$*&^%#@! WAL-MART!!!!

[chaotica2010]

So in retrospect I should have been smarter....

I picked up 2 Blue Gourami's the other day at Wal Mart 2 days later and 4 dead fish including one of the gourami's I originally got and I am treating the whole tank for ICH and or a body fungus. I have never had a disease in any of my tanks. I called customer service and when I told the the lady what had happened and she gasped like my kid had died from one of their toys (maybe she was a fish person )

Any way I am sure most of you are brighter than me and don't buy any of your fine icythoids at Wal Mart. For those who are thinking about it take it from me, it is just better to wait and go to your LFS or a reputable dealer for any fish.

Experiencing painful 20/20 hindsight

Rick 8)

 

[AquaNut]

I'm really sorry about your troubles.

Between the risk you take of infecting your established tank and the fact that you're encouraging them to keep their practices going, 'rescuing' or purchasing fish from anywhere with unclean tanks/ill fish is just not a great idea.

 

[juanveldez]

that happened to me once so I went on to the wal mart web site and wrote them a nasty email, of course I only lost like 10 dollars in fish but they sent me an applogetic letter with a 20 dollar gift card, which was of course handy for buying a new dvd for my wife.

 

[FanOFish]

I know this is hard to do sometimes but if I see dead fish laying around in tanks I don't buy fish from that store....which basically rules out Walmart, Petco, and most of the Petsmarts that I've been in. Fortunately I live in a large city with many fish stores.

 

[Lithril]

Totally agree, my LFS is actually fairly good they keep a really good selection and actually know what they're talking about (most of the time only have to correct them once or twice) but I did see a couple of dead fish the other day, pointed that it wasn't good and they looked into the tanks straight away. What does keep me going back is the fact that they won't sell fish to people unless they know that they're looking after, took me 20mins to get them sell me some puffer fish

 

[Auratus]

I got almost all of my fish from my community tank from wal-mart. I got 6 glowlight tetras and have lost none and I have had them 3 months. I bought 6 neons but lost two... I got some long finned zebras and have lost none (although most are from petsmart) and the one I bought two years ago is still alive and she is FAT. I got my two auratus cichlids from there and they are healthy and have super bright colors. They often sell powder blue dwarf gourami for $1.84 where my lfs sells them for $6.50. They dont know any better. And sometimes in the "assorted" african cichlid tank they get some really expensive fish and they dont know so they sell them for $5. I also bought a total of 4 otos during different times and I only lost one. So considering that, I saved a lot of money by not paying the big bucks at my lfs and none have ich and are actually really healthy. I think my local wal-mart is doing very well. The petco and petsmart around here also do very good. Although I do have my doubts about petco.

My Wal-Mart did have sucky fish for about 3 years but know a nice guy works there who takes care of the fish and none have ich. Although when I go to wal-mart to buy decor and stuff he always asks me questions about the fish... he didn't know how to pronounce cichlid. He thought short finned danios were female and the long finned were the males. HEHEEHE

 

[Where the river goes]

I wouldn't buy fish at the local wal-mart, I don't like the looks of the tanks.
I went to petco today, just to look around. There was a tank full of dwarf puffers ALL with nipped fins. There wasn't a tag as to what other fish were in the tank and I didn't recognize them.

The only store I'd buy fish from is Petsmart. By far, their tanks are the best around here

 

[Yuxi]

It's wonderful that they've built a new Petsmart only a mile from my house! Now I don't have to buy fish stuff from Walmart anymore...

I can also buy live plants at Petsmart

 

[Cali]

My local Walmart, PetsMart and Petco are all pretty poor. Walmart is the worst...Petco's store in general is bad...their employees aren't very knowledgable and they are unprofessional (customer service is important to me) and the store is dirty. PetsMart's fish tanks are HORRIBLE...just horrible. Their poor angelfish ALL had fin rot and who knows what else. But, in defense of PetsMart, their emplyees (for the most part) are knowledgable which is important to me.


...in my area, Washington DC Metro area, it's a toss up. Each store has it's bad aspects.

 

[Aulonochromis]

It's best not to waste money buying fish at wallyworld and other big chains. Try to find a store with an owner who actually cares about fish, quarantines the stock, and only buys quality fish. It costs a little more, but its well worth it in the end. Ive been back into fishkeeping for 2 years, and I went to every store in my area trying to find a store that is knowlegable and has quality fish. Now, after finding out the hard way, there is only 1 store I'll buy fish from. Those big chains are OK for food, water conditioner, etc., but I would never put one of their fish in my tanks.

 

[wuvmybetta]

most of my betta came from Wal-Mart or other chains,but since they live alone it's no big deal,but I would NEVER buy a fish from a place like that, I'm completely faithful to my small "hole in the wall~family owned" lfs, I love that place & the people who run it

 

[khs666]

Was in a shopping area yesterday after Christmas stuff, wandered in to the PetsMart they had in the are - just to see if they were as bad as this forum paints them (this area is in a large city near me - but not my local thank goodness). And yep - they were. Dead fish in most of the tanks, including a silver shark that had been half eaten. Most of the tanks seemed to have dead fish in them, and one of the assistants was removing them into a bag, which looked like it already had half a dozen fish in it from one tank! Another customer pointed out that a couple of the other tanks had dead one's in, but the assistant almost cut her dead. They seemed to know what they were talking about (overhearing the conversations) but seemed unable to cope with demand. Most of the live fishes seemed of poor quality. I quickly exited the shop. Won't be doing my fish shop in one of their stores.....

 

[BettaBoyz]

i rescued and ADF from Wal-Mart, he has yet to die or bring an awful plague upon my fish. while i can't agree with how they run it, i still go there. i've actually moved a few fishies around and turned the lights on in the Lyretail Molly tank, unfortunately someone (not even an employee!) made me leave, then went about buying a quart fish bowl and three Swordtails!

UGH!

 

[Cali]

most of my betta came from Wal-Mart or other chains,but since they live alone it's no big deal

I bought my female betta from Walmart...and for the same reason (they are in their own cups).


I'd NEVER put one of their community fish into my tank.

 

[chaotica2010]

Sounds like everybody has a good or neg story bout good ole Wal Mart now I don't feel so dumb.

I too own a couple female bettas from Wal Mart and they are fine. Would be nice to get a $20 dollar gift certificate from em I can buy more med for my living fish lol .

I have 3 petco and 1 petsmart in driving distance from me and all 4 are hit and miss.

Pets Inc if you have one near you is great I drive a good 1/2 hour to gio get my stuff there.

Rick 8)