WALMART, WALMART, WALMART........

[freshwatergal]

How many times a day do you feed your fish? I only feed mine flakes once a day as well.

As far as giving my zip code, Im not gonna. I do have a mom & pop lfs close to me, but I don't like to go there. Every fish that I want to get, the guy that owns the place tells me that I don't want it. I was in there one time and told him I was thinking of getting a elephant nose fish...he told me flat out NO. I know they are hard fish to take care of, but to tell someone no?? what's that all about.

If you opened your eyes a eensy weensy bit wider than they are then you'd realize that you could drive a little further to buy fish somewhere else or use a credit card or get a check card from your bank and shop via internet for fish or maybe even breed your own.

My eyes are open, I realize that they could do better. But couldn't everyone? I can not have a credit card right now because I am unemployed! I am paying back student loans and am in debt up to my ears. I can not afford credit card debt!

You are never gonna get enouugh people to boycott them to make a difference. They sell everyday stuff that everyone needs, and most of the time it is cheaper.

Hey...good luck trying to take on the retail GIANT, and what ever other soap box you hope to hop on.

 

[phoenix]

A person does not have to boycott the entire Wal MArt line of goods that would never work with so many people being Wally World shoppers.. The boycott would be of their fish and fish products. If enough people quit buying those products it will be noticed..

Especialy if enough letters are sent to the main office as well, complaining about their fish keeping habits.. and uneducated fish personnel.

I stated this in an earlier post and will say it again. I havent bought fish from Wal Mart in years and will not buy any from them until they change their ways.

Will I alone make a DIFFERENCE? NO!!! but if everyone did like I am doing it might. But that means no more fish rescues or buying JUST that 1 fish I havent seen before or really really like. IT MEANS NO BUYING WALMART FISH PERIOD!!!!!!!!

Freshwatergal drop me a pm and we will hook up on IM or something and maybe I can explain why the LFS in your area might be the way it is. And maybe give you some advice on how to get around their attitude..

 

[silver]

Freshwater,

I understand why you would not like to be treated like that at your LFS. You have many tanks and I'm sure you know at least 75% of what your LFS knows about caring for fish and I'm sure it's very irritating. They are suppose to be professionals at it not mean. Maybe they are trying to protect thier fish a little too much and should back off a tad, but that will probably not happen until they get to know you a little bit more. Some of thost LFS people are vivacious about "thier" fish, with good intentions, but that can hurt peoples feelings, like yourself. Maybe go in there to buy your food and get use to the place and maybe after time you will learn to enjoy going there.....who knows. I don't think you should be burned on a stake for buying fish at Walmart, I am guilty of a fish or two from Walmart as well, but after I joined this Forum and learned a little more about these fabulous creatures I realized that Walmart wasn't good for the fish industry (not to mention every other industry in this country). People think Walmart is GOOD for the community, but it is what is puting all the "mom and pop" stores out of business (like my fav. LFS) and who owns those LFS...? That's right, your mom or his pop or my Uncle Fred and Aunt June. It's a sad thing Walmart is, very sad.

Anyhow,

Good Luck and Happy Fish Keeping!!

Silver

 

[freshwatergal]

I am not the only person this guy has done this to. I was at Wal-Mart, in the fish department, and a guy standing next to me was talking to his buddy about the same store. He said everytime he went in there, the dude told him that he didn't want this fish, that fish, or whatever. He specializes more in cichlids then any other type of fish, and I don't have cichlids, so I don't go there anymore.

I bought a brine shrimo breeder from him, ended up taking it back, and he acted like I was stupid. "It takes longer then 6 hours for the shrimp to hatch ya know??" Yes thank you fish god, I do know.

Who wants to be treated like that? At least at wal-mart I am not made to feel like a infant when I want a fish.

Tiff

 

[Adrinal]

So thats the only other LFS in an hours drive?

I love Indian food. Back in the day there was only one resturant here that made Indian food. Dang good stuff too.
Turns out they treated their employees bad. God, I loved that food. Was like a ritual with my GF and I to go there too. Its a days trip to Chicago too
Still, I just couldnt support the way they treated the employees who had to work or be shipped back to their countrys...
I stopped eating Indian food for a few years. Now there are lots of good Indian resturants!!!

Perhaps fish arn't right for you right now?

 

[Bol]

"It's not like we'd have to take the picts out in public. We could do it discretely and secretively and then we could start some sort of a site or petition with photos for the whole wide world to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "

"I think if we put our sight in the search engines, which I also know quite a bit about, we could get QUITE a few people trying to find Walmart.....that will happen across our site......"

