in a fish store. She said that she realized that bettas can't be together, but can they be with other fish. Well, the "Kid" (I call him a kid because he sure didn't look responsible enough for me to call him a man) told her the generic, "sure". I walked over to her and said, "I hate to barge in, but can I ask what kinds of fish you are wanting to put him in with?" Mind you, this was a BEAUTIFUL red and blue crowntail. Couldn't have been more than a few months old. Her reply, "Well, I have some chiclids, africans I think..." I stopped her right there. I didn't need to hear any more. I told her that I have been around fish all my life, and the only things that African Chiclids should be with are African Chiclids. Plus, a betta is a tropical, chiclids come from an entirely different part of the world.

I could just see that poor guy getting eaten for food as soon as he was "thrown" in there. So, she thanked me for butting in, and she said that he would go in her son's 5 gallon tank instead. This is a much better environment than the alternative.

It really irks me when pet stores don't care enough to train their people to inform the customer correctly. All the guy had to do was ask her a simple question like, "What kind of fish are you wanting him to go with?" It is kind of like trying to put a feeder goldfish in with some Oscars and expecting it to not get eaten. DUH.

Thanks for letting me rant.

 

[grahamsokel]

I honestly dont know where they get staff from for these shops.I was in P@H last week and i had to do the same thing a woman was asking about fighters and he was telling her she could put a pair or a Trio in her tank with Tiger barbs,giant gouramis,convicts,swords and Kribensis .when i stepped in and said sorry but you cant keep Bettas together and you cant put even one in with those fish the kid who was serving said these are not Bettas they are siamese fighters .I politly told him to go and read a book on Bettas/siamese fighters

 

[ZooKeeper]

The least they could do is have a pet handbook for them to read. It is kind of like a kid telling someone that it is ok for their dog to play in the street during 5 o' clock traffic. I mean DUH!!

 

[Ogrt48]

The least they could do is have a pet handbook for them to read. It is kind of like a kid telling someone that it is ok for their dog to play in the street during 5 o' clock traffic. I mean DUH!!

Honestly thats asking too much. Pet stores is just another minimum wage job for people to apply for when they're job hunting. They don't require any knowledge or pet care. They just need to keep the animals alive while they're in the store and make sales. The goal of this job is to sell sell sell and make money. Once they make the sale they don't care about what kinda place the animal is going to, to pet stores its just another fish. Sadly this is the way it is in the real world, the way it always has been and the way it always will be.

 

[silver tipped]

My local pets@home is just as bad. They give the wrong advice all the time and the fish are kept in awful conditions. I personnally don't go in unless I have too.

However as ogrt48 says, the staff don't have to be at all knowledgable to work there. It is a pet store and thats all. They come, they work, they go home.

Even my local lfs is useless at giving info on fish. They once sold me 2 chinses algae eaters for a 15g tank, sold me female platies that were in fact male and today when I went in there were dwarf rainbows munching away on dead fish!! The poor bettas well thats another story.

So for me I buy my hardware from the local lfs, having researched first in here or on the web. For my fish I go to a lfs further away that I know gives good advice ( I have checked). There tanks are spotless and the fish are healthy.

It certainly pays to look around and reaserch first

 

[Bettabelieveit]

Hey, this is bettabelieveit's girlfriend. I work at Petco... and everyone knows a bad fish store. Sure, he could have given her a generic "sure", then proceeded to ask her what kind of fish she was going to put it with. So don't jump to the conclusion that he wasn't going ask if you didn't give him a chance to.

Petco employees have to take a 5-hour class on fish care and take an entire test about animal care. We also get ongoing training and do a lot of research on our own (at least I do). If you have a problem with an employee, tell the manager or ask for a district manager's number. Honestly, sitting here complaining on a message board isn't going to change anything.

I go to Petsmart all the time and found tonight that they actually do have someone there who actually knows something. So yeah, question employees about something you hear and tell a manager.

 

[Ogrt48]

Hey, this is bettabelieveit's girlfriend. I work at Petco... and everyone knows a bad fish store. Sure, he could have given her a generic "sure", then proceeded to ask her what kind of fish she was going to put it with. So don't jump to the conclusion that he wasn't going ask if you didn't give him a chance to.

