Argh! P@h Refused To Sell Me A Betta

[Hawkins]

ahahaha Gill, you have me thinking now. I would appreciate a PM telling me a little more about how you go about getting P@H shut down...lol. I am always upset when i leave there as there is always some poor fish in a state. I actually met a manager of a P@H t a party once and got chatting. She told me that if a fish is obviously dying, it is policy to leave it in the tank until it does die. Then they fish it out and advise the suppliers. I can't beleive that - if the fish has an infectious disease, he is giving it to all the other fish in there! And I have NEVER seen a tank in quarantine. And believe me, I go in about twice a month if not more, looking for nice food or decoration for my fish. But no more! Unless I decide to start sending tip offs to animal welfare that is...

i pointed out a silver shark in with some angels who was dying, and the bloke put it in the sump..
i dont know how sumps work, but he said it would stand more chance in there because he was away from the angels lol.

 

[BecciMac1987]

The only good thing about the P@H near me is the ice cream van that sits outside.

 

[shelaghfishface]

lmao, dont take it to heart we all know what p@h are like, you may well have ended up regretting buying a fish from there anyway, seems most do

 

[modaz]

have you ever gone in there and found an amount of tanks with their lights off? this is their quarantine new arrivals or if its not on delivery day then the tank is being treated for desease. they dont add the signs as this puts people off buying from other tanks, trust me on that, when ive got my signs in place we dont sell much.

 

[tibby25731]

really? they usually have a fair few tanks with the lights off.... hmmm.

 

[bronzecat]

Personally, our local P@H isn't bad. The staff are generally helpful and are eager to learn. Obviously, there are exceptions, as there is with some independant lfs. P@H just get the bigger bum deal cus they are a national chain and everyone has heard of them. There's an independant family run lfs near here, who managed to kill 3 male bettas in 3 days!! One was eaten by about 30 guppies and one was being ripped to shreds by about 30 x-ray tetras. And this shop only sold fish, and the adult son had bred bettas! I think thats much worse.

The biggest issue at our P@H has to be young male PK's mixed in with the females, which is an easy mistake to make even for experienced keepers

 

[liz2]

A year or so ago I went into P @ H in Yarmouth, UK. I purchased a male betta, and a small tank. The girl said have you a tank up and running? I said yes back at home, But, I then informed her that Bettas aka Siamese fighters do not need filtered water in fact they like their water to be still or they get stressed out. You can tell when they are stressed they get stripes. I keep mine in clean unfiltered water. Is there a problem?
By this time my husband and son had left the shop they could see I was getting on my soap box. I filled the form in they make you fill in and put my home address as Northampton which is 120 odd miles from where I purchased the fish. But I think just because I said I had a tank up and running the girl decided it was OK. They are a useless firm.......

 

[tibby25731]

I would be much happier if my local P@H took on some of my advice (yeah, like I am the experienced fishkeeper - its not quite been 6 months yet! lol!). But they don't, their eyes just glaze over and they parrot the policies. Grr. I once saw a betta in with some tetras, and they were nipping him. he looked very scared and was trying to hide, but they kept finding him again. i called over one of the staff and showed them what was happening, and said that he needed to be moved out or he would die. And he said, well, that is what would happen in the wild. I was gobsmacked. i just walked out, I couldn't say anything. And by the time I got out of the shop, i had tears running down my face. I just could not believe that they would leave a fish there to die, when a simple move of tank would have saved him. I still feel bad for not screaming at them about it...
OK I have a confession to make, people. I have had a betta before I came onto this section of the forum. He was a red vt, whom my husband named Dave (hmmm). I didn't research beforehand - I was very new to fishkeeping and had only very recently found this place. This was before my huge whitespot community tank outbreak which made me really sit up and take notice of the advice given on here, which was so different to that given at my lfs. He seemed fine, though with hindsight, he was swimming up and down at the end of the tank, looking for an escape route. I wasn't au fait with fish behaviur then and just thought it was because he could see a reflection in the glass.
I had him just a few short weeks. then one night, I returned about 2am from a night out and noticed that his tail and dorsal had been badly gnawed. I was shocked, but in no state to do anything - I decided i would deal in the morning.
Yeah, you can guess. Next day he was dead. There was practically nothing left of his tail or fins. 99% certain it was the tetras - I have since seen them nipping at my guppies, who have now been moved to another tank and are flourishing. But as you can see, I learned the hard way about keeping bettas. That is why i am on this part of the forum so much now, soaking up knowledge, as i figure the only way I can even slightly feel better about my past failure is to be the best fishkeeper i can be. And that is why it upsets me so much to see bettas kept with the wrong sort of fish, or to see them recommended as community fish. There were no signs at all of nipping prior to the night of his death. Absolutely none. I know, becuase I used to stare at him every night because I loved the way his fins moved in the water.
Anyway. No, I haven't been back on the sambuca - yet. But I do feel like I have blood on my hands over this and that is why I feel so strongly about keeping bettas in proper conditions. And why I was furious at P@H.