So, you're advocating an active smear campaign, including taking covert pictures, and willfully attempting to divert web surfers looking for a legitimate business.

Please tell me, how do you justify this (deliberate, hurtful, arguably unethical, possibly illegal campaign) as being better than (at most) negligence on the part of a store?

The ends justify the means?


Also, think about why you would like to do this. Is it for "the greater good"? For the betterment of all? or ...

"Walmart put my LFS out of business and they had a family and worked hard. This P*SSES me off ROYALY. "

Witch hunts are terrible ways to settle personal scores.

 

[freshwatergal]

So thats the only other LFS in an hours drive?

Perhaps fish arn't right for you right now?

So...just because I don't have a good LFS Im not suppose to participate in this hobby?? It's not my fault. What kind of an statement is that?? You don't know what's right for me!! I take offense to that statement.

What the hell man?? And yes, now I am pissed!!

 

[meatball]

bought an irridescent shark (however you spell it) from walmart a month ago, still growing strong.

 

[JoKeR]

My walmart is going to have a fish attack on them

 

[phoenix]

Freshwatergal I suggest you go to your LFS and have a heart to heart talk to the owner.

Talk to him and explain you have several tanks, what you have in them and that you are not a newbie to fish. And furthermore you would like to give him your business. BUT that you dont appreciate being talked to like a child. You may get thru to the guy and end up with a very good fish connection and friend.

I had a some what similar deal years ago with a LFS and I told the guy point blank that I liked his fish and shop but if he didnt chill out on telling me what he wanted me to have in my tank and listen to what I wanted I would find someplace else that wanted my business.

He listened and we became good friends after that and he always got the hard to get fish I wanted and made me super deals after that. At one point I was even working part time in his store for him..

Sometimes you just need to talk to the people and make them realise your not one of these people that dont have a clue and that you are into fish and its not just a spur of the moment thing..

Well at the very least it might be worth a try. And I dont think anyone wants you to give up the hobby.

 

[meatball]

freshwatergal, just from your signature i can tell fish are right for you....dont listen to that guy, hell he probably doesnt even own a fish tank

 

[Adrinal]

Welcome to the forums MB. Stick around, read a few posts... I might own a tank or 2

FWG GL do as you wish
I don't think my points are comming across. And, I can't think of a way to get them accross in any other way. GL have fun, enjoy

 

[silver]

Bol,

My personal opinion of your reply was that you feel like I'm attacking your precious Walmart. I don't think this had a darn thing to do with fish and you know it. You are one of those Wally World Gurus that will stand by there Fish Killing Mega-Super-Gigantic Store no matter what. It's funny how upset people will get about Stupid old Walmart.

You are darn right it ticks me off royally that Walmart puts everyone out of business. There is no way around it. I won't support Walmart and I'm sure as H*LL not going to buy any half-eaten, fungus growing, eye-ball popping, upside-down floating half DEAD fish from a super conglomerant CHAIN STORE like Walmart.

I guess now I know what stands between a compassionate, empathetic and environmentally conscious fish keeper and the WALMART fish buyer.

So, you're advocating an active smear campaign, including taking covert pictures, and willfully attempting to divert web surfers looking for a legitimate business.

My gosh man,.....willfully attempting to divert web surfers is exactly how you do it. It's how Shopko does it, Walmart.....even sites like this. In the HTML code of all web pages there is an area where a web designer puts "key words" And these key words are what search engines "spiders" go out and scan for when scanning sites that may match the person's search criteria. This is where ALL sites put key words that they feel will get them the best attention. For example....Walmart would have lets say: camera, Macintosh, bedding.....etc. So you are saying that they are "willfully attempting to divert web surfers looking for a legitimate business" like lets say Bill Gates's Windows business because they put Windows or PC in there??? Come on man..........you must not know much about the web business. They HAVE to put this there if they want people to know what they sell. Just as I will put Fish, Walmart and many others in my "Key words" area of my Title page of my site.

Please tell me, how do you justify this (deliberate, hurtful, arguably unethical, possibly illegal campaign) as being better than (at most) negligence on the part of a store?[

Again, if I didn't know any better I'd sware that you were part owner in this place. An illegal CAMPAIGN.....are you kidding. Negligence on Walmart's part AT MOST WOW....you are brainwashed. And hurtful and unethical.......EXCUSE ME but what do you call keeping half dead fish laying around for little brats to scream and whine at their parents to buy them and since Walmart SELLS IT ALL then you can go down the next isle and buy everything from fish meds to pumps and tanks and so on. Whatever

Witch hunts are terrible ways to settle personal scores.

