Disgusted With P@h

[Tokis-Phoenix]

My Pets At Home is actually fairly decent for a LFS (nicely planted tanks & lots of healthy fish, never see any dead or near dead ones in the tanks etc), i simply don't go there much though as they are terrible for having basic necessities in stock (they have sold out of basic things like dechlorinator, goldfish food & algae wafers etc a lot in the past). I guess like a lot of things in life, if its not one thing its another .

 

[JoshuaA]

So why sell fish when you don't give them the care they need and you sell them to customers with tankd that are not suitable. And they give customers rubbish advise

supply and demand

...and of course the opportunity cost, they can cram as many fish in as possible and keep costs down but the value of what isn't chosen is the quality of stock diminishes.

At the end of the day I still buy certain goods from the store purely because of its convenience on opening times etc, usually gerbil/rabbit chews and some dog toys. Sometimes I'll pop in to buy a thermometer or what not but I don't buy fish stock there. I can honestly say I enjoyed the first few rants about P@H when I joined the forum however they quickly become inflated with made up figures about how many dead fish and about how a customer was told they could fit 1,000 neons in their Elite 60 tank. I don't know what to believe apart from my personal experience.

Morale of the story, you get what you pay for. Unfortunately usually which ever large store you go to and NOT just P@H you won't get that much. I use a specific LFS though the prices on things can be seriously inflated the fortunately fish stock is fairly priced but well maintained.

 

[fluffycabbage]

My local P@H is rubbish for knowing what fish to put in which tank (eg a betta with 50 gouramis seems a recurrent theme in mine ) whenever i go to that retail park i look in all the tanks to see if there are any dead fish, and if there are i tell them. i also ask why thay were put in with xyz. sometimes they have an answer, usually not. the manager has no interest in the welfare of the fish either. when i hear them reeling off the list of things required before taking away a fish, i cringe. i dont know why they even bother! i have saved quite a few fish from an certain death there.
However, they do use tap water in their tanks and not RO units, which is where i have a huge problem. Other lfs's in the area including MA use these, and it really bothers me. Probably because every time ive bought fish from MA at least one has died, if not the majority of the group They have no answer for me when i report deaths every time, and when i recently rang them if they used RO water. Apparently theres no connection between fish moving from RO water to tap water and dying quickly.

Anyway enough of my rant.

P@H might be crap in some ways, but at least your fish will live once you've put them in your tank!!

 

[Vidster]

Now i have had a chance to calm down a bit i realise it wasn't so much the store that was at fult but the staff they choose to leave in charge of the care and well being (although P@H obviously do the hiring and training), of the live stock. If P@H made it some sort of policy to have at least one lead staff member that was passionate about fish then the stores would be much better.

I know if i were looking after the aquatic section there would be no dead fish in the tanks and the younger members of staff wouldn't be selling people fish the customers tanks weren't ready for.

 

[mbsqw1d]

+1 for pets@home being terrible for fish. I'd be interested in what this booklet has to say...

The problem we face is that the majority of people out there don't understand how it is possible to be cruel to a fish. (fish have the memory of 2 seconds and all that non-sense). And how you will still find goldfish in bags given away as prizes at fun-fairs etc etc

 

[Carlovel1]

I have 6 P@H in my city in London and pretty all of them are s****y.
For example, staff telling customers a Common plec is ok in a 20 litre tank, P@H putting Tiger BArbs with Bettas and putting multiple Male Vailtail bettas together, high prices, loads of dead Angelfish at the bottom of their tanks. lol the list goes on but I would avoid them at all costs

 

[Skittle]

Couldn't agree more with Carlove1...
But don't the people that work there have some kind of conscience? And surely there is something to be said for having a bit of pride in your work... how is that possible when the tanks look as though they haven't been cleaned since the bronze age? I know this is a generalisation of P@H, and not all should be tarred with the same brush, it just seems as though in this instance it's the majority rather than a minority.

I took a trip to Crewes Hill in Enfield a few weeks back, and in one of the shops I actually had to control myself from getting too upset. The state of the fish were appalling, all of them- in particularly the marines looked v under fed and the conditions of the tanks were disgusting. I know some marines are notoriously hard to feed, but isnt this even more of a reason why the licences for these kind of fish shouldn't be handed out willy nilly.

