Was At The Fish Shop Yesterday......

[sputnick]

Believe it or not there is actually one guy who asks the good questions, and he works in a chain store of all places! hope may not be lost! The lady at the LFS is also very considerate about what the fish need. although she skips somethings herself but all her fish seem healthy and happy.

 

[Mikey1]

fish are alot more difficult to take care of than your average household pet....
 
what do you do for a dog or cat?....take him to the vet once a year, the work is done for you....give him a bowl of food and some water....a bit of neglect will not kill your average household pet, like it will a fish....thats the difference

 

[This Old Spouse]

I was at a WalMart a couple of years ago, and the young guy who manned the fish section was one of the more knowledgeable fishkeepers I've ever had the pleasure. He knew every fish there, what their needs were, their behavior, how big they would get, etc. The tanks were spotless and I didn't see a single dead fish. If only this was the rule and not the exception.

 

[Shelster]

[quote name="this old spouse
 
It's funny to me that when Dad walks into a pet shop with child to pick out a puppy, one of the first questions out of his mouth is, 'how big will it get?' but that question is rarely asked when buying fish. [/quote]

They see the fish are going into an allocated space, and can even be out of sight out of mind, whereas dogs are in your actual living space.

All we can do is educate our friends who have tanks, and hopefully they will educate their friends etc etc - then you do have the folk who just don't care. - that comes with any animal though unfortunately.

 

[Mikey1]

i think most parents see a dog or cat as a lifetime commitment, and fish not so much,
 
thats why they give more thought to getting a dog or cat
 
they see fish as being easily "disposable"

 

[MBOU]

Unfortunately, shops aren't required to join Oata or the Big Fish Campaign and so on, many of the independants don't bother and its unfortunate.... maybe instead of whinging about seeing these shops stocking these big fish and having untrained staff, you should be petitioning to the right people that it should be made a requirement that stores are a member of Oata, that the join the pledge to not sell 'big fish' and that their staff have at very least the basic formal qualification.
 
Not that the qualification means much when you are only given very basics and taught the questions to ask but not what answers are acceptable lol.
 
People are right, it just isn't acceptable as it is now but you are seriously all complaining to the wrong people, no good you sitting here griping about stuff on the forums, if it really matters to you... do something about it.

 

[lukyjay]

I don't know if this counts towards this thread, but it's about idiots and fish so it might interest you if you're in to losing faith in humanity. In science class at my high school we used to have guppies to learn. I can't remember what we were learning, it might have been the cycle of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates maybe? Anyway, the teacher was writing on the board with his back to the class, my friend picked up the small jar the 3 guppies were in and drank it all, swallowing the guppies whole. The teacher did not notice, but one of the students did and phoned the RSPCA (animal protection in Australia) and that kid got suspended for 2 days after the school got contacted by either the child's parents or the RSPCA (I was told by the teacher it was the RSPCA, but I think he might have been trying to scare us). He didn't get sick or anything by the way, said he felt the big lumps go down his throat, felt like when you choke on a bun or some bread from not chewing it properly and you have to drink water to force it down, it was exactly like that.

 

[This Old Spouse]

It used to be a challenge here to be able to swallow goldfish whole. The practice always disgusted me.
 
At any rate, I realize we're preaching to the choir here, but I think the more of us that complain to our LFS staff about their practices the better. 

 

[leighton_87]

Unfortunately, shops aren't required to join Oata or the Big Fish Campaign and so on, many of the independants don't bother and its unfortunate.... maybe instead of whinging about seeing these shops stocking these big fish and having untrained staff, you should be petitioning to the right people that it should be made a requirement that stores are a member of Oata, that the join the pledge to not sell 'big fish' and that their staff have at very least the basic formal qualification.
 
Not that the qualification means much when you are only given very basics and taught the questions to ask but not what answers are acceptable lol.
 
People are right, it just isn't acceptable as it is now but you are seriously all complaining to the wrong people, no good you sitting here griping about stuff on the forums, if it really matters to you... do something about it.

What I do is take my business elsewhere

 

[MBOU]

And the shops probably don't care for every customer they lose.. they gain several new ones and its the new customers buying new tanks that they gain money from...

 

[CezzaXV]

When I was very little I remember we had a gold fish and a single zebra danio in a 3 gal... They both lived for three years

 
I think that's part of the problem with fish. We can sit here and say how terrible the conditions are all the time, but the owners just say "Well, they're still alive so they must be doing alright!"
 
I don't mean this cruelly, but there are some fish that I really wish would just die to teach their owners a lesson. The problem is that it takes effort to keep a fish well and happy, but unfortunately if you don't put that effort in, the little blighters still go on!

 

[TallTree01]

This seems to have opened old wounds in many people. Just wish I had the guts to say something to them.....

 

[Lunar Jetman]

This seems to have opened old wounds in many people. Just wish I had the guts to say something to them.....

You could report them but I can't see much happening there as you don't know the customer so you have no real evidence. I think all you can really do is take your custom elsewhere. Confronting the staff in a shop is probably not going to get you very far to be honest.

 

[MBOU]

If its a major chain, write a letter FAO Store Manager or ask for Head Office address (they wont give out phone numbers) and write to head office... depending on the problem, you can guarantee then that staff will at very least get a ticking off. The more upset the customer is (not angry!) the more the company is likely to react.
 
Doesnt matter what store it is really, just make sure complaint is in writing, much harder to just... 'lose' a letter than is playing chinese whispers. And make sure it is FAO store manager.

 

[TallTree01]

I had to go there to pick up dog food but ended up watching the fish for a 1/2 hour.