Petco employees have to take a 5-hour class on fish care and take an entire test about animal care. We also get ongoing training and do a lot of research on our own (at least I do). If you have a problem with an employee, tell the manager or ask for a district manager's number. Honestly, sitting here complaining on a message board isn't going to change anything.

I go to Petsmart all the time and found tonight that they actually do have someone there who actually knows something. So yeah, question employees about something you hear and tell a manager.

All the petco's fish here in queens new york looks dead and sick. So far 2 fish I've bought from them have died within days. An Angel and a Puffer. Only petcos..

 

[soritan]

In general, I don't think it's a smart move to rely on the advice of an employee. While they can advise, it's generally not in their job description. They are Sales Clerks, not advisors.

People need to start taking responsibility over their purchases, doing their own research, finding books, websites, and forums. A big investment like a fish, where you buy tanks, filters, food, livestock, decorations, medication (if you intend to keep the buggers), invest time in care and feeding, doing the weekly cleaning... a big investment like that, should not be made based only on the nod of one pet store employee. That goes against common sense, and the poor Sales Clerk really shouldn't be responsible for that.

Sales Clerk, not Aquatic-pet Advisor and Technician.



I find it more frustrating that a person would jump in, buy a pet, not know a thing about them, and then foist the blame on someone they spoke to for 15 seconds in a shop when something goes wrong.

 

[LucyHurst]

You cant learn fishkeeping in 5 hours..

 

[ZooKeeper]

Hey, this is bettabelieveit's girlfriend. I work at Petco... and everyone knows a bad fish store. Sure, he could have given her a generic "sure", then proceeded to ask her what kind of fish she was going to put it with. So don't jump to the conclusion that he wasn't going ask if you didn't give him a chance to.

Petco employees have to take a 5-hour class on fish care and take an entire test about animal care. We also get ongoing training and do a lot of research on our own (at least I do). If you have a problem with an employee, tell the manager or ask for a district manager's number. Honestly, sitting here complaining on a message board isn't going to change anything.

I go to Petsmart all the time and found tonight that they actually do have someone there who actually knows something. So yeah, question employees about something you hear and tell a manager.

I worked at Petsmart as a 17 year old. The only reason I got the job was because of who my mother was in the world of Fish keeping in this town. The manager knew her well, and knew what I grew up with. I didn't have any "training". Thank goodness I knew the questions to ask.

I would not have butted in if the guy hadn't of given her the "Sure" and walked off to the other side of the department. He was more occupied with getting her another fish out of the tank than answering her question correctly.

I don't feel that telling a manager would have solved anything.

I do believe that Petsmart is better than Petco in both knowledge and prices. While you may be more knowledgeable than others who work in your store, there are still employees who are suppose to be there to help, and they don't know what they are talking about.

I am not sitting here complaining on a message board. I simply stated an event that happened, in hopes that someone else would know that it is ok to step in if you have more knowledge of something. Especially if it will save the life of a fish or an animal.

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

Hey, this is bettabelieveit's girlfriend. I work at Petco... and everyone knows a bad fish store. Sure, he could have given her a generic "sure", then proceeded to ask her what kind of fish she was going to put it with. So don't jump to the conclusion that he wasn't going ask if you didn't give him a chance to.

Petco employees have to take a 5-hour class on fish care and take an entire test about animal care. We also get ongoing training and do a lot of research on our own (at least I do). If you have a problem with an employee, tell the manager or ask for a district manager's number. Honestly, sitting here complaining on a message board isn't going to change anything.

I go to Petsmart all the time and found tonight that they actually do have someone there who actually knows something. So yeah, question employees about something you hear and tell a manager.

I worked at Petsmart as a 17 year old. The only reason I got the job was because of who my mother was in the world of Fish keeping in this town. The manager knew her well, and knew what I grew up with. I didn't have any "training". Thank goodness I knew the questions to ask.

I would not have butted in if the guy hadn't of given her the "Sure" and walked off to the other side of the department. He was more occupied with getting her another fish out of the tank than answering her question correctly.

I don't feel that telling a manager would have solved anything.

I do believe that Petsmart is better than Petco in both knowledge and prices. While you may be more knowledgeable than others who work in your store, there are still employees who are suppose to be there to help, and they don't know what they are talking about.

I am not sitting here complaining on a message board. I simply stated an event that happened, in hopes that someone else would know that it is ok to step in if you have more knowledge of something. Especially if it will save the life of a fish or an animal.

