Wal*mart Fish

[TolkienGeek]

Well, I'm *******. Wal-mart's the only place within a hundred miles to get fish for me. You guys that hate Wal-mart, I'm sorry but I love Wal-mart. Without it everyone I know would be S.O.L. Only place in the area to find many, many things. Don't give me the Mom N' Pop **. Before Wal-mart my family had to drive over 100 miles to find a freaking vacuum cleaner.

Sorry about the rant but I'm getting sick of Wal-mart haters.


Please watch your language!

 

[MegTheFish]

Well I'm getting sick of Walmart-Likers. Walmart is a horrible place that kills fish and destroys smaller independantly owned buisinesses. I've experienced it first hand as I work at the only petstore in this whole city and having to compete with Walmart is not fun. Fortunatly most people have seen the light and relealise it DOES matter where you get your fish from, and just because Walmart has much cheaper prices doesn't mean your going to save a whole lot of money (which you won't with the fish because of the high mortality rate). You get what you pay for. I have no reason not to hate Walmart.
And TolkienGeek, have you not heard of online shopping?

 

[TolkienGeek]

No credit card, and not about to get one and I'm not paying $20 in shipping for neon tetras. And E-bay had screwed me over and over again. If there was LFS, hell, I'd go there but theres not. There hasn't been a decent pet store in the area for over twenty years. And no, Wal-mart has not killed the ones that have tried. The flash in the pan pet stores died because they were disgusting, more dead animals than alive.

Look, there are good Wal-mart fish departments, and bad, just like Petsmart, Petco, or LFS. Mine is okay, not great, but the fish are health, the selection sucks, but they are healthy.

If you can direct me towards a online store that takes money-orders and doesn't charge through the nose for shipping, I'd be much obliged.

 

[MegTheFish]

Your right, some Walmarts have an ok fish selection (meaning the fish are healthy) but as you probably know the majority of Walmarts don't. So I look at it this way, I don't believe that Walmart should keep on carrying fish just because of a select handful of stores that have quality fish. If they do continue to carry fish then they will continue to not properly look after the fish, which happens in probably over 75% of the stores. So if Walmart shut down their fish department we would loose a little (meaning the good quality walmarts) but gain a lot (meaning not another fish has to suffer at the hands of Walmart). Do I make sense?
And I know there are bad petstores everywhere but me and a lot of people on here would agree that it would start to make the world a better place if Walmart got out of the fishy buisness.
And no I don't have any experience with online stores (I don't have a creditcard either, I'm 15) so would not be able to reccomend one too you, but I'm sure another member could.
And I do understand your frusteration, I also live in a small city with not a lot for selection, I do have access to a lovely petstore but one thing I don't have access to is an exotic vet. And its really frusterating when one of my birds gets sick and I have to watch it die, not being able to help it, or just put it to sleep because my vet won't consider getting in contact with an exotics vet out of town.

 

[TolkienGeek]

I do understand. Living in a small town does have its advantages, but also its disadvantages, such as you stated. I keep fancy rats, and the vet around here knows squat about them.

If indeed Wal-mart does get out of the the fish biz, and yes I agree, majority of the stores are poor examples of fish keeping, that just means I have to go farther to find fish and supplies. Not something I look forward to.

 

[Imber]

Personally this makes me happy. That being said, locally walmart is the only store that stocks female bettas and I bought an adorable lionhead there. Of course the best solution would be to overhaul the department and educate the staff, but I don't think that's viable.

Here's a true story.... a lady that works at a good lfs now that is knowledgeable about fish used to work at walmart and despite her fish knowledge, they stuck her in a different department and wouldn't let her work with the fish. The people that do work in the fish department have given some of the dumbest advice that I've ever heard. (for instance I heard one say that you can ONLY use spring water on unfiltered betta tanks because if you use dechlorinator with tap water it will become stagnant and the chemicals will kill the fish)

 

[wendywc]

This is good for major cities, like Houston, where there's plenty of LFSs. So there's really no need for Walmart plus there's about a dozen Walmarts in the area too.

However, for less populated areas, the fish department in Walmart are the only place where they can get they can get fish in person. And for some Walmarts, they know they are the only stop for fish, so their departments tend to be better run or at least a complaint/comment makes more of an impact. So hopefully for the people who are dependant on Walmart for fish, they will continue this service for them.