 

[lildavpot]

ARGH! I feel like screaming!
I wanted to buy a betta for my brother who I am going to visit this weekend. The sotre I got my Baby from is too far away and closes early, so i couldn't go there. The store I bought Neptune from had some bettas, but two were very sick looking and the third one looked like he may have finrot, despite being active. So I went to Pets at Home.
I found a betta who looked well and active, and asked to buy him. This is where the trouble started. The lad asked me about the tank he was going into and whether it had been running for a week with a filter. I said no, I am buying him for my brother, who has some mature filter media that we will set the tank up with at the weekend, and in the meantime I will keep him in a large bowl with no filter. However, I will do 100% water changes every day to keep the ammonia down. The kid looked at me and said, no, it is store policy, we can't sell unless you have been running a filter for a week. So he went off to get the manager.
The manager parroted all this back at me, by which time steam was coming out of my ears. I asked him what exactly he thought running a filter in a new tank for one week was going to achieve. He said that bacteria would start to grow. I am so sorry for all this, i need to get it off my chest! ARGH! I asked him where these bacteria were going to come from, and what they were going to eat, to which he replied, you add some stress zyme or cycle. So I asked him what good dead warm bacteria would be to a tank. And then pointed out they have a diagram of the cycle that clearly shows ammonia and asked him where the ammonia was going to come from for these bacteria to eat in week 1. he couldn't answer, obviously. So instead he told me he had a city and guilds in fishkeeping. i laughed. Oh dear. I think I may be banned from that shop now It is a good job i don't buy fish from there. And I have decided to never shop there again unless I have a fishy emergency and it is the only way to save my fish (as they are close and open until 8pm).

Rant over. I know the betta would be happier filtered, but for a few days with daily water changes he would have been fine! And the worst thing is, some chavs wanted one of the bettas and were gonna keep him in a community with danios, tetras and guppies. AND THEY LET THEM BUY ONE! I know, I know, I should have just lied to the kid who was gonna sell him.... but some stupid part of me refused

And I know it is not the shop staffs fault that they get crap training. And I know there is precious little I can do to change things. (Though I am considering a one woman protest outside there one weekend!!) But I am just sooooooooo furious right now. And so sorry for the betta who will be sold no doubt to some idiot

Anyway, i don't wanna start a p@h debate. But some sympathy would be nice

this dodnt happen to be the pets athome in ashton did it.... if so i was in the other day and out of 5 betta fish they had in only 2 were still alive... one was on its last legs propping itself up in a corner.. i desperatly wanted to buy the other but had to stop myself as my tank wasnt fully cycled for it. im hoping somebody did buy it before it died
but yeah they do seem to be strict about who they sell fish to, however you prob had a lucky escape as everytime i have bought fish from them for my community tank ive ended up with fewer fish than i started out with as they bring mad illnesses into it. my motto now is dont buy from them!

 

[tibby25731]

Hi

yeah, it was Ashton Was there a peachy yellowy looking one hiding behind the filter? And the other would be the blue one with red running through it - the one I wanted to buy for my brother. I have had a few fish from there - my first fish were from there and they gave me such awful advice! No way would I put fish from there into a tank with healthy fish - would quarantine every time.
I dread to think what happened to those 2 fish. They probably sold them to some other idiots who were gonna bung it into a tank with lots of nippy fish

 

[lildavpot]