*applauds*

 

[Nevergone815]

A BIT LONG BUT PLEASE READ

ok i have to step i now . i have just recently myself started stepping in and telling potential customers of problems at lfs'. i feel that the employees at Petco or Petsmart vary from place to place. some employees care to research the fish they sell outside of the store like bettabelieveit's girlfriend. while others don't and see it as an "afters chool" job.

my girlfriend is actually trying to get into the local lfs here and try to fix it up, but she needs to have experience working in petshops first (that's what they told her). well she is applying to work at a petco or petsmart over the summer break (from college) to better the poor conditions that she has found fish in.

the petsmart was worse down there as the employees were school kids who goofed off and just got you any fish that you wanted. and when i heard them talk about fish, it was about how they have an oscar in their 50 gal (US) and that they had a whole lot of other fish (i.e green terror and bichirs in there).

while the petco depended on the employee. when my family went in to buy our ball pythons the person working in that sction was trained and had outside knowledge of the amphibeans and reptiles there. he actually advised us what we needed and what we could "technically" do without (i.e those fancy watterfall water troghs that cost a lot of money and sais that a basic bowel will be fine. also instead of buying feeder mice every week, he advised us to get a pair and let them breed selectively and seperate the males from females once you could sex them. this saved us a load of money and even cost the store money (from us buying mice) but he was actually very helpful.

when we went back for winter break (from college) we went to petco again (like 2 years later), there was actually a kid that was arguing wiht a customer because he wanted to put a clown knife fish in a 30 gal (US) saying that they (petco) have him in a much smaller tank with other knifefish. the employee told him that they need a HUGE tank when they grow larger and that these were juveniles they were selling and will be there temporarily. the customer left Pi**ed off but i was impressed that the employee stood his ground and didn't sell him the fish. another time i heard the same employee telling someone about swordtails needing 20 gal (US) and that they and platies would breed so it wouldn't be good to put hem together as the female platties would have stress giving birth to male swordtail babies. i nodded my head in approval. well, after that customer the kid went on break and someone else took his place. well a guy asked for 2 tinfoil barbs and the guy sold it to him, o questions asked. i was like (to myself) " i hope that guy knows what he just bought and i hope he has a large tank and other tinfoils already". at that time i didn't have the gall to step in and say something.

a story about bettas... i was in a bunch of walmarts and i saw things from male bettas being in with neons and barbs, to them being in a cup living in their own filth. well i heard an employee who was somewhat knowledgable about bettas in fact. but she told the cusomer that female bettas are ugly and that you don't want them. the people were picking up a 10 (US) gal starter kit and was going to put fish in it that day , but the woman selling the fish told the couple that they can put bettas in with "anything on this side" as she pointed to the warm water/tropical section. the people asked why they couldn't put it in with a goldfish and the woman said "they are coldwater and bettas like warmer water. it's best to get something over here". well the people were asking about barbs and the woman was still saying that females were ugly and the ydon't want them for their tank. she told them that females can go together but the ystill can be aggressive and that the males were "prettier". well i couldn't stand it and walked away, after collecting myself i went back to find that everyone is gone. from that day i vowed to say something everytime an employee gives poor advise. female bettas would have been much better to put in their tank than a male betta. especially since this walmart seemed to carry a lot of barbs, tetras, guppies and guaromies (actually outside of plecos and cories, thats all they sold)

it just shows you that some employees are unknowedgable or don't care, while others know everything you will need to know, and some are in between. it depends really on the person's experience working with that animal and the knowledge that they decide to invest in. in the same placed there can be the "ideal" employee and a customers "worst nightmare" (info-wise). we have to just step in and say something when poor or no advise is given. it's the least we could do for the fish.

 

[libertine]

You know what I think? Okay, you guys probably dont really CARE what I think but here.

My LPS sells lots and lots of fish. They wont bag up the fish until they ask how big of a tank you're keeping it in, and which fish are with it. Also they wont sell bettas unless the pet owner has said they have a tank safe enough to put it in. Since this is the only pet store in town people go for it. Which I think is wonderful. The employees at my LPS are extremely knowledgeable (sp?), all keep fish and some other kind of animal. I think it's fair to say that employees vary with the store...


THANKS