Pets At Home Policies

[jelliebean]

does anyone know what pets at home policies actually are regarding buying fish [mainly guppies] ?

 

[Ian H]

pay money = get fish???

 

[orange shark]

gotta be over 16?

 

[geo7x]

What's the query behind this? I don't understand.

 

[fish are friends....]

They will also refund your money if your fish die within the first 72 hours. Well, i think it's 72 hours anyway. You have to bring the dead fish and your reciept for proof!

oh, and mine usually make sure that you have had your tank set up for over 7 day!

 

[fourthtimelucky]

Fairly sure the policies vary from store to store (possibly even staff member to staff member!)

Some have asked me questions about my setup, water stats etc, but most haven't. Staff knowledge very variable (ranging from 'what's cycling?' to some very useful info)

I always ask if they keep fish themselves, that gives me some idea of how seriously I should take them. Local P@H in Norwich had a work-experience student from a fish-keeping college course last time I went in, he really knew his stuff.

 

[jelliebean]

What's the query behind this? I don't understand.

went into kings lynn store to buy 2 female guppies as have a male already for tank that has been set up for 2 months and they said "NO"

 

[Ian H]

Did you ask why they said no?

 

[jelliebean]

Did you ask why they said no?

had not been set up long enough?

 

[shelaghfishface]

WELL THEN GO BACK WITH YOUR TEST READING (oops caps) and explain to them the cycle you did and what you know about fishkeeping,

 

[jelliebean]

WELL THEN GO BACK WITH YOUR TEST READING (oops caps) and explain to them the cycle you did and what you know about fishkeeping,

they said that it is all the pets at home policies that NO guppies will be sold to anyone who has not had a tank set up for at least 3 months or more...

there was a man also in the store who wanted to buy a couple of angel fish and they asked if he had other fish in his tank and he said yes guppies/neons and a few other fish and they refused to sell him the angel fish as he had guppies in his tank...we have had tropical fish for over 30 years and this is the first time we have ever heard of this happening..they said it would be against the law to sell them to him, and if he did get them elsewhere then he would be miss treating his fish !!! will definitely not go back there.....

 

[tenohfive]

WELL THEN GO BACK WITH YOUR TEST READING (oops caps) and explain to them the cycle you did and what you know about fishkeeping,

they said that it is all the pets at home policies that NO guppies will be sold to anyone who has not had a tank set up for at least 3 months or more...

there was a man also in the store who wanted to buy a couple of angel fish and they asked if he had other fish in his tank and he said yes guppies/neons and a few other fish and they refused to sell him the angel fish as he had guppies in his tank...we have had tropical fish for over 30 years and this is the first time we have ever heard of this happening..they said it would be against the law to sell them to him, and if he did get them elsewhere then he would be miss treating his fish !!! will definitely not go back there.....

That would appear to be a case of cutting your nose off to spite your face. Your one man protest won't affect their trade, but will affect the options available to you when picking fish.

Personally my advice would be to go in knowing what you want to get and thoroughly researching it, then going to wherever has the best specimens/most healthy stock. It seems to be a safe rule to say don't trust anything your LFS says to you and verify it elsewhere-unless you know their advice is trustworthy (from experience.)

 

[maximinimus]

I was on the search for a nice pair of Kribensis a few years ago. My usual 2 LFS didn't have any females in, they had loads of males

I had heard from a friend at uni that Pets@Home had some nice ones in, so I went on over. After some questions about my stocking, tank size, caves etc (3 P.Leopoldi angels, queen arabesque plec in a 180L with lots of natural bogwood caves at the time) they refused to sell them to me because "My tank is too small for kribensis".

I had already done my reading and know that p.leopoldi don't get anywhere near as big as their common cousins, and that 3 angels and a mini plec was nowhere near overstocking for a 6 month old tank, so I asked to speak to the manager, who after hearing my circumstances agreed to sell me a pair of kribs.

The next thing I saw terrified me, the sales guy pulled a bag out from under the sink, put 3 squirts of stress coat in it and proceeded to fill the bag with tap water! I asked him if he was going to put my fish in that bag, he said he was so I asked if he could use the water in the tank they are being kept in. He refused to use the water from that tank as he put it because "he would have to refill the display tank".

I told him that I wasn't happy about needing to use stress coat, healthy fish shouldn't need it and that there was no way I would risk transporting a fish in fresh tap water. I told him to leave it and I would go elsewhere where they know how to handle fish.

I was pretty annoyed at the time, but I'm quite lucky with the area I live, pets@home is around the same journey time as wharf aquatics.

With all that said, some other LFS treat their customers like mugs. I was in a shop yesterday buying some plants (now that the dollars are gone ), there was a customer in there that said they bought their tank from there the day before, and they would like some fish for it. The guy in the shop sold them around £40 worth of fish knowing full well that they would die from NTS.

 

[jelliebean]

That would appear to be a case of cutting your nose off to spite your face. Your one man protest won't affect their trade, but will affect the options available to you when picking fish.

Personally my advice would be to go in knowing what you want to get and thoroughly researching it, then going to wherever has the best specimens/most healthy stock. It seems to be a safe rule to say don't trust anything your LFS says to you and verify it elsewhere-unless you know their advice is trustworthy (from experience.)
[/quote]

I aready knew what I wanted and having said before I have over 30 years experience with fish and they said it was their "policy" and it would be against the law if they sell me the guppies!! and that I would be miss treating my fish if I got them elsewhere??!!..they said it was all their stores policies that a tank has to be set up for 3 months before they can be added..does not matter if all tests are okay or anything.....anyone else heard of this ridiculous "policy"??? Also has anyone heard that you can not put angel fish in with guppies etc???

 

[Miss Wiggle]

angels are liable to eat guppies or neons so I would suggest that it is a good policy. likewise guppies and neon's are both weak fish and should not be added until a tank is mature, just because you have fishless cycled does not mean the tank is mature, personally i would not recommend adding either to a tank until it's had 6 months of problem free running.

dunno about either of them being illegal, however I would say there is evidence around to support both policies being sensible. They may be a bit over zealous but I think we should be commending PAH for at least attempting to ensure their fish go into a suitable environment.