Hi

yeah, it was Ashton Was there a peachy yellowy looking one hiding behind the filter? And the other would be the blue one with red running through it - the one I wanted to buy for my brother. I have had a few fish from there - my first fish were from there and they gave me such awful advice! No way would I put fish from there into a tank with healthy fish - would quarantine every time.
I dread to think what happened to those 2 fish. They probably sold them to some other idiots who were gonna bung it into a tank with lots of nippy fish

at least the peach coloursed one lived i wanted it but dont wanna put anything in the tank i have waiting as its for some reason full of some sort of planaria worms even tho ive never even put food in it? but the blue one wasnt there when i was looking just a load of dead or dyng red ones. they wont let you buy fish unless you have live plants on your tank either there now. heard the talking to somebody a few weeks back... your prob best that you didnt get one from there as the the majority of ties ive got fish from there ive had different diseases and illnesses coming into my tank from white spot... to a spate of random unexplained deaths where my fish just dropped weight drastically and died. thinking it was internal parasites but no treatments seeed to help... so yeah not that im saying stay clear...bt stay clear...

 

[ReMz]

wow reading more about them makes ME frustrated. we dont have those here in the states..... sounds like we should be thankful. The local Petsmart where I live is actually realllllly good for being such a large chain.

That is the problem with corporate policy at a lot of places. The policy is so universal and stupid that all they do is hurt their own sales and cause turmoil for their customers.

Oh well! New day and at least you didn't end up with a diseased betta. Have some more Sambucas and relax . Trying to get them back or trying to deal with them more will be more stress than it's worth.

 

[debbie888]

Well maybe P@H have had a change of plan, I went today, to get a new betta, the tank was all set up and ready, is fully cycled, with a heater, some nice plants and a coconut shell (I have seven tanks in all, so know what I am doing)

After waiting ten minutes to be served, one lad told me he was going on his break, then I saw him talking to someone else, (cheeky mare, the money I spend in there..lol) Anyway finally a young girl came up and asked if I needed any help, I said yep, I want that betta, and 5 oto's please, asked me about my tank, set up, litres, yep I said been set up for 3 months, its 40 litre, with a heater and live plants, she said ok which betta I pointed to it, she said its a female, I said are you sure? I think its male, she said no its female, I said well I think its male, anyway what ever it is, I want it...I said I want 5 oto's too, she said, do you not think you should buy one fish...I said what do you mean, she said well, with nothing being in the tank, I said well as there is nothing in the tank, that is why I am here buying fish, she said well why not just take the betta, I said I want 5 oto's too, I pointed to them and she said, those tadpole thingy's She again tried to dissuade me from buying the oto's. She then said I would not put that betta with another one, I said well if it is female as you said, then I could put it with other females, but as it is male, I know it has to be on its own I said look I have 7 tanks in all, I am not new to fishkeeping, I know about cycling, testing water, feeding, etc...I said I want 5 oto's please, she then got them for me, I understand it is fair to ask questions about peoples tanks, etc but she was someone who just did not know what she was talking about, I am not an expert, but I know a damn site more than she did.

Anyway as I was walking away, a man was in a conversation with another assistant, he was saying he had a 220litre tank with a couple of goldfish in, now do not get me wrong, I am no expert and would not know how many goldfish could be kept in a 220litre, P@H had an offer on of 5 goldfish for £10...he asked for 5 and was refused, the assistant said no I cannot sell you them..he was irrate and asked for a manager, maybe P@H were right and a 220litre was not big enough for 7 goldfish...but he was not having any of it.

Maybe their policy has changed, I do not know, but I know for sure I have not been questioned on anything I have bought from there.

Anyway that is just my experience....!

Debbie

 

[Amunet]

Well... although that situation is frustrating as hell considering that you know exactly what you're doing. At least their policy is going in the right direction.
Yes they definitely need to teach their employees and managers better in proper fish care and such so they know who to sell to etc, but at least they have a very very basic policy going on so they'll know when to definitely not sell to someone.

I would try to contact someone about that. Get those employees more informed so they'll know who the right people are to sell to.

 

[Honeythorn]

What's getting me is how can they possibly enforce their policies? Anyone could walk in and tell them ..well pretty much any story about what setup they have, how long it's been set up, what filter ect, and actually have nothing more than an unfiltered goldfish bowl with some multi coloured gravel that they set up an hour ago.

I have no problem with people asking about my setup when I buy fish, I think it's perfectly reasonable to check if the tank they are going into and it's occupants would be suitable, and advice can be given accordingly if it's needed. But the fact remains that if you know the basics of setting up a tank, filtering cycling ect, then you could invent a perfectly convincing fabrication and they're really none the wiser at all.

There are no Pets@home stores anywhere near me so I haven't witnessed these policies first hand. They sound rather insane though.