WTF is wrong with PetSmart???

[Sky042]

Today I was at petsmart adn was looking at plants. My petsmart has this three tierd tank for the plants wehre the tall plants are in the top tier and short and short are in the other two. the tanks all spill into each other. However the water doesn't appear to be very well filtered which isn't a big deal for plants but to my suprise I noticed somthing moving in the tank!!!


There was a freaking fish...well actually several in each teir the top teir looked like a few tetras. the middle one had a bala shark a tiger barb and I'm not sure what else. the bottom tier was too densely planted to make out what sort of fish were moving around.

Then it hit me when I dipped my fingertips in the water. IT'S NOT HEATED!!!!!!!!!

I was going to ask the clerk what the hell those fish were doing but she was too busy with a customer.....which is where it got worse. I hear the sentence"I have a 10 gallon tank and need an algae eater" Clerk:"here ya go we'll give you one of these little pleco's"

then another guy 20 gallon starter kit in the cart and a bag of 9-10 black phantom tetra's in the bag and the other clerk explaining about the 14 day fish policy. It was too much I had to leave.

 

[juliethegr8t]

That's no good. Those stores aren't warm either, usually all air-conditioned and such. Blah! The stuff with the plecos and starter fish happens ALL the time at chains, I hate to say. It's really nothing unusual. I mean, it used to make me very angry and of course still bothers me, but I just seem to turn my head to it now. I have tried to make a difference, to no avail...*sigh*

 

[Sky042]

the pleco thing I've heard enough times before that it's never bugged me. But the tropical fish in the cold water thing really got my goat.

 

[DOLORES]

Today I was at petsmart adn was looking at plants. My petsmart has this three tierd tank for the plants wehre the tall plants are in the top tier and short and short are in the other two. the tanks all spill into each other. However the water doesn't appear to be very well filtered which isn't a big deal for plants but to my suprise I noticed somthing moving in the tank!!!


There was a freaking fish...well actually several in each teir the top teir looked like a few tetras. the middle one had a bala shark a tiger barb and I'm not sure what else. the bottom tier was too densely planted to make out what sort of fish were moving around.

Then it hit me when I dipped my fingertips in the water. IT'S NOT HEATED!!!!!!!!!

I was going to ask the clerk what the hell those fish were doing but she was too busy with a customer.....which is where it got worse. I hear the sentence"I have a 10 gallon tank and need an algae eater" Clerk:"here ya go we'll give you one of these little pleco's"

then another guy 20 gallon starter kit in the cart and a bag of 9-10 black phantom tetra's in the bag and the other clerk explaining about the 14 day fish policy. It was too much I had to leave.

well.... that happened to me 2 .... when i started with this "oh i want fishes" my uncle started giving me advices where to buy the fishes adn where to buy the decor such as plastic plants , gravel, heaters 2 and all that stuff.... i dunno if y'all ever heard about animal jungle, i think they only are here in VB , i dunno, the thing is that thats the place he told me to buy the fishes, so that they we went there to see what kind they had and they were amazingly good, AND cheap and healthy and the plants were really cool too, also they sell reptiles domestic pets, and others, and i asked him, but why we dont go to petsmart? and he told me? well ....we're gonna go right now and you'll see why.
we got there and i started to look at the fishies i was like Oh holly ####! there was a bunch of tanks with a circle of deads fishes in the bottom center.... it was horrible! and he was staring at me and he told me that they also have juss a few filter for a certain quantity of tanks.... and that they dont take good care of them, the only good thing that they selled good, were products such as decor,supplies and stuff but not animals.... so it was a big surprise for me and the water of the plants it was D i R R R R R T Y i was like eww so thats my story about PetSmart. THEY SUUUUCKK taking care bout poor lil fishies
and also, in animal jungle i've saw like a whooole table full of master kits! and in this place theres a manager for every kind of animal, like theres a manager for, reptiles and amphibius, another for fishes, another for plants and another for mammals wich is pretty cool and obviuosly at PS they defenetly dont have that quality

HTH with your comment sky

 

[nightlife20]

well i had a realy good day on monday

with it being a bank holiday id requested it off from work so we could have a 'family' day out ('family' meaning dawn wanders off by self lookin at an buying fish/plants and losing family for an hr)

we went bridgemere water gardens heres the flow of converstation from one female say in early 30's with staff member whilst im standing gawping at plants lol

lady: hi, im interested in setting up a small tank for my daughter, ever since watchin nemo shes been realy into it all!!! <<gettin excited as she speaks>>
<<my face at this point >>
staff mem: well, im realy glad your are willing to help your child into a great hobby, but im afraid i need to point somthing out, nemo is a saltwater fish wich can cost alot of money, you would be better of starting your child into the hobby slowly so that she has time to learn, and therefor u can learn with her.

me << >> nice one

silly lady : well ok, i noticed a tank at the bottom there <points> and i wanted to know if that would be ok for a start?

hero of fishes (staff) : well..... its only a 5gal tank, she wouldnt be able to have much in that i suggest starting bigger, say somthing around 20gals that way she can have a few fish that she realy likes an dosnt have to worry about overstacking an killing the fish

(in comes snotty whinning little brat)

brat: MUMMY I WANT THIS TANK HERE AND I WANNA NEMO FISH AN OOHHHHH I WANT THIS FISH HERE!!! <<pointing to goldfish>>

mum: ok ok we will see what mummy can get today and the man says u can have loads of fishes in this tank here, would u like it?

brat: yes i want it now!!!