Witch hunt, eah??? Informing people like you about the dark side of the fish industry is hardly called a witch hunt.....but you may think I'm a witch if you want and so can the rest of you for all I care but I posted this thread so people who want to HELP this cause can....or should I say people who want to sit around the fire burning Walmart employee's vests and pictures of old Wally himself can. Oh won't it be fun......we can roast a big old pig too!!!!!!!!!!!

Supporting a place like this is horrible and you can go ahead and justify it all you want but I am starting my site. All who want to help are MORE THAN WELCOME so we can put a pea sized dent in this truck sized problem.


Silver

 

[Idolz]

There is a new Wal-Mart were I live that isn't half bad for buying fish. In fact its better than some of the really big pet stores. One store (I stoped buying from) had heaters, w/ specified water lines on the side, totaly under water! That kinda scared me off. The only thing that I don't like about Wal-Mart's fish area is that they sell painted fish wich is not my bag.

 

[Bol]

Silver,

My personal opinion of your reply was that you feel like I'm attacking your precious Walmart.

It's not "my precious Wal-mart". See the bottom of this post, if you care. But, yes, I do feel you're attacking Wal-Mart; that seems pretty clear.

I don't think this had a darn thing to do with fish and you know it.

Exactly my point. I think you have a personal vendetta because a local fish store went out of business, and you blame that on Wal-Mart (without citing proof, by the way, that it was Wal-marts "fault" the store went out of business), so you want to see Wal-Mart "suffer".

You are one of those Wally World Gurus that will stand by there Fish Killing Mega-Super-Gigantic Store no matter what.

Obviously, you have me pegged from one post. Thank you for the untrue (some might say slanderous) profiling of my opinions. With brilliant, accurate analysis like that, I'm sure your web campaign will be a huge success and will never have legal problems.

I won't support Walmart and I'm sure as H*LL not going to buy any half-eaten, fungus growing, eye-ball popping, upside-down floating half DEAD fish from a super conglomerant CHAIN STORE like Walmart.

Good for you. I don't think anyone has a problem with that.

My gosh man,.....willfully attempting to divert web surfers is exactly how you do it.

Yes, I know how search engines and meta tags work. You're still advocating "hijacking" people specifically looking for "Walmart" "Fish", and that's borderline sleazy, in my opinion. I also feel that "Everyone else does it" is almost always, at best, a lame excuse -- for someone who is attempting to base their case on "morals", it's hypocritical.

Let me put it this way: Sure, Walmart may use tags such as "camera" "Macintosh" and "bedding", but do they include tags like "Target" and "K-Mart"?

By the way, I notice you didn't mention the "covert pictures" part. But wait a minute...

An illegal CAMPAIGN.....are you kidding.

No, I'm not. It could very well be that taking pictures inside their store(s) without their permission is illegal. I don't know if this is the case or not, hence my use of the qualifier "possibly".

Negligence on Walmart's part AT MOST WOW....you are brainwashed.

How so? Maybe I am. Here's a chance to sway me. Can you give any examples of Wal-Mart fish-keeping policies that would fall into a category other than "negligence", or at the most "willful negligence"? Do they purposefully subject fish to "bad" conditions with the specific intent of harming the fish? Just to be cruel?

And hurtful and unethical.......EXCUSE ME but what do you call keeping half dead fish laying around for little brats to scream and whine at their parents to buy them ...

Dodging the question. What they do has no bearing on what you do. Unless your justification is merely "I'm no worse than they are".

Informing people like you about the dark side of the fish industry is hardly called a witch hunt

Firstly, you informed me of nothing about Wal-Mart that I didn't already know.
Secondly, doing so publicly, and (mind you!) mentioning only Wal-Mart, and not other stores with "bad" fish-keeping practices does in fact make it a witch hunt, in my opinion. Yours, of course, may vary.

but you may think I'm a witch if you want

Just for info a witch hunt is generally considered hunting for witches, not hunting by witches.

Supporting a place like this is horrible and you can go ahead and justify it all you want

I did not attempt to justify supporting Wal-Mart, and their fish-keeping practices.

In fact, if you care (which, at this point, I doubt), I don't like their practices, have never bought a fish there, probably never will, and offer that opinion to anyone that asks. However, my stance on the topic was pretty much summed up by thecichlidaddict on the first page.

I merely asked a question, out of curiosity, which you completely dodged:

Please tell me, how do you justify this (deliberate, hurtful, arguably unethical, possibly illegal campaign) as being better than (at most) negligence on the part of a store?

I eagerly await your answer to this question.