First? IMPRESSED by Walmart

[cell]

Ive just been to the Walmart here in Truro Nova Scotia, Canada, for the fist time, its a very large store, and I was impressed!. There was not ALOT of fish, mostly beginner types, but hey that's what I keep. Prices were 1/2 of what they would be in a chain store. Everything looked healthy, all tanks were clean, nothing dead hanging around, fish all looked happy, and there were even Chicilids(sp?) with babies (the tank was covered over but I peeked) they even had some beautiful wild type Brigs! usually the snails that are dark are of a different species but by the spire these are brigs! I bought 2, and 3 cories. and alot of fish foods (what I originally went there for) I spent 42 bucks, and don't feel guilty! (10 of those dollars was for school stuff tho, poo)

And the woman that was drug out of toys to help getting fish was very friendly and seemed interested in the fish and what i had to tell her about mine, but obviously didn't know much about them because it wasn't her department.

 

[Durbkat]

Well do you know how the bettas were being kept? And maybe they just scooped all the dead ones out when they got their new stock?

 

[cell]

scooping out dead ones is still better then adding new ones in with the dead and dying ones like the pet stores here do. you can count carcasses all over the tanks.

 

[guppymonkey]

And the woman that was drug out of toys to help getting fish was very friendly and seemed interested in the fish and what i had to tell her about mine, but obviously didn't know much about them because it wasn't her department.

HAHAHAHA! Thats hilarious! First you say that you are impressed and then you have to drag someone from a different department to get you fish? How is that good? Its like having to find a gardener to fix your car!

While its somewhat impressive to see a Walmart with clean tanks I would never call them good. Doing what the basics correctly is not something to cheer about it. I don't cheer for a store that does what its supposed to do anyways.

 

[xamdarb]

wow you guys give them a break that is actualy a very good walmart for fish i hhave been there not all of them are bad gezzz prejudice bast@rds

 

[LuckyLoach]

Just like everything in life, you can't classify all things bad just because of a few, or all good things just because of a few. It all depends on who's in charge of the tank. The guys that work in the fish section at the Wal-Mart in my town are both fish keepers. One has 3 tanks at his house, the other has 4. The tanks at that Wal-Mart are always spotless, and the fish are usually completly healthy. Just like the ones that Cell described. I've been to the one in the town I work in, and it's the complete opposite. Just depends on if you have people who care about what they are doing, or someone who is just there to collect a paycheck.

 

[guppymonkey]

You do realize that by buying fish at Walmart (whose selection always sucks and health is always questionable) you are putting local shops out of business and ruining the chances of having NEW shops come into your area right?

Its the same sort of people that complain about how they can't find new fish and wonder why but shop at corporate stores who all have the same fish stocked.

 

[nino]

You do realize that by buying fish at Walmart (whose selection always sucks and health is always questionable) you are putting local shops out of business and ruining the chances of having NEW shops come into your area right?

Its the same sort of people that complain about how they can't find new fish and wonder why but shop at corporate stores who all have the same fish stocked.

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while i agree it's nicer to have local shops versus a huge corporate store, in my town the petsmart is far better than the LFS- even though it carries marine and some specialty fish there are always dead fish in the tanks and the staff are extremely unintelligible about fish. my dad claims everytime he sets foot in that particular LFS it smells of death to him. though not often, there are cases where a small LFS is not necessarily always better than a Walmart or Petsmart.

 

[cell]

there are no local fish stores here in truro, just Walmart, and Pets Unlimited which is basically a Canadian version of Pets Mart or those other big chains that import from puppy mills and giant corperate pet mill companies, and charge 1200 dollars for some sort of mixed mutt dog because they are small, and let their rats and other small animals breed constantly and live on pine bedding, and chew at each other and not give them vet care when they have infections and open wounds, they simly toss them to snakes or into freezers.
Personally I would RATHER purchase from a Walmart that has someone trained with the fish and only the fish, specialization is the key to success. When I lived in a bigger town I would support the LFS simply because the staff was so knowledgeable, and were specialized in the fish and their well being. But now that I live in a small town, I would rather support this Walmart that takes care of their fish correctly, rather then a pet slaughter house.
I'm not saying that this Walmart fish section is the best, just that they do what they should to ensure their fish are well cared for and are supplied basic needs until they are bought. If the Walmart in your area dosn't care for the fish correctly then by all means, don't support them, its your choice, but as long as a paticular establishment cares for their aquaria in a humane manner then there is no reason for them to discontinue supplying fish.

