My local Wall-Mart does not carry fish so i was unaware of the condition that other Wall-Marts kept their fish in. I just saw a video on this and it was disturbing. The tanks were over crowded (the worst that i have ever seen) there were many many dead fish in the tanks, some of which had been kept in the aquariums so long that the other fish in the tank had eaten them pretty much to the bone. The filters were clogged up with dead fish, and the conditions that the bettas were kept in were unacceptable. they were kept in small cups with less than an inch of water, that looked like it had never been cleaned. they were stacked up to the back of a small closed in cabinet. and some of them were dead so long and had so little water that their bodies were rotting.
What do you think about Wall-Mart fish, have you ever done anything to try to stop the cruel treatment of these animals? and if not, how could we band together to try and stop this?
Yes, in another thread I stated that every time I saw the fish or tanks in a bad state I would call and speak to the manager. I did this very often and I also encouraged the people I know that shopped at Walmart to do the same if they saw the fish treated poorly. It took a few years but NO Walmart sells fish in the city I live in anymore. I don't know if they stopped because of the constant complaints but I like to think I made a difference. IMO, the best thing to do is continually complain about it to management and encourage the people you know that shop there to do the same thing. You can also get in touch with head office as well if you think your complaint is falling on deaf ears.
Now, this is something to get behind. Actually doing something when you see conditions that you don't agree with. Videotaping it and putting it on a website for shock and awe purposes really don't do very much at all. Someone only does something every 10,000 times the video is watched, if that. Actually talking to a store manager is doing something. "Banding" together on a fish forum just doesn't mean a lot, since 1) most of the forum members are probably supporting a LFS when they can and 2) people who have joined a forum and participate in discussions about tropical fish are a very, very tiny percent of the overall fish-buying population. Less than 1%, for sure.
I'm not trying to be too negative, but I just don't think that coming on a forum and trying to shout from a soapbox does much of anything. The two reasons above, and then even a third, as I wrote before, there are literally hundreds of these threads on this forum that also haven't really changed anything.
If Caprichoso wants to share some of this techniques or talking points, then that is fine. Or even some success stories, if he has any.
And I understand the desire to
do something about the issue you see. I am just trying to say that simply getting a bunch of other people on a forum to type "yes, the fish at my local store are poorly kept, too", doesn't accomplish anything really. It doesn't help the fish be kept better, and it doesn't stop people from buying them.
I guess what I am trying to say is to think about the issue deeper, and if you really want to
do something, think bigger and more effective. Think about asking to talk to the managers, and their superiors if you seem to be ignored.
And finally, I think you also need to be careful with phrases like "Wal-Mart fish". Because that implies that all fish at all Wal-Mart stores are treated poorly. And, as I showed above, that simply isn't true. Searching through this forum, there are many members who have Wal-Mart as their only LFS, and they are still very successful fish keepers. Each store is different. So, you need to talk about the fish kept at specific stores. This is advice to keep you honest about the issue, and advice to help you legally. Because if you use language that is broad, you open yourself to legal issues like slander and the like. If you talk specifics, and have a kernel of evidence to support what you say, then you can say it. But, if you communicate broadly, and Wal-Mart can show counter-examples, then you are on the hook. And Wal-Mart can attempt to sue you for the amount of sales they could have potentially lost from you spreading untruths.
I support your concern about the issue. I just want to strongly encourage you to look for more effective means of getting your message out. I've been a member of this forum for a long time now, and as I've said, I have seen many a thread some through here with people full of good intentions, but no real plan how to effect change other than trying to rally other forum members. This just hasn't worked, because I don't think that much change has happened. So, again, I hope that you'll think of ways to be more effective if you really want to cause change.
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