Fish Guarantee - Do You Return A Dead Fish?

[wesblog]

Just curious, but have you guys ever had a fish die within the 10 day guarantee? How did you handle it? Did you return it to the store or were you too embarrassed?

On a related subject, my new Bush Fish didn't make it. I would like to say it was because he seemed completely stuck inside one of the fake Top Fin tree roots, but I know fish can almost always work their way out.

I've had the tank for several months with healthy fish (bichir, pleco, 2 dantoids, and 2 Acei Cichlids [also new]) so I wasn't testing my levels (other than passive ph [8.2], ammonia [.25] meters, and temp [79]). The Bush Fish lasted 7 days and was eating, but he hid a lot.

I'm guessing I will swallow my pride and return him tomorrow for credit while I determine what went wrong.

 

[UBigBobby]

Most guarantees require a water sample. They'll test your water and if they find that the water parameters are not good, they will often refuse the return.

 

[wesblog]

That must be new. The last time it happened to me I just took in the fish and said "My Midas Cichlid didn't like him." ... But that was around 5 years ago, and "killed" is different from "died".

A quick Google search confirms:

 

[Ficious]

weve all had fish die...and ive never, not once, returned the fish; but more often than not my fish dont die within 14 days (local guarantee)

 

[Mikaila31]

I've returned dead fish a few times, but its more based on cost than anything else. The stores I buy from are over a half hour away, so it has to be a pretty expensive fish for me to go return it. Otherwise I just have to suffer the loss.

 

[sic0198]

lol, All I ever get is a 3 day return policy.

 

[england]

No ive never bothered because i feel it's the luck of the draw, unless maybe i had an exspensive fish, even then i would think well i brought the fish from the shop I looked over the tank first and saw no unhealthy fish or sign's of illness so either i was just unlucky or there was a problem at my end

 

[Jdubz]

I've only ever returned fish once but my water was shocking (i was young) plus it cost more to go back to the fish shop then the fish i buy.

 

[loachman]

I did once, but that was b/c the fish didn't make it home alive. It was about a 10 minute drive.

 

[rdd1952]

Ive never returned one even though I had some die within 24 hours of adding them to the tank. I think it's usually a matter of the fish being injured during the netting process at the store as I see so many of the employees at the chain pet stores that really don't know how to net a fish. The ones I lost just don't look to be in good shape when I took them from the bag and added them to the tank. The reason I've never returned any is that I feel it's not really worth the effort. With gas at over $3 a gallon until just recently, I would end up spending more on gas to return it than I did on the $2.99 tetra, not to mention, having to argue with the store employees if your nitrate is 5 ppm and they say it should be at 0 because they don't understand the nitrogen cycle.

 

[Dwarf-P.]

i have had a clown plec die within 24 hours of buying him but this was my fault, it was when i had just started and i dont think i had even heard of test kits i took the sample back coz they said they would sort something out on the phone, but in the end he tried to convince me that my jewel filter wouldnt have enough surface area for bacteria colonisation, he said i needed to get a ugf which i didnt belive so i just tried getting some bio rings(cirax in this case) and a test kit.

when ever i go into most fishshops, excluding one in my area i always get the feeling they are trying to get you to buy something thats not neccesary or tell you information that will not help, one bloke said i had to leave the water over night in a bucket before a water change and then dechlorinate it, he said this was v important so that the fish dont get whitespot

 

[Davo86]

I'm guessing I will swallow my pride and return him tomorrow for credit while I determine what went wrong.

Well their compatibility and water stats are both not suitable so i wouldn't really expect a refund,

 

[minxfishy]

Ive never returned one, only had one die within 48 hrs anyway, a ram a while back and just took it as her being sensitive, as they are.

The thing thats always seemed funny to me, was, if you take a sample of water, how would they know if it was a sample from your tank or your tap?

 

[wesblog]

I like how they specify the sample and fish be "in separate containers."

I think the LFS should go ahead and test the water of anyone dumb enough to bring in their water sample with a floating fish in it.

 

[rdd1952]

The thing thats always seemed funny to me, was, if you take a sample of water, how would they know if it was a sample from your tank or your tap?

Always wondered the same thing. I figured if I ever took one back, I'd just run a few tubes of water from the tap and take it in. Not likely to find any harmful toxins in my tap water. And you could really freak them out if you told them you were so confident in the purity of your tank water that you wouldn't have a problem drinking it and then took what they didn't use for the tests and chugged it.