*Steps off Soapbox*

 

[xamdarb]

il buy my fish anywere that they deserve it and walmart in truro is one of them you do realise walmart is a franchise so the walmarts in new york city or california are not making profits of my sales in nova scotia

 

[DanMan092]

I agree that it's not the Wal-Mart, it's the people who work there. In mine, the tanks are clean, but the department workers don't care. They were watching two beautiful male bettas fight to the death because they didn't know what to do. They did have nice plants though But once we went there, and no one was there. We reported to someone, and the guy was called over the loudspeaker. He never came. My dad (who worked at a pet store for 6 or 15, not sure, years) got so pissed off he netted the fish, bagged them, labeled them, and brought them to the check-out aisle. He was pissed the cashier was confused and I was all Good times, good times...

 

[cell]

i think that at Walmart they come in and clean the tanks in the morning then are scheduled to go to other departments afterwards. it wouldn't make sense to stand in the small pet area for 8 hours, not THAT many people want fish, or help, afteral. But still at the Pet store by my house, 2 people work at a time, and one usually hides out in the back.....

 

[WendyinWichita]

I have to give kudos to Walmart. There are about 5 near me that have fish and some are great, some so-so and some terrible. Luckily for me, the nearest one is the best. Walmart has a 90day warranty on their fish here, and that just can't be beat. My kids and I have beat the problem of a person who doesn't know how to dip fish, we dip our own. We know where they keep the bags, nets, and ink pens for marking the bags, so we just go right ahead and dip our own. I have even moved fish from one tank to another when they inadvertently put a docile fish with something more aggressive (dwarf gourami with sailfin mollies). I know when they get their new stock (Thursdays). I do live 30+miles from the nearest LFS, and Wallyworld is only 4 miles from home. I would never ask a Walmart employee for information, if I saw something I needed to know more about, I would look it up on the computer. I think is is just a matter of buyer beware, I have seem LFS that were very nasty. I just wonder if they ever review the video tapes and see us dipping our own fish?

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

Edit

 

[guppymonkey]

I have to give kudos to Walmart. There are about 5 near me that have fish and some are great, some so-so and some terrible. Luckily for me, the nearest one is the best. Walmart has a 90day warranty on their fish here, and that just can't be beat. My kids and I have beat the problem of a person who doesn't know how to dip fish, we dip our own. We know where they keep the bags, nets, and ink pens for marking the bags, so we just go right ahead and dip our own. I have even moved fish from one tank to another when they inadvertently put a docile fish with something more aggressive (dwarf gourami with sailfin mollies). I know when they get their new stock (Thursdays). I do live 30+miles from the nearest LFS, and Wallyworld is only 4 miles from home. I would never ask a Walmart employee for information, if I saw something I needed to know more about, I would look it up on the computer. I think is is just a matter of buyer beware, I have seem LFS that were very nasty. I just wonder if they ever review the video tapes and see us dipping our own fish?

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I have absolutely no idea how you get away with that! Thats actually really kinda incredibly funny. I do that at the store I work at but I do WORK THERE after all. I don't think I would have the courage to do it at some other store.

it wouldn't make sense to stand in the small pet area for 8 hours, not THAT many people want fish, or help, afteral.

If they don't sell that much how about not having a section? It would seem that if the need for a pet section with fish was there then there would be the need for informed workers but after all we are talking about WalMart where informed workers are banned (along with all knowledge of evolution-they are from the South after all). Seriously though, if they had GOOD pet people they would probably have enough work to be busy for 8 hours because people would come to them for questions.