Walmart Aquariums....

[texan817]

Anyone buy there aquariums from WalMart? I bought my 29 gallon setup from them for 94.00, Tank,top, lights, filter, heater and thermometer. Cheaper than Petsmart!!!
My local store will be getting fish shortly, looking forward to that.


Thanks
Gregg

 

[phlawed]

Anyone buy there aquariums from WalMart? I bought my 29 gallon setup from them for 94.00, Tank,top, lights, filter, heater and thermometer. Cheaper than Petsmart!!!
My local store will be getting fish shortly, looking forward to that.


Thanks
Gregg

tanks are actually not bad built. Filters are not bad but dont compete with biowheels. Once fish come in, choose carefully. Had a terrible experience at me local wal-mart today with some GSP's (pic below of my happy fella). But, not going to get into that agian. Will say this, i have both good and bad fish come from Wal-Mart, but any LFS is a better choice even if the fish at the LFS are a few bucks higher. You can also work on the price usually at your LFS to get a discount or something.


Oh, welcome to the forum. Loads of info for you to read before adding any fish.

 

[qwikimpss]

Wal-Mart is a great source for inexpensive tanks. I don't buy fish from there tho and the stands they sell are sub-par in quality but they do the job!

 

[atmmachine816]

O so buying tanks from Wal-Mart is actually not a bad idea, they aren't bad quality or anything, I had always thought they were but knew there fish were crap at least at mine.

 

[AMS]

Buying fish food is a good idea there too. They dont have much of a selection, but I can get Wardly tubifex, Hikari algae wafers, San Franciso Bay brine shrimp, along with a few other good foods.

 

[atmmachine816]

Ya sometimes I can get tetra but I am mainly buying Omega ONe food now.

 

[wendywc]

Before a couple months ago, I never had checked out Walmart's fish section. I was pleasantly surprised that the one near me had filters with biowheels. However, the fish conditions in the tanks and the betta cups were extremely sad. Supplies and tanks were okay price-wise. But I have found many package deals (for example: tanks with filters, heaters, decor, and plants) and discounts from smaller, independent LFSs.

 

[colemab]

I have had a tank from wal mart since 2001. You can check out my 55 gal tank
Here.

Don't by fish or filters from walmart but the tank has been nice.

 

[GoinNuts]

Walmart is where I just got my 55 gal setop about a month ago. Actually, it wasn't even a remote thought in my head to get back into tropical fishkeeping, but I was there for something else and saw a pallet of the setups marked $76. I though, dang! I cannot pass that deal up.

Turned out, an employee hadn't changed the sign and they were actually supposed to cost $160. But, as per store rules, they had to honor the mismarked price.

So far, I've had no problems but it's only been a month. I don't expect to have any issues with it, other than keeping an eye on the filter to make sure it does it's job well.

As for their fish, like phlawed said, it can be a hit or miss. I do have a 20gal setup in my sons' room with 2 goldfish that I got from there a little over 2 years ago. I haven't had a problem one with them yet. A betta, housed in a 3 gal, that I got from there about 3 years ago is doing great, too. Oh, the 10 gal setup came from Walmart. I forgot that. Same manufacturer of the tank, hood and filter as my new 55 gal, and I've not had a single problem with it in 2 years so that's a good sign, yes?

Back to the fish, my rule of thumb is to wait at least 3 days after they (any fish dealer, not just Walmart) have gotten new stock in before purchasing. If the fish are looking good and active 3+ days out from transport, chances are better that they are most likely healthy.

Lisa

 

[colemab]

About the walmart Tanks:

If you plan on going planted, go ahead and dump the lighting and hood right off the bat.

If you do replace the hood, you can't get a standard glass hood (like a versa top from all glass), they won't fit. You can get a perfecto all glass hood that will work fine though as they are shorter than normal.

Once you have this glass top, you can add any lighting you want. I went with the triple 48 inch T8's by all glass. It only gives me 1.75 wpg on my 55 gal tank but seems like it is more than enough. Go VHO or T5 if you really feel the need or want saltwater.

Also, I am in the process of dumping my (now 5 year old) heater that came with the tank. It still works fine and has served me well over the 5 years but I've heard of problems after the 3 year mark and am just preventing a disaster.