<<my face at this point manners??!!???!!!?? >>

gladiator of fish keepering staff members: im afraid you wont be able to take fish today or even next wekk.. if you take a tank today with all the other stuff u will need (runs off big list) then i wouldnt expect u to get any fish untill u have it all set up, and have let it settle for a while and also started your cycling process (runs off into big explanation
brat: i want fish NOW MUMMY!!!
mum: sorry sweetheart the man says no, we cant but we can then take time makeion the tank look just how u want it...
end of saga me << >>>


i could have kissed him all over mind u he was dishy but id never seen anythin like it i was sooooooo ready to jump in if he had said yes to her ...

 

[Fiddlesticks]

Stories like that make me want to open my own fish store, and make it a point to only hire people who know what their doing.

 

[pendragon]

Today I was at petsmart adn was looking at plants. My petsmart has this three tierd tank for the plants wehre the tall plants are in the top tier and short and short are in the other two. the tanks all spill into each other. However the water doesn't appear to be very well filtered which isn't a big deal for plants but to my suprise I noticed somthing moving in the tank!!!

We have two PetSmart stores in my town, both of which I've visited a bazillion times, and I've been to a third in another town fairly recently. All three have the three-tiered spillway tanks for their plants, but none of them have ever had any fish in there. I have to think that the ones in yours were the result of either a stupid employee or customers/kids who thought it would be cute to put them in there while no one was looking. As a company, they don't put fish in those tanks.

Still, that doesn't make it any more pleasant to see.

pendragon!

 

[Fish Buddy]

we got there and i started to look at the fishies i was like Oh holly ####! there was a bunch of tanks with a circle of deads fishes in the bottom center.... it was horrible! and he was staring at me and he told me that they also have juss a few filter for a certain quantity of tanks.... and that they dont take good care of them, the only good thing that they selled good, were products such as decor,supplies and stuff but not animals.... so it was a big surprise for me and the water of the plants it was D i R R R R R T Y i was like eww so thats my story about PetSmart. THEY SUUUUCKK taking care bout poor lil fishies

I don't think that you can blame the intire store chain for one weak link. not all petsmarts are dirty or have a pile of dead fish in it. I work at a petsmart in Kitchener, ont. and our store manager is very clear on taking the time to care for ALL the animals properly. Please don't judge all petsmarts as being the same (dirty, clean, whatever)- they are a franchise and it is hard to hire ickthiologists all the time...

 

[thecichlidaddict]

FYI tropical fish, for the most part, have no problems surviving in unheated water. They can handle 65° water no problem. Obviously this is not recommended long term, and as always any temperature change should be gradual, but for those 'freaking out' about unheated tanks... it isn't as bad as it may sound.

 

[Shizat]

The 4 tier tank you are talking about is like 250 gallons total with a underground sump and heater. The fish in that tank are fish that people have dumped off onto petsmart that they are trying to adopt out. And when you work at a fish store that offers a guarantee you'll find that its hard to deny people fish that really want them. A lot of customers are ignorant and want to do things their own way, little joey wants 10 fish today and I have to get them for him. If I know the fish is going to die I give them no guarantee.

 

[Captain Canuck]

Several years ago I experienced what Nightlife20 described. Except I was the kid and the adult, I wanted a fish tank and knew nothing about fish at the time. The local PetSmart told me that if I bought the tank that day, I would need to come back in a week to get a water test and then buy my fish. I never got a tank until 2003 and by then I had done some research and knew why the store would not sell me fish immediately.

 

[tstenback]

I agree that there are problems with alot of the LFS chains. There are however good and bad stores in these chains and in each store there are sometimes very knowledable people. As mentioned there are disasters galore but not all of these are the fault of the lfs or the employee as Shizat has stated...it is a business and the customer despite advice to the contrary will insist on getting his/her own way. The issue of heaters is a mute point if the ambient temp in the store is high enough to keep the water temp in the aquaria at an acceptable level for the fish. It may not be perfect but it may be acceptable. How many of us actually try to inform the store or department manger when these things are noticed. If you do power to you as you have strong convictions, but most do not. If we are going to continually get on the case of the LFS here on the forum, and we should, we must also be willing to advise management people about our concerns. I usually write my concerns in a letter and address copies to the department and store management. If done a polite manner it can sometimes make a difference. Also approaching the employee in a professional manner after all customers have left the area can have a beneficial effect as well. Often the employee has no idea that what he/she just did is wrong and would love to know the right way, after all it makes them look better in the public eye and makes them more confident that they know the correct way to complete a task or have the right information to give when asked "how many of these can i have in my tank". Just my $.02

 

[cometcattle]

My Petsmart rocks. Always clean tanks. No heater would work in my store, it always seems like it 110F. I think those tiered plant tanks ARE heated.

 

[Sky042]

The petsmart I'm talking about their fishtanks themselves are actually in very nice condition. It's just those fish in with the plants. If they're heated they someone needs to turn the heat up felt like ice water to me and it was cold outside so my cold fingertips should have felt rather warm in tropical water.

 

[DOLORES]

we got there and i started to look at the fishies i was like Oh holly ####!  there was a bunch of tanks with a circle of deads fishes in the bottom center....  it was horrible! and he was staring at me and he told me that they also have juss a few filter for a certain quantity of tanks.... and that they dont take good care of them, the only good thing that they selled good, were products such as decor,supplies and stuff but not animals.... so it was a big surprise for me and the water of the plants it was D i R R R R R T Y i was like eww so thats my story about PetSmart. THEY SUUUUCKK taking care bout poor lil fishies 

I don't think that you can blame the intire store chain for one weak link. not all petsmarts are dirty or have a pile of dead fish in it. I work at a petsmart in Kitchener, ont. and our store manager is very clear on taking the time to care for ALL the animals properly. Please don't judge all petsmarts as being the same (dirty, clean, whatever)- they are a franchise and it is hard to hire ickthiologists all the time...

yeah your rite, but i saw the same thing in 2 petsmarts thats why i judge all of'em ....sorry bout that