Is there some kind of fish version of the RSPCA, or a socitey who could do something about the state of some of these outlets?

Skittles

 

[Carlovel1]

Couldn't agree more with Carlove1...
But don't the people that work there have some kind of conscience? And surely there is something to be said for having a bit of pride in your work... how is that possible when the tanks look as though they haven't been cleaned since the bronze age? I know this is a generalisation of P@H, and not all should be tarred with the same brush, it just seems as though in this instance it's the majority rather than a minority.

I took a trip to Crewes Hill in Enfield a few weeks back, and in one of the shops I actually had to control myself from getting too upset. The state of the fish were appalling, all of them- in particularly the marines looked v under fed and the conditions of the tanks were disgusting. I know some marines are notoriously hard to feed, but isnt this even more of a reason why the licences for these kind of fish shouldn't be handed out willy nilly.

Is there some kind of fish version of the RSPCA, or a socitey who could do something about the state of some of these outlets?

Skittles

Ahh Crews Hill, I go there regularly
And also, I think I know what shop your talking about, if I remember correctly, its the same shop that sells Colored/Dyed Tetras and keeps a Giant Gourami in a 400litreish tank. And loads of the fish have sunk bellies
Absolutly appalling

 

[jpeterson]

Not another P@H topic. Bored..Bored.....Bored...........BORED. Don't go there, SIMPLE! You wouldn't go to eat at a scruffy horrible cafe that has been shut down many times for food poisoning.

 

[Skittle]

Ahh Crews Hill, I go there regularly
And also, I think I know what shop your talking about, if I remember correctly, its the same shop that sells Colored/Dyed Tetras and keeps a Giant Gourami in a 400litreish tank. And loads of the fish have sunk bellies
Absolutly appalling

That'd be it.
And on the way out, the guy had the tenacity to wish me a nice day! Grr i wanted to throttle him. There are some really nice shops up there too though.

 

[jpeterson]

If everyone stopped talking about them and using them they would have to close because of no business. But weirdly enough the ones who complain use them the most!!!!!!!!!!

 

[RustedKnight]

I think pets at home varies everywhere.

My local pets at home is very good, there's atleast 3 aquatic specialists there, all with different areas of expertise.

Sure some of the staff are a bit crap, but as one of the girls said last time I was there, they are willing to learn, but noone has the time or patience to teach them.

So basically, it's down to management failure.

 

[Carlovel1]

Ahh Crews Hill, I go there regularly
And also, I think I know what shop your talking about, if I remember correctly, its the same shop that sells Colored/Dyed Tetras and keeps a Giant Gourami in a 400litreish tank. And loads of the fish have sunk bellies
Absolutly appalling

That'd be it.
And on the way out, the guy had the tenacity to wish me a nice day! Grr i wanted to throttle him.

I'd do the same thing!

Not another P@H topic. Bored..Bored.....Bored...........BORED. Don't go there, SIMPLE! You wouldn't go to eat at a scruffy horrible cafe that has been shut down many times for food poisoning.

lol when I went to P@H, it was my first and last time, I don't think im that stupid to go back there

 

[Mickfender]

My pets at home in great yarmouth seems to be getting better, never seen any dead fish in tanks, They used to have very little choice in fish but now have loads of different fish. The tanks are always spotless,also they ask alot of questions about tank and set up before selling the fish. Just my input but i have bought fish from 3 different shops and they have been the only ones to ask any questions about set up and tank,and the plants they have are really healthy looking. Hopefully this is the way all there shops are going or maybe we just lucky here. Mick

 

[Skittle]

As Rusty said, there are some good ones about, as with most branched stores. However, management failure (sp?) about teaching staff compatibility of fish and water chemistry, cannot be blamed for leaving dead fish in tanks, or just lack of cleaning. Again, I know this is a generalisation.

Regardless of whether or not we stop visiting them or talking about them, people who are not as well informed on the subject, or who are too impatient to wait to cycle the tank as told by other stores, will use these type of places as an easy alternative. I think it's just a shame that there is no kind of authority to report these places to, rather than hoping it will stop happening.

Skittles