Ive also been to petsmart but didnt look for the fish department. U guys in the US get alot better selection of pets. We found it funny that u buy galahs over there for a couple of thousand dollars and we have them running wild and quite tame. Anybody know of a petsmart close to anaheim? Sorry for hijacking the thread

Here's the citysearch result for fish stores near Anaheim. Quite a bunch besides Petsmart.
http/orangecounty.citysearch.com/yellowp...amp;sorted=dist

 

[themissingelf]

UK here...

Anyone who knows anything about fish (and most other pets for that matter) gives all the major chains in the UK a big swerve - simply don't go there.

 

[Bozza]

Thanks for the link wendywc

 

[chameleongeekgrl]

Hmmmm I must say this,

To all of those that hate wal-mart for taking customers from small buisnesses ,it's true, BUT back when Wal Mart 1st started it WAS a small business. You can't tell me that no small buisness owner wouldn't like become a famous nationwide buisness. If you knew a small buisness in town that you really liked then all of a sudden buiness skyrocketed to where it was a major corporation and it was taking buisness from other buisness's would you not shop there just because of that? Quite frankly I hate the store in my town becauses I once worked there and they treated employees like ****. But they have one of the most knowledable employees on fish there. He said he worked at Wal-mart so he could educate the uneducated. As for uneducated employees you get that anywhere. anyways through typing this post i've relized I cannot spell buisness's... LOL


Please watch your language!

 

[MegTheFish]

I keep fancy rats, and the vet around here knows squat about them.

Me too! I just adopted two males about a month ago (beige and a double rex). So what do you do when they get sick (as I heard they get respiratory infections quite easily). So far mine are doing good but I know there is a good chance that I will run into something in the future, knowing my luck.

 

[chibi]

So many flames! Please people, calm down! Stop taking things so literally and personally... it's not nice!

I don't buy my fish at Walmart. My local Walmarts do a horrific job taking care of the fish, not to mention they sell dyed tetras. I do, however, buy a lot of medicines and food from there for my fish. Their prices just can't be beat. I do feel for you guys that are out in the middle of nowhere and have no fish store but Walmart, but I really think they should stop selling these poor fish. Walmart should just sell fish supplies, not the fish themselves. It also promotes impulse buyers to buy fish on a whim and not even think about it. I've seen it happen at the store. It's a shame.

 

[ECCO_]

So many flames! Please people, calm down! Stop taking things so literally and personally... it's not nice!

I don't buy my fish at Walmart. My local Walmarts do a horrific job taking care of the fish, not to mention they sell dyed tetras. I do, however, buy a lot of medicines and food from there for my fish. Their prices just can't be beat. I do feel for you guys that are out in the middle of nowhere and have no fish store but Walmart, but I really think they should stop selling these poor fish. Walmart should just sell fish supplies, not the fish themselves. It also promotes impulse buyers to buy fish on a whim and not even think about it. I've seen it happen at the store. It's a shame.

Yeah, the lady said they would still sale the supplies, just no more fish.....
And I totally agree with you.... I dont even think they feed theyre fish, Ive seen them
feed the fish once, and they were all starving, even the green puffers were eating flakes and they usaully just eat pellets or feeze dried foods. It really sickens me how those fish are being forgotten about.

 

[TolkienGeek]

Yes, I agree. Wal-mart is certainly not the best, but I have found the same horrible conditions everywhere I've been, to some extent. It is unfortunate that so many stores treat fish so badly. If mammals were treated this way, there would be hell to pay. I would like to reiterate, that I couldn't enjoy this hobby without Wal-mart. If there was another choice, I'd take it. I guess I'll just have to give up the hobby, as everyone seems to agree is best.

I would also like to apologize for my poor behavior. But to attack me and my religion? I'm sorry chibi, but that is personal.

 

[Darkmoon Bettas]

TolkienGeek;

I don't know if you've used Aquabid.com before--for fish, they're a lot better than Ebay, and the site as a whole has a LOT fewer problems. Like any auction site, it varies from seller to seller, but quite a few of them have very reasonable prices, and many accept money orders (mostly USPS, a few take Western Union). Sellers are a mix of importers, wholesalers, and hobbyists, so you can find most anything there if you look a bit.